Final day in tokyo
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
47
93
Trip End
Jan 31, 2009
Tokyo,
Kanto,
Japan
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
finally made it to the tsukuji fish market. hopped on the first subway at 5.13am. hundreds of people were running around at the market. it was huge. you could find anything fish-related here. they auction them, process, cut, transport, retail and cook them. i followed the main path all the way to the end, until i got to the tuna auction. as the numerous English signs stated, public viewing of the auction was prohibited, but i went in anyways. think of a large garage... on the floor of this garage are dozens of tunas; their tails have been cut and placed in their mouths. the auction manager got on a crate and started auctioning the large tunas row by row. as he was encouraging the buyers to bid higher, he was constantly yelling the same Japanese words and performing a bit of a dance by continuously bending his knees
Fish Market 2
. when the fish was sold, it was first taken to processing, then to the buyers truck.in the middle of the auction, they kicked me and some other westerner tourists out.
standing drivers carried the fish on three-wheeled, open-top vehicles. dozens of these vehicles were buzzing around like crazy. i can`t believe i didn`t get hit by one of them.
courageously, decided to start the day off with some fresh sushi. got in the line in front of the restaurant that looked the busiest. they were offering 7 pieces for more than $20. it was expensive, but it was alsa the best sushi that i will ever have.
as i was walking around tsukuji, i spotted quite a few skyscrapers, including the Conrad hotel.
went to ueno to take a look at the Tokyo national museum. one of the most succinct museums that i have ever visited. gave me a good overview of Japanese history and art.
i have always been surprised by the unique manga and anime culture in japan. well, i shouldn`t be. these simply are plays on early Japanese paintings, which are quite comic-strip-like. therefore, i guess, manga is only an evolutionary phase.
engin has a maid from the Philippines. they pay her 10,000 yens for 6 hours a day. minako had told me that Japanese people tend not to use maids and that they preferred to do the work themselves in order to save money.
packed up and caught my 11.50 bus to Kyoto. this was the cheapest way to get there. 4,500 yens.
