Ohayo Gozaimas!

It's day three in Tokyo and the calm before another mental day of sightseeing. We packed in a lot yesterday, getting up at 4.30am to go to Tsukiji Fish Market. It was mentally busy with hundreds of men bustling about and people transporting fish on these crazy electric scooters that looked like beer barrels. I've never seen so many different types of fish in my life; every single kind you can imagine, some still alive and twitching, some being expertly gutted and others neatly packed in trays ready to be sold.

After wandering about we went for breakfast at a cafe where I ate my first sushi. We had a tray each containing different types of fish, sushi rolls, wasabi and a bowl of miso soup (with a nice prawn carcass!) on the side. Absolutely delicious!

Our next stop was Senso-ji in Asakusa. We looked at the temple, fanned smoke onto ourselves from the cauldron (said to bestow good health), washed our hands with water we'd ladelled from the fountain and cast coins in the temple whilst making a wish (can't tell you what mine was or it won't come true!).

After that we caught the Chuo line from Shinjuku to Kichijoji, one of Tokyo's suburbs, stopped for iced jasmine tea and strolled down to Inokashira Park. It's based around a lake (full of enormous orange fish and even some turtles) so Jim and I hired a pedalo for half an hour whilst Don explored on foot. The park was incredibly noisy with the calls of birds and the intense buzzing of mystery insects.

After grabbing a quick lunch we hopped on the train to Harajuku where we saw all the school girls in fancy dress (my particular favourite was the girl dressed as a mummy). At Harajuku was Meiji-Jingu, an enormous Shinto shrine, so we had a look round that and then ventured into Shinjuku to track down a Ramen bar that we'd seen recommended in our Lonely Planet. Unfortunately, our navigational skills are pretty poor so we enlisted the help of some of the locals. This amazingly kind man actually escorted us there even though it was totally out of his way, took about 15 minutes and we got caught in a thunder storm.

The thing I've noticed most about Japan so far is that the people are unbelievably friendly and helpful - we've been inundated with offers of help whenever we've looked lost, which is most of the time. The other observation I've made is that Japanese babies and children are the cutest in the whole world. I desperately want to take some photos of them but keep getting scared I'll be arrested for being a fiddykiddler!

Anyway, after Ramen (delicious noodles in a broth with slices of pork, egg and spring onion) we headed back to the hostel and crashed out.

The plan for today is to visit Akiba, otherwise known as 'electric town' where all the gadgets and manga is. Am VERY excited. I hope all is well back at home, leave me a message to tell me what you're up to because I miss you all.

Lots of love x x x