We woke up stupidly early as we wanted to experience the Tsukiji Market, which is the largest fish market in the world handling over two thousand tonnes of marine products a day. We left at seven thirty ish after Steven had a chat with our family back in Norfolk... Getting on the subway quickly despite being rush hour and heading the short distance to the market. We then walked to the market, its strange but looking at the streets you wouldn't think Tokyo had just had the worst snowfall in a decade. All the roads were clear and the pathways were half way there and it wasn't due to chucking salt everywhere then moaning when there was a shortage... It was because a whole team of people (who I assume were hired by the government) we out clearing the pathways with shovels and with a smile on their faces. As a result the walk to the market was a lot lest troublesome the we had anticipated... Ironic when everything at home stops every time we get snow.... Even though it happens EVERY year.

Once we were close to the market we could smell the amazing aroma of the sea and it smelt amazing, we headed in and tried to stay out of the way of the speedy turret trucks that were whizzing around. We wandered through hundreds of stalls selling and butchering every kind of seafood you could imagine... It was amazing. There was octopus, huge crabs, the biggest scallops I have ever seen and loads of mahoosive tuna plus a million different types of fish... As total foodies we were in heaven. We wandered around and tried to ignore our very growly stomachs.. We had to try sushi today!!

After the market we went for a wander back down towards Ginza and looked around the shops... Not that many were open as it wasn't yet nine am. We then decided to try and locate the place where our bus was going from this evening... This turned out to be the most frustrating hour of our lives. We looked it up online on someone's free wifi in Macy's Ds.. Then armed with photos of the location walked up and down the same street numerous times with no avail, eventually after talking to a very helpful young girl in a natural Lawton's shop it transpired that the company Willers Express doesn't actually have a check in office... The girl comes just before the bus and waits for you on the street grr!!

Anyway after this trauma we headed to the Imperial Palace... Which isn't open to the public except on a couple of days a year. However you can see it as you walk past... The palace is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan and consists of a main residence as well as a museum and several government buildings. It was built on the site of the old Edo castle and looked very pretty in the snow. Due to the lack of entrance we didn't hang around and headed back towards the main centre on the hunt for sushi. We found a small place in a shopping area and headed in, we were given our free green tea and an English menu and selected a couple of plates of the yummiest looking sushi. When it came we were surprised to see such a selection... All raw if course. We had ahi (mackerel), hamaguri (clam), ebi (prawn), maguro (tuna), anago (sea water eel), tako (octopus), hirame (flounder), aji (horse mackerel), ikura (salmon roe), ika (squid), tai (red snapper), tekkamaki (tuna roll) and another white fish along with tamago (egg) and gari (pickled ginger)... It was delicious and was served along side a gorgeous fresh miso soup. We were stuffed and it was very reasonable at less than fifteen pounds.

After lunch we headed to the Akihabara electric town which is located not far from central Tokyo, which is the place to buy any electrical goods, Aimee goods or computers. We found a large store which had nine massive floors... Each one focusing on a particular good such as cameras, video games etc, we went on the hunt for memory cards and got a ridiculous bargain. We purchased three 16GB ultra memory cards (over 11 thousand pictures) for about sixty pounds... Half of what we would pay back home... I also replaced my lens cap for about two pounds! Steven then enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the video game floor.

After we had finished here we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and chill before the night bus tonight. We checked our mail, bought snacks and checked our bank accounts before taking the subway back to Ginza. We headed to Yoshinoya for dinner before the bus was due at seven thirty. We were about apprehensive as we knew we were going to have a busy day tomorrow and maybe we should have bought Shinkansen tickets and got to Hiroshima in four hours, instead of twelve on the bus. However there was a difference of about two hundred quid plus the cost of a hotel... And we are backpacking after all. Anyway we had nothing to fear as when this huge pink bus tuned up, it was like a tour bus. We climbed on and the first nine seats were on their own and spread out like first class, then the remaining seats were in groups of twos and very spacious... They reclined about forty five degrees and the foot rest came up, plus you ha a canopy to put over your head when you slept... Amazing! They also gave you a pillow and blanket. We were very comfy and it was a pleasant ride... Well except for all the toilet breaks, literally every hour and a half we stopped for a rest stop and the lights would come on and it would be announced in Japanese... I even dreamed about it!! We slept okay though...