the all nighter, plus breakfast.

at the end of my first day in tokyo, i didn't go to bed.

instead at around midnight i headed over to tsukiji to meet yudai, 

my translator and to photograph the tuna auction at 4am.

on the way to tsukiji i stopped off at ginza to have a look around

this is an advertisement poster at ginza station.

is it my imagination or have they removed the fence that goes around stonehenge ?

they certainly don't let people get that close these days.

check it out.

more great britain posters next to my favourite tokyo thing

this vending machine is a cracker because you can use your pasmo card

to buy drinks ( pasmo is the japanese version of our oyster card )

tsukiji station

which for some reason i kept pronouncing as "tsujiki" 

( i hope that doesn't mean anything rude in japanese ? )

i don't know why, but i love this sign

i even have a t-shirt with it printed on the front.

it also reminds me of a band that a friend of mine almost managed

( they were called "exit here, to the left to the left" )

in tokyo, as ever, i was representing n7

ha ha !

my favourite place name

all together now... 

"the next station will be takadanobaba... takadanobaba"

here's my translator yudai, his cousin and me, trying to stay

awake through the night at jonathans 24 hour joint in tsukiji

wow ! i look tired... this was friday morning in tokyo and the last time

i'd slept was tuesday evening in london.

( many thanks to virgin airlines and their seats / legroom for making this possible )

moving on... here's the magic button which would summons a waitress

to our table

to bring japanese food for two people and chips for me.

fast forward a few hours, and after my shoot we hit a small sushi bar

just over the road from the fish market. it was about 6.30am

time for breakfast...

i won't lie, i was freezing cold by this point. but warmed up with some fresh green tea

( they wouldn't make me a flat white )

we ordered up some sushi...

it was horrible

i kid...

it was absolutely incredible. i'm not a sushi fan but this was amazing.

it was also amazing to think that an hour or so previously i'd seen this tuna

being auctioned off... hmmmm.

of course when what was left of me got back to ikebukero, it was time for

me to grab another little breakfast before hitting the sack

a milky coffee and a hot doughnut at the little jazz cafe near my hotel.

surely in a few minutes i would sleep like a champion right ?