Tokyo, Japan - Wednesday, February 10

Though I am not a morning person at all, I did not mind starting my day at 6am knowing that this is the only day I will get to spend in Tokyo. I met up with Laura, Marvel (one of the ship’s counselors), Sopahon (Marvel’s daughter) and Gayle (Marvel’s friend) and we headed out in the dark to start our Tokyo adventure. It was 6am and our first stop was going to be the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (fish market). We very quickly learned to navigate the train system to Yokohama and then the Metro (subway) when we were in Tokyo. It is probably the most user friendly subway system I have ever been on. As we traveled on it during rush hour we rode the train in silence. It was so odd to be on a packed subway car in complete silence. We whispered to each other for fear of being looked at as stupid Americans.


From 5am to 6am the fish market has an auction where the fishermen auction off their fish to markets and restaurants and then after the auction the market is open to the public. Now this public usually consists of restaurant or shop owners buying fish to then be sold but we went to take it in as a tourist attraction. Once we got there around 8am we walked around the vendors that were outside of the market; sampling all sorts of food we have never seen before the best of which was raw tuna that melted in your mouth like butter. Laura and I were trying to figure out if there was a way to buy a hunk and then eat it as we walked around. As we remembered that it was not even 9am yet we opted against that and continued our way through sampling as we went along.

Those are little fish that I will be sampling:                

My face after sampling:

Not sure what the creature to the left is but the tuna we sampled is in the bowl to the right:

Everyone we encountered was super friendly including a woman we starting talking to who when we asked her where we could get some tea she walked us through the streets to show us where. We continued to walk through these vendors for about an hour and then we approached the fish market. As we did we saw that there was also a Shinto Shrine we think it was called the Kikobashi Gate. What is important to note is that the Shinto’s have Shrines and the Buddhist’s have temples (there will be many more of these to come as my travels continue around the world).

 

  We finally entered the fish market and walked around the hustle and bustle of business taking place all the while avoiding getting hit by this quick moving cart type things that were being used to transport fish from the vendors to the vehicles that were outside. We did see whale meet for sale that is seen as a delicacy in Japan (I believe) for 12,000 yen/kg; this equals over $130/kg.

Shark:

After walking around some more we decided it was time to head out to the electronics district. My camera broke while we were in Hawaii and I wanted to see if it could be fixed here. Luckily I have some great people with me on this journey who have lent me their cameras so I would not be without one. Unfortunately I was unable to get it fixed, but I hope to try again in Hong Kong.

Laura and I parted ways from the rest of our little group at this point and went on to explore the Imperial Palace (where the Emperor resides). We walked the grounds for about an hour looking at the different aspects that make up the Palace and also realizing that winter was not the best time to be looking at “beautiful” gardens since it was chilly and the vast ‘green’ lawn was actually beige!

We left the Imperial Palace and went to Harajuku; this is supposed to be the area where the young people who are into Anime hang out and shop. First things first we were in need of some food, though we had sampled and actually stopped for a Starbuck’s before getting here we were quite hungry. We stopped in a restaurant that was just about to close (which we did not realize until later) and order from a picture again some tasty food. I had a rice dish with cabbage and chicken and a miso soup. I do not like miso soup but this was the best miso soup I have ever tasted and I may actually like it now.

Here is the restaurant owner closing up shop while we finish our tasty meal:

We walked the street of Takeshita-dori and observed among many things people pushing their dogs around in baby strollers, dyed hair and outfits for sale that look like they hopped out of a cartoon.

After a very long day it was now time to head back to the ship. The next day I spent on the ship traveling to Kobe and though at first I was sad to be missing a day in Japan it turned out to be a much needed day of relaxation and recharging that ended with a fancy sit down dinner!!!