Thursday Afternoon in Tokyo (aka Where's Our Guide??!)

We were pretty happy with all that we accomplished on Wednesday, and so far Thursday morning had been successful. That is where the story changed a little.

Besides electronics, we also hoped to see big anime shops in Akihabara. We located the Tokyo Anime Center, but it was closed. We then tried to use a combination of Frommer's and iPhones to locate the street that reportedly boasts dozens of anime shops, but to no avail. Reduced to wandering the streets aimlessly, we did find a huge anime bookstore, however upon further inspection developed some doubts about whether it would be kid-appropriate.

It occurred to us then that the Edo-Tokyo museum would still be open for a few more hours. We hailed a cab and 20 minutes and $15 later were at the museum. Later, on the subway ride home, we discovered that we were just one stop (about 2 minutes) from the museum...

The museum included a fascinating (at least to Monica and me) history of Edo-Tokyo, including miniature representations of castles, daimyo compounds and street scenes, and many artifacts. Displays also told the story of Tokyo's social and economic development, and near total destruction under allied bombing. Pictured above, Ben inside a palanquin (an ancient form of transportation for nobles) and Grant riding a man-powered rickshaw.

So, while the day turned out all right in the end, it wasn't our most efficient sight-seeing day and we were definitely noticing the absence of the guides we had in China.