Tsujiki Fish Market

We woke up at 4:15a to go the Tsujiki fish market on Friday. Having wandered into the wholesale vendors' area, we were accosted by the salty scent of salty fishmongers and the entrails of their wares. We saw everything from cleanly extracted sacks of salmon roe to decapitated six hundred pound tuna. Weaving through the stalls of rubber-clad oyster shuckers for half an hour, we were finally discovered by a bewildered, toothless fish cop. "This section is off limits!"
Free breakfast back at the hotel around 7a and already thinking about going back to bed. No way. We rallied and found ourselves in a stunning park near Roppongi on the sunniest day so far.
Aside from its beautiful cherry blossom trees and peaceful winding paths, this park was host to the first shrines and temples we'd seen thus far. We sat in a cavernous room adorned by golden chandeliers and reflected on the contrast of the setting only hours before. We passed by monks in sandals smoking cigarettes, admired rows and rows of stone cherubs in knit wool hats, and stood solemnly in graveyards flanked by forests of bamboo. Sigh.