It's 7am... sushi, anyone?
While most of the city's population (those who are sane, at least) is still snuggled up under the covers, those who work at the famous fish market are already hard at work, bringing in the day's catch for auction and purchase by restaurateurs.

As we made our way through, we noticed several people moving towards the opposite side of the market. We followed and through a couple of doors, found the tuna auction. The Tokyo Fish Market typically goes through almost 3,000 tuna per day. The room that houses the auction is massive to accommodate all of the fish and when the auction starts, a man rings a bell, starts shouting, the buyers are waving their hands, and before I could understand what was going on, it was over. Each tuna is marked with a number, grading its quality, which ultimately determines its price. Some tuna fetch upwards of $20,000!
 
 
Hot springs and weird food
About an hour outside of Tokyo, in the heart of Fuji National Park, is the town of Hakone, home to healing hot springs. My mom and I stayed in a traditional Japanese inn called a ryokan. Our room was decorated in the customary style, the floors lined with tatami mats and no furniture other than a couple of mattresses on the floor and a small table for dining. Upon our arrival, we were given kimonos and slippers to wear throughout our stay. The innkeeper gave us strict instructions for dressing in kimono: right side under, left side over; the reverse is only for the dead. Nice.

After spending the evening soaking in the hot springs, which are thought to be healing, we sat on the floor at our tiny little table for a multi-course kaiseki meal. Kaiseki is a culinary art form, balancing taste, texture, and appearance. Some of it was good, and some of it was just plain weird. By the end of the two-hour extravaganza, Mom and I had tipped a little over the edge in our wine to food ratio. The Bordeaux blanc was my favorite part.
 
 
Buddha's Blessings
On the drive back to Tokyo we stopped in Kamakaru to see the Great Amida Buddha. Thousands make pilgrimage to the site each year to pray at the site, the second largest Buddha in all of Japan. There was not a cloud in the sky and a peaceful break in our day.