Fish market madness

Trip Start Nov 03, 2009
1
4
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Trip End Nov 17, 2009


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Flag of Japan  , Kanto,
Friday, November 6, 2009

This morning we work up really early to get to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market.  Everyone I've talked to recommended this place.  This time we did the right thing and got day long subway passes.  This allowed us to quickly get in and out of stations and not having to worry which trains were on the Tokyo Metro or Toei lines.  After exiting the subway station, we were a little lost b/c we were following some Swedish guy who was apparently also lost.  But we eventually found the place by observing where all the trucks were coming from and following our noses (when the fishy smell was getting stronger we knew we were close).  I've never seen so many varieties of seafood in my life - tuna, octopus, squid, oysters, prawn, crab, you name it.  We saw giant tuna sitting on mini trucks that probably costs thousands of dollars.  Of course this was a place of business so there was a lot of activity going on.  It was organized chaos.  Butchers cutting and filleting the fish, restaurant and store owners surveying and buying the products.  But man More fish
More fish
 !  It was the fishermen in these mini transport vehicles that you had to watch out for!  These little trucks were everywhere and they didn't care if you were in their way!  One old guy carting some fish in his wheelbarrow basically stiff armed my brother and I b/c we were in his way!  What happened to the polite Japanese?  We also promptly got out of the way of a butcher who was charging down the aisle with a machete!

After fearing for our lives a little bit, we went to the friendlier confines of a market area near Tsukiji.  There were lots of produce and cookware for the restaurant owners to buy.  But there were a bunch of small restaurants.  We decided to go to Sushizanmai for what we believed will be the best sushi we will ever have!  This restaurant was recommended by our Lonely Planet guidebook so it was a plus that it was English friendly.  The restaurant was nicely laid out.  We sat at the sushi bar and ordered a tray of assorted sushi which came with miso soup.  And just for the heck of it, we ordered some à la carte sushi which included fatty tuna (their most expensive sushi which runs at about $4 a piece) and octopus (I had to get my favorite!).  And if you're curious, sushi is actually expensive in Japan.  We paid about 3000 yen (a little more than $30 for 12 pieces).  It was absolutely awesome seeing the chef (who btw wasn't Mexican ;-) ) take out a tuna fish from an aquarium, chop off its head, see the fish still wiggling, have the tuna put on some rice, and have the sushi put on our plate in mere minutes Sushi
Sushi
 !  That's as fresh as it can get!  The sushi was excellent!  The fish just melts in your mouth and the rice was cooked just right.  Interestingly, wasabi was already added to the sushi.  I'm not a fan of wasabi but it wasn't that spicy and complemented the sushi perfectly.  The fish was also huge and completely covered the rice and then some unlike the sushi we get back home.  The fatty tuna was really good but I don't know if I'd pay $4 a piece again.  It was a wonderful morning meal.  I wouldn't mind having fresh sushi for breakfast for the rest of my life.  As an aside, when I got back home, I visited the new Wegman's in Leesburg.  As I passed their sushi bar, I gave out a snooty chuckle :)

After what was already a memorable morning, went to Tokyo station to get our JR (Japan Rail) passes for trip to Nikko tomorrow.  Since we were in the area, we decided to take another try at the Imperial Palace.  But it was closed again.  Apparently it's not open on Mondays and Fridays.  Darn!  Oh well, I got some nice photos of the outside gates on a nice sunny day.  I put on my sunglasses for a bit but felt out of place b/c I noticed that none of the Japanese wore sunglasses.  I guess since they're underground in the subways a lot, they didn't need it.  We then headed over to the Ginza district.  We visited the Sony building where we saw lots of new gadgets like mp3 players, small headphones, cameras, flat screen TVs, small laptops, desktop PCs, PS3 games, home entertainment systems Windows 7 Whopper
Windows 7 Whopper
 .  There were also some impressive models of famous world landmarks made out of legos including a seven foot Egyptian statue.  After that, we took a short trip to the International Forum which is basically a large convention center.  It was a marvel of glass and steel made to look like an inverted ship.  It wasn't a very touristy area so felt out of place among the business suits.

After that, we made ourselves back to the hotel for a little break.  How do you follow up a magnificent sushi breakfast?  How about Burger King?  Though we didn't get opt for just a whopper.  No!  We went for the Windows 7 whopper!  The first day in Japan we saw that the promotion was still going on and we just had to try it.  It was basically an ordinary whopper w/ seven patties.  Nothing really special.  I had to share w/ my bro.  Felt my heart really working after the meal.

We then took the Chuo line all the way to Ogikubo to get to the Suginami Animation Museum.  But we couldn't find the place so we just wandered around to kill some time.  Later that night, I met up with Chieko and Sakura in Shibuya for dinner.  Chieko and Sakura used to work for AOL Japan during my International days.  We went to a nice Japanese restaurant which a lot of the locals went.  Yakitori (chicken skewers), vegetables, crab and cucumber salad, and stew were some of the authentic Japan dishes served.  The perfect way to end a great day!
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