We spent our first day exploring around the area of our first hotel…and of course we started with an early morning run in downtown Tokyo near the Ginza district and the fish market.

It was amazingly easy to run the streets before 7:00 AM…but after 7:00, it gets really busy really fast. And you are a visual standout as everyone else is wearing dark suits while you are in these crazy colored running clothes…

Later, after breakfast, we went to check out the famous fish market. It felt like the crazy Fridays with the Souk Ha-Carmel in Tel Aviv. People are barking their wares and an equal number of people (tourists and locals) are eating the fresh catch that day.

We then checked out the nearby Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple. Very popular and we made a blessing and donation like everyone else. Amazing sculptures and décor.

It was almost lunchtime, so we headed to the Ginza district to do some window shopping. Yes, you can buy almost anything at almost any price. Floors and floors of everything you could imagine. And the restaurant choices are so many…you almost have to pick one randomly based on the price structure.

The one store that caught our eye was the Toy Park. I could not believe the type and number of toys I have never seen before. Innovation and creativity everywhere. It took enormous willpower to not buy some of the gadgets we saw.

But I could not resist buying some of the (custom?) flavors of KitKat that were plentiful. 🙂

And then, last but not least, we found the local Costco in Japan to get a bottle of good wines to enjoy in our room at a lower price than the Conrad bar.

We always seem to consistently sniff out the good wine stores in every country!

Hopefully we can catch one of the short Kabuki shows a little later tonight – the ticket sales are not easy to catch…