We took advantage of jet lag (we were up at 5am local time) to visit the Tsukiji market,
the biggest fish market there is. The place is overun by these strange motorized contraptions

carrying all sorts of stuff on them. I had not seen them anywhere else but here they were everywhere...
The place is very big and labyrintine. Some of the sights are pretty impressive, my favorite being the
huge tunas ready to be turned to sashimi or sushi. But it seemed as if any fish that swims in sea, river
or lake was there for the buying. The guides recommend a sushi breakfast in a local restaurant, but
I knew that Barbara would not go for it...

After walking around the fish area, and feeling lucky not to have been run over by one ot the thousands of the
motorized contraptions running around in impossibly narrow walkways between the stalls, we moved to the
other parts of the market:

This was a "restaurant" with two tables, one in use, one not. The whole thing was perhaps 10 feet by ten feet.

I have no idea what these balls were but they looked strange enough to photograph. There were some cooking
instructions next to the container, so whatever it is it must be edible...

From Tsukiji we walked to the Ginza area. Normally that is a very busy shopping area, but at 8:30am the action
was minimal -- as expected. So we had a latte and a croissant and took the train to Asakusa where we photographed
this strange shape on top of a building.

Then we walked to Sumida Park, along the Sumida River, to look at the cherry blossoms and
other local sights.

Sumida Park, like other parks in Tokyo, has a substantial homeless population, a product of the last decade of economic
stagnation. The blooming trees were nice, however. We then decided to walk towards Ueno, mostly along small streets
like these.

Walked through Senso-ji Temple...

... and Kapabashi avenue, which is crammed with shops selling every restaurant supply you may ever need (no pictures, sorry).
We saw  a cactus growing from an impossibly narrow crack between two buildings (and ready to bloom too), and an old-
looking door along Asakusa-dori...

...and ended up at Ueno park, where we had been the night before to see the cherry blossoms during the day. Some pictures
look like there is snow because... well, because they were taken with the camera set to take pictures under incandescent lights
(don't ask why).

Somewhere along the line we must have eaten, but I do not remember where and I have no pictures of it. The last picture
of the day was taken on a side street of Ginza, where we returned for a short look at the food areas of a couple of the
department stores (quite a sight).

This was a *very* full day as well, with many miles in the odometer...