Day 3 - Imperial Palace and Akihabara

We woke up early on our 3rd day, since we had booked tickets to see the Imperial Palace. We took the train during rush hour and it was an eye opening experience. The train was packed with people in business suits on their way to work and we were packed into the car like sardines, but somehow it was not an unpleasant experience. Everyone was quiet, most people listening to their iPods, and even when people pushed to get in or out of the train, it wasn't done with animosity, merely urgency. Also, when getting on and off the train, people did their best to get out of each others way, unlike in London where people will just stand in the doorway until you forcefully ask them to move (or in most cases push...with animosity).

Leo had booked audio guides for the tour of the Imperial Palace, though when we showed up they had run out. So we spent the tour admiring the sites and making up stories about the buildings (and the other people on the tour). This is a view of one of the guard houses against the backdrop of Central Tokyo.

After the tour we headed north, since we wanted to visit Akihabara, which is the home of electronics, anime, and otaku culture. On our way to Akihabara, we stopped at an old soba noodle shop for some lunch where the women sing out your orders. I've never had such flavorful soba before, and we were even served the water the noodles were cooked in to drink after the meal.

After lunch, we walked a bit further north and found ourselves in the heart of Akihabara. This is outside of one of the maid cafes in the area, where your servers are dressed in French maid costumes (this has something to do with Japanese 'cute' fetishism, but seems a bit strange to me).

After all of the walking, we needed to rest our feet and found this nice bar, with an American music theme, near the Akihabara station. Dinner was kaiten sushi, which is sooooooo good here. The quality is that of any good sushi restaurant in London or New York, but a lot cheaper!