Day 6- 3/10/11: Imperial Palace, Tsukiji, and Asakusa

Our trip is winding down so we took it a little slower today due to my aching feet and getting ready to go home. We also had to switch rooms, so we had to pack up and move house, which meant we couldn't come back to the room until after 4:00pm. After getting a late start, we decided to go to the Imperial Palace and say hi to the Emperor. If you look really closely, you can see him across the moat waving at the camera. Only kidding, no one is allowed near the palace, so we just did as everyone else did and take photos from across the bridge. After the Imperial Palace, we headed towards Tsukiji for some sushi. We really didn't know where to go eat, but figured every restaurant there should have good sushi since its fresh. Since I don't like raw fish (I know, I know, what kind of Japanese am I?), I settled on anago or salt water eel. I also ordered crab, but the anago was waaaaay better. Just melted in your mouth! Look how big the pieces were. You can't even see the rice under it! After lunch, we headed back to Asakusa so that Paul could visit the Miyamoto Drum Museum. We didn't have time to do that last time, so we headed upstairs this time to check it out. They normally charge admission, but they kindly let us go up for free. I guess the Big Island Candies and Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts worked! :) The guy recognized Paul from the other day and said we could go up for free. How nice yah? This photo was taken in the store portion- cool yah? This was taken in the drum museum. I also got scoldings since we weren't supposed to take pictures in there. I think I made Paul shame. After Miyamoto's, we headed back to Nakamise so I could get my washi paper. On the way, we saw another arcades where you can play those crane games and win prizes. Apparently these are very popular here in Japan since we see them everywhere. This one had anime looking mannequins so I made DH pose with them. I told him he forgot to wink like the girl was winking. (BTW- DH does not stand for Department Head or Dick Head!!! ha ha ha ha ha) I finally got my hands on some washi paper!!!!! Hooray! I was on a mission and finally succeeded. They had so much to choose from! Also got some other cute souveniers that I've been eyeing everytime we pass by. I figure this might be the last time we go there, so I don't want to miss out on anything. After my mission was accomplished, we decided to go get more of that age-manju since they were still open. We decided to get our own and share 2 flavors this time cause it was so good last time. I got the custard again and DH got the green tea flavor. I liked the green tea one too- can't decide which one is my favorite. I will miss this when we leave. One of the cool things we saw them making was fresh arare! Its pretty neat how they cook it on a grill. DH said he is going to figure out how to make his own on the hibachi! You can't beat fresh arare. I thought this was a funny site to see in Japan... muu muu's and other Hawaiian stuff! Maybe I can sell my clothes from Hawaii there and make room for more souveniors! I'm ready to start trashing my clothes in order to make more room in my suitcase! Since it was dinner time, we decided to just find food before going back to the hotel. Mikey gave us one last recommendation for tenpura, so we found the restaurant had the tendon. I guess I was really hungry since I have 2 bowls! Isn't this funny? We saw this cutout on the street, so I made Paul stick his head in it. I guess it doesn't look that different from how he normally looks since he's bolo head too! hee hee hee. Ahhh, and on our way back home, we ran into Mister Donut again. He's so nice to give us more donuts yah? We chose two that look like this shape. I don't know what its called but one was chocolate with a sugar glaze and this one was chocolate dipped in chocolate. Both were yummy. We figured since we were walking home, we could have dessert. I can't explain it but somehow it reminded me of eating mochi. Not that it was sticky, but chewy. I loved it! Gotta get my fix before we head back to Hawaii and can't get it anymore. How come no one who went to Japan told me about him? Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who are leaving comments to us. I just decided to blog about our trip as a way to help me remember where we went on each day so it would be easier to do my scrapbook later on. I'm glad so many of you are getting some enjoyment out of it! Its truly and adventure doing this all on our own, but so much fun because we are not tied to any tour schedule. Well, one more full day tomorrow and then we gotta get ready to go home. We are hoping to head towards Puroland tomorrow to visit Hello Kitty. Wish us luck!