Big in Japan

Our flight across the Pacific was pleasant enough - I (Scott) have a few complaints about the computer references in our in-flight movie "Man of the Year," but many more important things are afoot.

Tokyo is a marketing phenomenon. No square inch of the city is safe from obscure, cartoonish, advertisements. The only blank canvases are the bottoms of the bowls in the noodle bars - which by the way, is something the USA should look into adoptiong.

Re: noodle bars - in less than five minutes, you can shimmy into an alley, place your order, make the most satisfying slurping noices you've ever imagined (which, in fact, is encouraged), and continue on your busy Japanese way. We've hit two such spots in our 24 hours here.

Jet lag can be leveraged constructively. We awoke in our hotel the first morning at 2:30 AM (Scott) and 5:00 AM (Sara) just in time to catch the subway to Tsukiji market, the premier sushi fish trade on the Tokyo coast.

So we show up right on time to find the market closed for "holiday." However, we stammered across Tokyo by foot and rail to see the free gardens, shrines, and palaces, determined not to let our early start go to waste. Unfortunately, the city was largely asleep, and we were the only people (tourists or otherwise) getting our shot at the city so early. We did, however, return to the maket square later in the day to eat the freshest and most rapidly-devoured (they want you in and out in 10 minutes to free up the barstools for other waiting patrons) sushi either of us has ever tasted.

We spent two hours of that afternoon in the Ginza district at a Kabuki performance, a theatrical play style invented hundreds of years ago, in Imperial Japan.

After the performance, the one word we could agree on is "Interesting." The audience laughed at certain dialog and plot elements, and we laughted at - well, everything else. To illustrate the performance: painted faces, feudal Japanese garb, verbal intonation reminscent of inane Monty Python sketches, and an all-male cast (even for female roles).

Also today:

• Mastery of the Tokyo subway system, and discovery of the delectable sandwich samplers (read: Japanese adult Lunchables) peddled therein.
• Roaming the Asakusa market and temple, through the Kappabashi (read: cookware) district to buy ("The Cutest Ever" -Sara) teacups.
• Searching for large Japanese kitchen knives.

Up next: Kyoto, Japan.