• Chizuko Waller was our Esprit Travel guide for our first two days in Tokyo. In addition to being an outstanding guide, she and her husband (an executive chef) co-authored a bagel cookbook for the Japanese market.

• Our first stop with Chizuko was the Tsukiji wholesale fresh fruit and vegetable market.

• This is what wasabi looks like before it is ground up and put on the plate with your sashima or sushi.

• Traditional hand carts are still used to transport goods at the market.

• This is one of the motorized carts used at the market.

• Drivers and carts at work

• Carving up fish at the wholesale fish market

• Sample slices of tuna

• Seafood for sale at the wholesale market

• Inside the Tsukiji Fish Market

• Live snapping turtles

• The Tsukiji retail market

• Yum!

• Fresh tuna

• Another aisle in the retail market

• These beautiful and beautifully dressed young women were about to venture into the gardens at the Meiji Shrine.

• The great torii entrance to the Meiji Shrine

• The uprights in the torii are made from single tree trunks.

• The torii at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine

• The first of a number of wedding processions we saw at the shrine

• The women in the plaid jackets are fans of the actress in the tan coat. This phenomenon took place across the street from our hotel at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, the female equivalent to the all-male kubuki theater. Fans of the actresses gather in large numbers to see their favorites. The women in orange are fans of a different actress.

• Day two with Chizuko started with a visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. It is easily accessed from the Ryogoku train station (from where this photo was taken) and is an excellent museum describing Edo and Meiji era Tokyo.

• Ryogoku is also the location of the primary sumo wrestling venue in Tokyo and the stables (dormitories) where the wrestlers reside. This sculpture near the train station recognizes this sport.

• This is a stand of buckets with water to fight fires, one of the biggest threats in Tokyo when everything was made of wood.

• Next we visited Asakusa, the home of Sensoji Temple. The approach to the temple is lined with stands selling food and souvenirs. On this Sunday, many locals were out and about.

• Approaching Sensoji Temple

• The large lantern at the entrance to Sensoji Temple

• The pagoda at Sensoji Temple

• We weren't the only people taking photos.

• Bell of Time (Sensoji Temple)

• A celebratory ride in Asakusa following a wedding

• Many Japanese restaurants use plastic models to display their menus in their windows. This is where we ate lunch.

• Our next stop was Ueno and Ueno Park. It has changed a lot since it figured prominently in Edo period wood block prints.

• Here we are under a torii in Ueno Park.

• A shrine in Ueno Park

• Prayer papers left by visitors to the shrine

• A Meiji era library near Ueno Park was remodelled with a design by Tadao Ando, 2000, and is now the International Library of Children's Literature. We found many famous titles that were originally written in English.

• Exterior view of the International Library of Children's Literature

• The glassed-in entrance is part of the new design.

• The rear of the library has been enclosed with glass.

• The old and the new come together in this corridor.

• Kaneiji Temple, built in 1638.

• The Old Yoshida sake store in the well-preserved Yanaka neighborhood of Tokyo was built around 1910 and partly reconstructed in 1935. It is now an historical site.

• In Japan, signs are often art. This is the sign on the Old Yoshida sake store.

• In the Yanaka neighborhood

• The studio of Nihonga artist Allan West. We had a most enjoyable visit with Allan and his wife. His paintings on gold, silver, and copper leaf are extraordinarily beautiful.

• Ichiro is very popular in Japan. Here he is advertising Kirin beer.

• Imperial Palace grounds

• Pruning the trees on the Imperial Palace grounds

• Doshin bansho Guardhouse: A bansho is a guardhouse. Doshin bansho is one of three guardhouses still remaining on the Palace grounds. Samurai guardsmen kept constant watch, especially on the members of a lord's retinue who entered through Ote-mon gate.

• Roof detail of the Doshin bansho

• The stone walls and the stones from which they are made are massive.

• For centuries the Japanese have celebrated the cherry blossoms in the Spring. These were among the first cherry blossoms that we saw.

• There are two distinguishing features of plum blossoms as compared to cherry blossoms: They form in tighter clusters than cherry blossoms and they bloom before the trees leaf out.

• Plum blossoms near Sensoji Temple

• Tokagakudo Music Hall in the Imperial Palace Gardens: This building was constructed in 1966 on the auspicious occasion of Empress Kojun's 60th birthday. The building is an octagon; the shape of its roof represents clematis petals and every outer wall is ornamented with mosaics of large flying birds and celestial objects. It was named for Empress Kojun's emblem, 'Peach-blossom'.

• Hirakawamon Gate

• Hirakawamon Gate detail

• These are temporary multi-story construction office modules being used in the renovation of the Meiji period Tokyo Station building.

• The Meiji period Tokyo Station building under renovation

• Tokyo International Forum, Rafael Viñoly, 1996

• Ota Doukan (1432-1480) was a superior commander during the Muromachi Period and builder of the Edo Castle. Sculptor - Fumio Asakura

• International Forum interior

• A view of Tokyo Station from the Tokyo International Forum

• A Shinkansen departing Tokyo Station

• The REMM Hibiya Hotel was our home for our first four days in Tokyo. Our room was small by American standards, but very comfortable, clean, functional, and efficient.

• REMM Hibiya Hotel

• Our room at the REMM Hibiya

• Here was the first of our heated toilet seats. All but one of our hotels/inns had a heated toilet seat.

• No real estate goes to waste in Tokyo. Many businesses, especially bars and resaurants, are located beneath the train tracks.

• There were many of these bronze handprints at a theater near our hotel. This is Sylvester Stallone's.

• Many of the bronze handprints and our local Starbucks

• A 'scramble' in Ginza where traffic is stopped in all directions so pedestrians can cross the intersection in any direction, including diagonally

• Matsuya Ginza, on the left, is one of the major department stores.

• Ginza

• De Beers headquarters in Ginza, Jun Mitsui, 2008.

• Ginza

• Ginza