Shopping in Ameyo and Seeing Kodo

Another nice early morning run started the day, with some actual sunlight. It's really quite something to run through the Sensouji temple grounds before anyone (even the monks!) are up and down across the old Orange Road district to get to the Sumidagawa.

Sensouji at dawn 

An empty Orange Road.

Today's plan was to do some shopping in Ameyo (Ameya Yokochou, or American Alley) and see Kodo's "Dadan" show in the afternoon. Since nothing in Tokyo opens until 10, we decided to hang out in Asakusa for a while, then take a stroll down to Ueno. For breakfast, we stopped at the local Denny's located above the local 7-11 on the main street. Only in Japan. The breakfasts were an approximation of eggs, bacon and toast. Everything in Japan is a little less cooked and a little too fatty for my tastes, but it was a good protein replacement after running. Apparently, you are given ketchup with your eggs in Japan (I know they do this in the US, but I always thought it was for the hashed browns), and while we didn't sample said delicacy, we got a kick out of the condiment.

Restaurant Table Tomato

We stopped at the local "Donki" (a discount chain called Don Quixote, but they can't pronounce their own store, so they call it Donki) for a look around. Imagine a Super Wal-Mart squeezed into a small four story building. They have food, toiletries, home goods, furniture, anything. And all slightly cheaper than the other stores. We spent about half an hour trying to find some lotion, shaving cream and band-aids. When everything on the shelves is garish pink and white, in Japanese and in no discernible order, it can take a while. We also grabbed some snacks for later this evening.

Kaaru, a corn puff-like snack. This one is curry flavored, according to the frog, and spicy, according to the Mexican Ranchero who has never tasted Indian curry in his life. Japan has some of the most outlandish salty snack foods you have ever seen. This one is tame, and quite good.

Coke Life. Actually a pretty good lo-cal soda, with real sugar (and sucralose). Available in the States, but not common. Here, it's everywhere.

Heading down to Ueno, we walked down Kappabashi-douri and stopped at some of the now-open plastic food stores.

 The items are expensive, as they are essentially little plastic works of art, but are always fun to look at.

A Curry Rice with Egg Spoon Keychain

The fruit bowl is a mini-masterpiece.

Taking a shortcut through the subway tunnels, we spotted a rather unique vending machine.

Arriving at a bustling Ameyo, we were on a mission to find a cheap suitcase to carry our souvenirs and such.

Ameyo is really the closest thing to a night market Tokyo has. Everything is cheap, not all of it is legal and you can find anything. It also houses a few active shrines that are set back among all the shops.

 Ameyo is also one of the better street food sources in Tokyo. Fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh and salted meats and fish, spices and restaurants of all kinds are found here. Most of the food we saw we either couldn't use (no kitchen to cook in) or wouldn't touch (whole, dried, salted squid on a stick), but we did stop for some fresh pineapple on a stick

You buy the food and eat it right in front of the stand. You do NOT walk and eat. Bad manners in Japan and something you will rarely see. They had a bucket with water and a hose to clean yourself up after eating the fruit.

We stopped in the Ueno Yodobashi Camera to look for some games, and came across some interesting looking items.

No surprise, a ton of Super Mario games and toys

A lot of "nano-blocks" sets, small lego knock-offs. Sumi wanted the Hello Kitty cafe set, but it was really too much for what it was ($25 for a little box of blocks).

I managed to find the original Lost Legacy card sets here, which surprised me. Otherwise it was mostly just browsing and killing time until lunch, which was one of Sumi's favorite places. Oushou Kurea, a gyoza diner chain.

Gyoza lunch set - $9

And on our way to the concert hall, we stopped at Vie de France for some dessert.

It was hot outside, all right?

Panda Pastries. Again, only in Japan.

Arriving at the Asakusa Koukaisho a half hour before showtime, there was quite a crowd already there.

Of course, no photos or video allowed at the show, but we did get a chance to take some shots of the stage before the performance started

A very good show. A few random notes. Apparently, in Japan, if you think the emergency exit lights will ruin your stage show, you can have them turned off. Japanese seats are consistently JUST too short for me. At 6 feet tall, I rarely feel like a giant. An exception is when I'm in a crowd of older Japanese people. We were seeing a Monday matinee show, so the average age was probably about 60. I towered over nearly everyone. Waiting in the crowd to get in, I saw no one that stood past my shoulders. The younger generations are significantly taller, so I usually don't stand out quite as much. Except for the white skin. And long hair. And blue eyes.

Tomorrow we head out for Nikko, an area filled with temples, a wildlife sanctuary, a national park, waterfalls, lakes and, usually, tons of Japanese tourists.