TOKYO

Our car finally arrived last Friday. We have been waiting for it for 9 weeks now and in the mean time have been learning a good skill called "patience", otherwise known as "chotto matte kudasai" or "just a moment please!" Did you know that the true meaning of frustration cannot be experienced in Australia? Did you know that the word wakarimasen means, "I don't know" and "I don't understand" and not to mention that saying "no" should be avoided, so saying "yes" when you mean "no" is a better option, confused? We certainly are, sometimes we just get ourselves out of a muddle by a laugh and a smile, that seems to work extremely well no matter what we think we are talking about.

Mark managed the drive with our brand new car into Tokyo really well, despite being confronted by torrential rain and signs like this:

At 3.45am on Saturday morning our alarm went off for an early morning trip to Tsukiji Fish Market. With a mix of tourists and locals we queued in the wee hours to see the tuna auctions, some ending a night on the town. It was well worth it, again it felt like we were spying on an ancient art, perhaps we shouldn't have been there,  peering in on this Japanese tradition, serious men with tapping fingers, curved to indicate price. Then on to sashimi breakfast and the fish market proper where we were appalled to find whale meat on the menu.

Tokyo thrilled me with its' energetic buzz, millions (35 million) of people passing by going about their daily lives. The excitement of this constant stimulation was infectious, it was hard to decide how to spend our three days.We opted for Shinjiku, the Science and Electricity Museums and for the first time in my life, Disneyland. I cannot wait to go back, next time I might spend a day or two at Ginza, the consumer capital of the world?

Care to join me?

Mark had to hurry back to Nagoya by Shinkansen for work, so brother Ross who is visiting from Hobart, Oliver, Sophia and I had a dry and leisurely drive home to Nagoya:)