Day 6: Saturday March 4th

I met Saori and several others in the lobby of the hotel at 6:30 to go to
the fish market. The Tsukiji fish market is the largest fish market in the
world. It serves 12 million people a day with 4000 tons a seafood worth
around 3,000,000,000 Yen. That is about 30,000,000 US. This place has
anything you could possibly want from the sea. We missed the auctioning
(which happens around 5am). Instead we walked up and down the aisle, which
like everything in Tokyu is very cramped. I saw whale, whole blue fin tuna,
what looked like snake, eel, HUGE scallops, to name a few. You really have
to check out the pics of this one.

After return from the market I grabbed a chai from the Starbucks that was
across the street from the hotel. Evidently this is Starbucks most
profitable store. Both times that I went in it was not really packed, at
least at the counter. But then there is a large seating area on the second
floor. I bet the seating area is busy as Japanese do not eat or drink on the
street. I grabbed my chai and returned to the hotel to meet up with the
group headed to Hakone. I was the only one on a very busy intersection to
have a cup of coffee in my hand.

About 14 of us met to make the day trip to Hakone. Hakone is a area of Japan
that is about 70km west of Tokyu. To get there you have to take a 2 hour
train. Once in Hakone you can take a bus to Lake Ashino-ko. This is
Japan��s Crater Lake. Apparently on clear days you can see Mt. Fuji. I did
get a shot of Mt Fuji from the train while on our way to Hakone but by the
time that we got to Lake Ashino-ko it had become overcast and you could no
longer see it. We ate lunch in Hakone and then got on a very cheesy pirate
ship/ferry to travel to Owakudani. On the side of Lake Ashino-ko you can see
a red gate (in my pics) rising out of the water. Evidently this is the gate
to a local shrine. In Owakudani we transferred to a gondola where we
traveled up to Togendai. Togendai is where you can see the sulphorus water
from the active volcano. Once here we rode another gondola to a cable car
somewhere above Hakone. The cable returned us to the original station we
arrived in by train. By this time it was 5:30pm. We had arrived at this
station around 10:45am. We walked up the street a little ways and found an
onsen or hot spring. We relaxed in the hot water for about an hour and the
rapidly dressed to meet the last train that was leaving in 12 minutes. We
were all pretty much zombies on the train home. It had been a very long day
of travel. Totally worth it!

Once back in Tokyo, 8 of the 14 wandered around Shibuya looking for a place
to eat. Half ended up at a burger joint (I think they mainly sold shrimp
burgers) and the other 4 ended up at a 100 Yen sushi joint. Yes, that is $1.
It was good, not great but good. Vera, Jeff & Kelly and I then walked past a
restaurant serving dessert on our way back to the hotel from the sushi. We
decided we could use a drink and dessert. We talked about the MIM program,
faculty and fellow students. Afterwards we went on to the hotel.

I slept like a rock!