Tokyo Bike Ride

Tuesday 13th April
Today is the booked bike ride and we were very unsure about whether it was still on since it rained non stop yesterday. Despite the weather reports of the heavy rain with cold snap, the day greeted us with a sunny morning that cleared up the fog through the day. We took the Metro early down to the agreed meeting place and met up with the bike tour group. The group consisted of Keikiko (our guide) along with a couple of American guys (one of the guys actually works for Rockstar games, makers of GTA games) and another Canadian couple. After some quick introductions, we took off on the ride around town.
The first place was to ride close by to the Imperial palace called Otemachi where our guide explained some history of Tokyo and then taking us to the “Tokyo New bridge” or Kinza. Apparently most of the Tokyo’s waterways were man made to be nothing more than moats that would surround the imperial castle and snake itself out to moat the old city. Kinza (Gold Stand) was one of the many official gateways into the main Tokyo city centre a couple of centuries ago. Ginza (Silver stand) was similar but now changed to a major shopping district. We kept riding through most of the city and visited a few shrines/temples here and there before going to the “old” fish markets in a separate little island. From there, the next stop was the current fish markets.
Fish market of Tokyo is world famous since this is where the Tuna comes in to be sold for hundreds of millions of yen, along with the fresh err whale meat that every Aussie is against. It is quite interesting to walk through since Fish is the livelihood of all Japanese culture and a part of their main diet. We were even shown the cutting of the Tuna using knives, big two handed swords and even a saw to minimise the amount of bloody and bruising to the meats. The guide bought some Toro Tuna pieces and went over to pick up lunch.
The next place was Odaiba – a commercialised Island out in Tokyo Bay that I have always wanted to visit. The ride from the fish markets was long (across to the other side) and the bridge climbing on the bike was really getting to me and testing everyone’s stamina (even on first gear). My Legs (thighs and calves) gave in and had to basically get off the bike and push up every hill/bridge from here. It does not help without eating breakfast!
Once at Odaiba, we settled in for a short lunch eating bento boxes before we took a short cruise back to the main side of the city. This was rather relaxing and treated to some awesome views of the harbour which I had wanted so much. From here, we kept on riding visiting some more shrines (one that was situated at the top of a mountain and had to climb a long set of stairs killing my legs more). Then we were treated to some sugar boosts of ice cream downstairs whilst getting treated with some scenes of a drunk Japanese chick (with a couple of older Japanese men) and she sang in the middle of the street whilst drunk as.
The final stop of the ride was at the Imperial palace. The Palace is very good to see and the guides posted outside really reminded me of the Beefeaters from Buckingham/Windsor/London Tower where the guards were very professional and very still. Unfortunately this is where the tour ends and as much as I would like to visit inside, the tour did not include this. To return our bikes, we rode back to near our start place.
After saying good byes, we returned to the hotel and changed into more appropriate clothes (since Tom was in his bike gear). The stop for dinner was Ikebukuro, a major shopping town north of Shinjuku. Upon arrival, the instant impression I received was that this place is akin to Hong Kong and in particular, Causeway Bay. The shops, the people and all were so much alike.
Tonight’s menu consists of All-you-can eat Crab of three sorts: Hairy crab (small and you mainly eat Roe from the body), Queen Crab (Thin medium sized with good texture and sweetest taste of all three) and King crab (The biggest and famous for its legs). In 90 minutes, it was all you can eat and you can keep ordering the crabs to your hearts content. The first plate was full of all three types of crabs and you can try it all. King crab in this selection is famous and the inspiration for – crab /seafood sticks that you find in milk bars. Once you rip open the shell, the meat is just like a seafood stick – all with the exact colours.
We managed to finish up between the three of us – 3 king crabs, 3 queen crabs and 2 hairy’s. This is rather average compared to two fat Japanese guys on the next table. They must have gone through at least 9 plates of crab (probably twice as much as what we ate) along with the various side dishes presented (Scallops, Soup rice etc). That was with 2 people and really kind of put us to shame. The crab is not bad and despite the price for a single crab, it really is a bit overrated in our opinion.
After doing more Window Shopping in Ikebukuro, I had felt quite funny and started getting a sore throat. This was not very good so decided to leave the others (who ventured off to New York Bar in Shinjuku) to rest back at the hotel.
More adventures for tomorrow.