Sayonara Tokyo

Today we head for home. We depart Narita at 5pm and arrive at YYZ at 3:50 pm. Last night we had our closing dinner on a boat that cruised around Tokyo harbor. The evening included karaoke with yours truly performing Elvis' "A Big Hunk O Love" to the delight of some and to the embarrassment of my children.
We had a great send off.
We'll post some additional Tokyo photos shortly

Tuuuuuuna!

More photos of the fish market. The tuna auction that we witnessed was all Yellow Fin Tuna that is flash-frozen when caught.

The record price for a Blue-Fin Tuna at auction is $220,000 for a 413 lb tuna in 2001. Blue- fin is the most sought after tuna in Japan.

The Tsukiji Fish Market

This photo was taken at 6:30am this morning after we completed our visit to the Tsukiji fish market in downtown Tokyo, at the harbour's edge east of Ginza. We arrived at 5:30am so we could witness the famous tuna auction in person.
30% of the world's tuna is consumed in Japan - roughly 7.5% just in Tokyo alone. All of Tokyo's tuna and most other seafood comes through Tsukiji. The wholesale tuna auction occurs in a warehouse at the rear of a large covered but open air marketplace. The tuna lies in rows on the floor, the auctioneer is on a box in the middle and the auction proceeds quickly with a series of gestures, barks and signals. Once complete, the intermediate buyers then set to work prepping their purchases for sale to restaurants and other middlemen in a giant array of market stalls. The level of activity is astounding and the action in the market is chaotic. People, fish and motorized dollies and forklift are going in every direction. It was a surreal and incredibly genuine Japanese experience. More photos to follow.

The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo

Yesterday, we had a chance to visit the Canadian Embassy, a building designed by our trip leader Raymond Moriyama. The ever-modest Mr M, after some cajoling, talked about a number of the concepts upon which the building's design is based. Ajon also had a hand in the building so he too was an excellent tour guide. The Embassy occupies four acres of prime real estate in Central Tokyo, across from the Imperial Palace Gardens. When the new building was built during Japan's real estate bubble in the late 80's, the land value was $5 billion. The $220 m building was built with no cost to the Canadian tax-payers by virtue of long term financing secured against the leasing value of the 3 floors of commercial space built beneath the Embassy. From the 52 floor of the Mori Arts Center, the Embassy appears as a dark trapezoid in the upper left of the photo, just below the green of the Imperial Gardens. The Embassy had to be designed so it cast its shadow on The Gardens for a maximum of two hours a day. Hence the unique shape of the top floors and roof of the 4 storey structure.

Now that's an expensive melon!

Last night, we explored the food halls of the Mitsuya department store in Ginza for fun. There were exquisitely presented food items of all shapes and sizes. This was a $171 melon. We thought it was a little pricey so we bought some sesame snacks instead.

Looking east over Ginza

We arrived this afternoon in Tokyo for the final leg of our trip. We are staying at the Imperial Hotel in Central Tokyo. We have a great view of the lights and signs of the Ginza area, which we explored on foot this evening. Driving into Tokyo via the industrial suburbs of Yokohama and Kawasaki gave us a rather startling appreciation of the size and density of this massive city. The total population of the Tokyo metro is nearly 34 million. Ginza is a fashionable shopping area and the Japanese have overcome the shortage of street level retail space by stacking stores and restaurants six to eight stories above ground level. The buildings have huge vertical signs to show shoppers what lies above them and where.

Hakone

Last night, we stayed at a traditional Japanese inn called a "ryokan". Hakone is a resort town near Mount Fuji that is famous for its hot springs. We dressed in our yukata for our entire time at the inn including our dinner which was quite a sumptious Japanese feast. Our ryokan featured an "onsen" , a hot spring communal bath. Upon arrival, we all had a soak. Jack and I with the gents and Alison and Zo with the ladies. The water was milky white and hot with a strong sulphurous odor. The baths were outdoors so the cool evening air and gentle rain was a nice complement to the hot water. Today was to be our Fuji-san day but regrettably we had our first day of rain on the trip so the iconic mountain was shrouded by low clouds. That didn't stop us from getting out on the water of Lake Ashi, which is one of the Five Lakes of Fuji.