Couldn’t really decide what to do today, so just decided to get some good food. It was raining out, and the day was kind of annoying weather wise. Got umbrellas from the 7-11. We were going to go to a place near the Ginza, but I kind of forgot where it was. Stupid me didn’t mark it on the map. No matter, as near the end of the Ginza walk, we found a little place there which looked good. It was the first time we went anywhere that we had to take off our shoes. No big deal, there were lockers for that. We also put our umbrellas in the locker - Japan has a idea of - don’t make a mess inside. So there are two things for umbrellas: Umbrella storage, which you lock your umbrella in, and take a key, or if you’re keeping it with you, the umbrella is placed in a plastic wrapper to prevent water from getting all over the place. Smart, but the down side is increased plastic usage. I think they make up for this by recycling pretty much all the plastic bottles here.

Anyway, after being led to our table / area, the woman in the Kimono asked “can you read Japanese?” We said no, and got the “English” menu…After trying to understand what I was reading for 10 minutes, I realized there were 5 languages aside from Japanese for each item. Then Leon and I found what we wanted, and it was good! I ate pretty much everything on my plate - I had sushi with Udon noodles / soup. There was Salmon, Tuna, Tomago (egg), Squid, and Eel. I didn’t care for the texture of squid too much - too chewy, but the eel was better then expected.

Everything we’ve eaten so far in Japan has been very good, and this was no exception. We had some Sake with lunch. Then we both had desert, and were very satisfied. It was about 2950 Yen, which was pretty good for what we got.

We then went to Harajuku to look around a bit. This is where the “hip” Japanese go…people selling stuff everywhere, lots of people, though not as much as the Ginza, and decidedly down-market from that area.

Then we went back to the hotel. We had dinner at this local grill, Tsumabe?, which was a western style grill - hamburger steak, sausage, etc. We both had hamburger steaks - Leon had his wrapped in bacon, I had mine Japanese style with Soy sauce. Sorry, no pictures, we were hungry. :-)

Time for bed. Not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow, most items are closed on Mondays.

Money: 22000 Yen.

Leica: Nothing to note. Outdoor pictures came out well. Lens is very contrasty - light sources make everything too bright in indoor shots, instead of illuminating the subject.