Tokyo wears me out

i'm in Tokyo and have been for over a day now. It is very.... foreign, familiar, interesting, overwhelming. I like using the metro and trains, it works well so long as you have a map. One big irritant is that many streets, major and minor, are unlabeled. It greatly impeded my navigation abilities.
When I awoke for the first time this morning it was 4AM here, but I was wide awake. Fortunately I was able to go back to sleep despite the atrocious snoring of my dormmates. Then at about 6:30 I heard Alex getting up- she's in the bunk above me and from Abq- thought might as well get the day underway. We had decided the night before to go to Tsukiji to see the fish market and get some fresh sushi breakfast.
I was way too befuddled to do more than locate the place and stumble around looking lost and scared. There were thousands of trucks and flatbed carts zooming around, as well as pedestrians and men pulling non-motorized carts. There were many many Styrofoam boxes with fish and ice in them. There bits of squid floating in water, octopi all curled up into round balls of suction cups, and the occasional tank of water with living fish, usually brown flat fish, in them. There men in rubber boots busily engaged in their trade and few not so busily waiting for others to come to them. I was overwhelmed by the variety of what was being sold. The biggest chunks of fish I saw were probably tuna, and they frozen and being cut with table saws. I even saw mollusks whose shells I would have been delighted to find on the beach- wonder what they were and how they taste.
In many places the cut up fish were in trays of water tinted red with their blood. It put me in mind of the fact that some people don't consider fish meat. There are so many odd notions in the world and we just go on creating more. For instance I felt very uncomfortable and intrusive wandering around in amongst the busy people and their fish. Other foreigners who had the same idea for an early morning excursion didn't look nearly as lost or worried as I felt. Maybe it was the jet lag causing me to be overly distressed.
In any case, the goal for the end of the venture was a certain restaurant recommended highly in the guidebook, however we ultimately settled on one that had a line, but of reasonable proportions, that served set meals of nigiri. After seeing all of the fresh sea-life less that 20 yards away I was ready to eat anything thrown down in front of me. My reasoning being that if they were preparing it so close to the source it was least likely to hurt me. Sadly I don't know the names of some of the things I ingested- many of them more on the strange side of texture and flavor. Something very white and smooth was also very firm and hard to chew- and I know it wasn't octopus. I got a piece with huge orange fish eggs that filled my mouth with goo as they burst- it tasted ok, but the sensation was unnerving. The oddest was a mushy off-white thing with a bit of silver skin that the chef warned should not be eaten with chopsticks because it was too soft. It was served with a puddle of the dark sauce that is usually put on eel. The mushiness was a bit much for me, but like I said, I trusted it because I know it was fresh. It was an expensive but delicious meal.

After we found our way out we went to Ginza which was very near at hand. It was time to experience the great "depa-to." We arrived at Matsuzakaya 20 minutes before opening but there were chairs in the entry-way to sit on. Being at a store when it opens has always weirded me out but this was worse because there were lovely chipper people behind every counter saying, "Irasshaimase" and "Ohayo gosaimasu." All I wanted to do was to peer curiously into the immaculate cases at the beautifully presented merchandise, but people just wouldn't stop greeting me cheerfully, so I just hurried by feeling exposed. We started with the basement floor for foodstuffs. I love food, especially beautiful food, and there so many exquisite things in the cases that were both appealing and utterly strange to me. I have resolved to return to a depa-to and get so food from their amazing selection. There was everything available from peaches the size of my two fists to sushi trays to precise 4inch high fruity parfaits. That obviously leaves out more familiar things, and also more strange things like the various pastes and dome shaped jellies for sale. I now wish for a picture dictionary to help me identify the things I see and order from menus.
This depa-to also had a section with kimonos for sale, the nicest ones priced in the thousands of dollars. On the same floor was a ceramics section that made me feel weak in the knees. There were little bowls 3inches across of unspeakable beauty and values. One that I liked in particular was a range of clear blue-green to turquoise in color depending on the thickness of the glaze, with a narrow-petaled flower formed in the bottom. Oh the glory of the perfection of the pieces, I wish I could have taken a picture.
Speaking of pictures, I feel like I am cursed when it comes to my camera. My memory card that I ordered didn't come before I left, and I discovered that I have left my USB cord for my camera at home when I was in San Fransisco. So at the end of my adventures for today I went to Akihabara, Electric City, and got a 1gig card for approximately $30. oh well, I can at least now have more than 20 pictures on my camera at a time.
It's me overlooking Ginza, taken by Alex. I looked as tired as I felt.

After Ginza we went looking for a shrine, which I think we found, but it was disappointing. On the way to Hibiya park, is was necessary to stop at what was labeled "Godzilla Statue" on the map. Sadly it was really only about 4 feet high. I left feeling cheated, what sort of terrible creature makes and installs a tiny bronze Godzilla statue in a small park for no good reason? Hibiya koen, however was everything I had hoped for and more. It was lush and green with old trees and the deafening sound of cicadas everywhere. There was a big pond and many benches to sit on and reflect on the old wall left over from when Tokyo was Edo.
There was also a statue of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which confused me. Then there was the rune given to Japan in 1957 when Scandinavians made the air passage to Japan over the North Pole.

Must end this abruptly because I am falling asleep. I can't be allowed to sleep for another 2 hours at least so I need to wake myself up.