The movie "Groundhog Day" starred comedy legend Bill Murray and told the story of a Pennsylvania weatherman who awoke several mornings in a row to find that he was living out the same day over and over. It would be an exaggeration to say that we felt like we were living out that movie... but we awoke at 4:30 today to a sunny sky in an effort to check out the action at Tsukijishijo (see VacAsian Day Twenty Six). Just like the previous morning, we dressed and found our way to Shiodome Metro station. The "Groundhog Day" effect took a weird turn there.Tokyo is the last place we expected to have problems using our ATM cards; however, Tokyo was the first (and only) place we had such a problem. As a result, this being our last full day in Tokyo (and, sadly, the last full day of
VacAsian), we were running low on yen. (In fact, you might say we had a yen for some yen. (Robin wrote that joke too, y'all.)) Unfortunately, it was not until we reached the Metro station that we realized just how few yen we had. Long story, short, we only had enough yen for one roundtrip Metro ticket, so instead of one of us going alone, we opted to go back to our room and sleep. We re-awoke up at 8:45... exactly the same time we re-awoke yesterday.NOTE: Neither of us saw our shadow during our brief trek, mainly because we were in the underground concourse and never stepped outside. Take that for what it's worth.
We went down to breakfast and the weather had taken a turn for the cold and wet. We located the one ATM in the Shiodome area that would take our ATM cards, ran some other errands, and came back to the room to work on postcards and continue fighting with FedEx. Recognizing this as our last day of VacAsian, we decided to brave the elements after a few hours and headed out.
Our first stop was Senso-Ji Temple, our first temple visit in Japan. The Temple was beautiful, like every one we've seen, and it is home to a life-sized, bronze teen Buddha (yes, even Buddha went through an awkward, adolescent phase) statue, the head of which has been rubbed smooth by countless visitors seeking good luck. (We, of course, were not above following this tradition. More on the results later.) Conveniently, there was also an expansive - you guessed it! - market adjacent to the Temple, where we did our final shopping of the VacAsian.Leaving - or trying to leave - the market, we got lost for the first time on our 30 day VacAsian. (Of course, it WOULD happen on our very last 
day!) As we picked our way through the retail labyrinth that was the Senso-Ji Market, Huey chuckled to himself as he was reminded of The Eagles' lyric "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
day!) As we picked our way through the retail labyrinth that was the Senso-Ji Market, Huey chuckled to himself as he was reminded of The Eagles' lyric "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." Welcome to The Hotel Senso-Ji!
Eventually, we found a train station, and, with the help of yet another native Samaritan - the Japanese are an extremely kind, proud, and hospitable people - we got back on course to get to where we needed to be.
Our next stop was the Roppongi Hills area of Tokyo, where we grabbed a quick bite at The Rolling Stone Cafe, next door to 
the theatre where we were to see The Blue Man Group. We enjoyed our first chips and salsa of the VacAsian, as well as a rich, tasty chocolate cake (HACS rating 7.7) with ice cream before heading next door to take our seats. We were the only Westerners in the theatre, and although The Blue Man Group are essentially mimes (but not the kind you want to kick), the announcements and textual portions of the show were in Japanese. Huey had seen The Blue Man Group in Las Vegas many years ago, but this was Robin's first experience. Both of us agreed it was a fantastic, one of a kind show, and the "language barrier" wasn't really a barrier at all.
the theatre where we were to see The Blue Man Group. We enjoyed our first chips and salsa of the VacAsian, as well as a rich, tasty chocolate cake (HACS rating 7.7) with ice cream before heading next door to take our seats. We were the only Westerners in the theatre, and although The Blue Man Group are essentially mimes (but not the kind you want to kick), the announcements and textual portions of the show were in Japanese. Huey had seen The Blue Man Group in Las Vegas many years ago, but this was Robin's first experience. Both of us agreed it was a fantastic, one of a kind show, and the "language barrier" wasn't really a barrier at all.
From the theatre, we took a taxi to Gonpachi, a popular, highly-rated Japanese restaurant in a traditional Edo-style building. The food - mostly skewers of meat and seafood - was amazing, and in stark contrast to the clientele at the theatre, the restaurant was easily 95% Westerners and Australians.
The restaurant was off the beaten bath, so after dinner, we took a taxi to the Metro, which we took back to our hotel.Will we burrow our way out of the "Groundhog Day" effect tomorrow? Tune in tomorrow - same HueBin time, same HueBin station - and find out.
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