In Asakusa (part of the city that is supposed to have kept some of the old Tokyo charm - i.e. hasn't yet been megapolised... yes, I just invented that word) is a strip of shops that sell catering supplies to the restaurant trade... while I'm making stuff up, I'll call it Kitchen Row. KR has some places that sell those impossibly tasty-looking dishes of resin and plastic - and they're not cheap. The different effects of texture, translucence etc. are quite impressive.

Some of the locals in Ueno park.

It would be cool if this building was a Transformer - can't you imagine all those blocks sliding and turning into something else? Like, maybe a normal building?

Near Ueno Station. Lots of stalls selling all sorts of stuff from L.A. gangwear to the biggest octopus tentacles I've ever seen... the whole thing must have been ginormous! Lots of people, lots of buzz... my references to crowds in Tokyo are beginning to sound like my references to snow in Takayama. There are a lot of people in Tokyo! (33 million in the Bay area I've read, which includes the cities of Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba).

Anyway, no reflections on life and death tonight... just some snapshots before sleep...

Night.