Day 3 already! I got up at 7.00 after another good nights sleep in my little capsule. The bed is comfortable enough for the night, but it’s not somewhere to just lie in bed. I showered and dressed and went straight out.

The weather today was overcast but not cold, no need for a jacket.

Tsukiji Fish Market

Not far from my hotel is Tsukiji Fish Market, I took the short walk down there and had a wander around it. There were hundreds of stall selling not just fish, but all sorts of other foods I’ve never even seen before. This is a great place for street photography (if only I was any good at it), I gave it a try anyway.

I stopped at a small restaurant and had my first taste of real Japanese food, I was sat down at a small counter in between two couples and given a cup of green tea. I can’t say I’m a fan of green tea to be honest, but I drank it anyway. I ordered a bowl of two types of Tuna, some other minced fish, egg and rice. It came with a bowl if Miso soup, which I’d tried to make cuppa soup style at home before I came, which was horrible. This soup was really nice though. The main dish was lovely, but it seems like an odd thing to be eating at 8.30 in the morning though.

Yoyogi

After this interesting, but tasty breakfast I got the train to Yoyogi to take a look at a shrine there. In retrospect it would have been quicker if I’d got off a stop earlier, but getting to the right place at all is quite a feat. I walked through the park and found the Meiji Shrine, a beautiful structure. As you would expect I took plenty of pictures, just like everyone else there. Up to this point this is the place that I’ve seen the most non Japanese people.

Shinjuku

After this I walked to Harajuku station (the station I should have got off at earlier) and got the train to Shinjuku. I’ve heard this is the place to go for cameras and they weren’t wrong. I had a look around the various camera stores. One of them, Used Camera Box, a small room in a basement had so many cameras. Imagine Mr Cad’s in London, but smaller and more cameras. There was lots of great stuff on offer, but nothing that either I wanted or could afford or at least justify spending the money on. I had a look in Map Camera and got my hands on a Leica M10, wow that thing is heavy, much heavier than my M6. It’s a lovely camera though and something I’d love to buy if it wasn’t so expensive (maybe I can trade in all my cameras for 5% off one).

At first I thought Shinjuku was quite a small area. Until walked to the other side of the station and found an even larger area, full of crazy looking shops and restaurants all lit up in bright colours. One of the restaurants I walked past was the Robot Restaurant, the most colourful, brightly lit place I’ve ever seen, it looked mental.

I spent a couple of hours walking around Shinjuku into the early evening. I’d asked on twitter about places I could go tomorrow and Asakusa was mentioned, it was supposed to be good for night photography. Instead of waiting for tomorrow I went this evening, I got on a train again to Asakusa.

Asakusa

I thought Shibuya and Shinjuku were good, but I loved Asakusa. As soon as you come out of the station there little streets lines with shops, cafes and restaurants, no matter which direction you go there is another side street with more to see. Then you come across Senso-ji Temple and five storey pagoda. This place was wonderful, it was dark by this time and the temple and shrine were lit up beautifully. I spent hours just walking around the crisscrossing streets shooting with both my Leica M6 and Ricoh GRII. At night the GRII is amazing, I can just point and shoot, without worrying about focussing or anything. I shot a lot of digital pictures today.

34000 steps today and just under 16 miles walked, my feet are killing me.

Japan Day 1
Japan Day 2
Japan Day 4
Japan Day 5
Japan Day 6
Japan Day 7
Japan Day 8