With an errand to run, we visited the post office where we attempted to withdraw Yen. Unfortunately, it was more difficult than we expected as we were limited to 10,000YEN per withdrawal. Since 10,000YEN = ~$120, this wasn't nearly enough. Being as cheap as we are, we weren't excited to face 10 $3 withdrawal charges to obtain the 100,000YEN we require for the trip. We were also surprised to find that most restaurants do not accept credit cards increasing our need for Yen still more. With a small amount of Yen in hand, we made our way to Meji Park. It rained ALL day today, but we knew that we were travelling in rainy season so we were well prepared with umbrellas. We were surprised by how umbrella friendly that Tokyo is! At EVERY store entrance, there is a place to dry and store your umbrella, or bags to cover it so that it won't drip while you shop. Despite the wet weather, we had a GREAT stroll in the beautiful park and were very impressed with our first Japanese shrine. We were even lucky enough to witness a VERY traditional Japanese wedding procession at the shrine.
After taking in the park, we travelled onward to Tokyo's Harajuku district. This is the ultra-trendy fashion district. Young kids dress in near costumes to attract attention and flaunt their sense of fashion. We left the main street at the advice of our guide book and visited a long alley with still more stores and eateries. It was a blast! After working up some courage, we entered the subway system and made our first trip, including a transfer, to the Rippongi district. Rippongi is well known for its two mega shopping malls. 
We visited the Tokyo Mid-Town shopping centre. It was comprised of three huge buildings, one of which was a border-line sky scraper. There was a large piece of art in the front of the centre and a huge glass covering over a public square. This shopping mall was HUGE at 5 levels and had only the best of the best brands - we were very out of our element but enjoyed strolling around and looking at (rather than in) all of the interesting and fancy store fronts. We grabbed a great lunch and some pasteries for tomorrow's breakfast - yum! 
We continued our day with a trip to Ginza. Ginza is like Yorkville - ultra-high end: Armani, Hermes, LV, Tiffany & Co., etc...etc...etc... While enjoying simply browsing, we stumbled upon a super cheap store called Uniqlo. Its like H&M in Canada, except you can't get this stuff back home! For ~$200, Jess and I picked up more than a dozen items!!! We had lots of fun and were very pleased to have grabbed some great bargains in what is well known as a very expensive town. We ended our tour of Ginza with some slot car racing in a huge toy store (Steve won) and a starbucks. We're now recovering from the copious walking we did and the jet lag that's catching up with us at our super hotel. We're planning on dinner tonight and maybe a viewing of the city from the observatory at the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. We're definitely loving Tokyo so far! Steve & Jess
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