The rice paddies.

I recently got a new lens, so I thought that I would take it out and grab some pictures of our neighborhood for you.  It is currently rainy season, which means it is also rice season.  We have these massive fields behind our house where farmers work endlessly to grow rice.  When I took these pictures they were just starting to plant the rice seed.  The next step is to flood the rice paddies, which is why the rain is so important.  It is such an amazing process to witness and I’m happy that it is happening right in my backyard.  I’ll try to take more pictures of the rice growing so that you can experience it along with me.  

Tsukiji Fish Market.

For the last part of our staycation we booked a room in Tokyo.  We didn’t feel like having to worry about catching the last train home, which tends to make the evening feel rushed.  Instead we had an incredibly lazy afternoon and evening eating and drinking our way through the city.  We started at an Australian restaurant, moved on to a craft beer bar, tried to get into a Nintendo bar that ended up being closed for a private party, instead went to an Italian restaurant that we thought was a Mexican restaurant where we ended up ordering girlie drinks that we thought were glasses of wine, tried to go to another Mexican restaurant that didn't have any openings until close to 1 AM, and eventually ended up near our hotel with margaritas and tacos (did I mention it was Cinco de Mayo?).  In other words, it was just another normal night in Tokyo.

I didn’t really take any pictures until the next morning when we decided to go to Tsukiji Fish Market, one of the biggest and busiest markets in the world.  I had been before, but Matt has wanted to go for awhile and this was the perfect time considering it was only a few stops away from our hotel and we were hungry for breakfast.  I mean, who doesn’t want fresh fish first thing in the morning?!  The shops around Tsukiji not only win the prize for freshest food, but also have the honor of being the most crowded place I have ever visited in Japan (not a small feat considering the pictures from Enoshima). 

Here is our morning at the market.