As usual, Akemi has been having a harder time adjusting to the time change.  While I slept through most of the night, she was up until 4:00 a.m.  As a result, I let her sleep in this morning and headed out for a solo trip to Tsukiji market.  I arrived at a little after 7:00 a.m. and, after much deliberation, settled on another horumon bowl breakfast.  I also had some tuna nigiri and then, on the way back to the hotel, picked Akemi up a strawberry daifuku for breakfast.

I got back just in time for my zoom and pre-pre-pre-pitch.  After some discussion and readjusting, ti was decided we would reconvene tomorrow morning for yet another pre-pre-pre pitch.

Pistachiomania is sweeping through Tokyo!

We did some strolling and then ended up at our lunch spot, Showan, a soba restaurant Akemi has been looking forward to trying out.

I had the katsudon.  Akemi raved about the dashi and booked a return dinner visit for later in our stay.

From there, we headed over to Tokyo Station where Akemi bought up tickets for the shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka.

I am intrigued by this tiny dessert shop called “God Bless Butter”.

“Art”

Every time I visit Japan and try their fruit, I’m always amazed at how shit our fruit back home tastes in comparison.  I tried two different simple grocery store oranges and they were both fantastic: juicy and sweet.

This afternoon, we checked out Azabudai Hills, sister complex to Roppongi Hills, a high-end shopping complex.

It’s a beautiful neighborhood and the complex is vast, but it’s somewhat sparse with plenty of floor space dedicated to not all that many shops.

The foot traffic was modest while, in the retail shops, I noted staff outnumbered customers by about 3 to 1.

The museums within the complex were, on the other hand, fairly busy – especially the Pokemon exhibit.

Akemi and I checked out an anime-themed art exhibit that featured the works of quite a few high-profile artists.

Quite a few cool pieces.  Most of it already sold.

While a few others were quite pricey…

Some really interesting pieces…

For dinner, we went to one of our very favorite sushi restaurants, Sushiso Masa, where, on our last trip, we enjoyed approximately 5o pieces of sushi and Akemi left feeling fit to burst.  This time, it was between 50-60 pieces ranging from the traditional to the out-of-the-ordinary.  But all delicious.  Akemi tapped out early but I gamely completed the entire feast.  I’ll post the highlights in tomorrow’s entry as it’s already pretty late and I have another early morning Tsukiji Market breakfast followed by yet another pre-pre-pre-pitch.

22,000+ steps today!  I may actually lose weight on this trip!