Hi from Tokyo, my final night in this buzzing, neon metropolis. Yesterday after I ate my complimentary brekky of rice and fish and miso, I headed out to the famous Tsukiji Wholesale fish market where all the action starts around 4am the time the tuna gets auctioned. It is meant to be a real spectacle but as it is a serious business, only the first 140 tourists are allowed to witness the hard core bidding and if you are number 141 you are turned away. Funnily enough, I did not make the 4am start but did arrive at 10am, my sort of early... but some of the stalls were already shutting down for the day. Man it was the most awesome array of every sea creature imaginable, things I have never seen before, fish YES but sluggy things and what looked like giant mussles or shellfish, and every conceivable size of ocean creature from smaller than your thumbnail to as big as ME!
I wandered thru the stalls snapping away and nearly got run over by forklift trucks going in every direction in continuous streams, it was manic! The market was the size of both sheds at the Vic Market, maybe bigger, and filled with sea creatures. Now, I reckon the amount left over every day would be 10 times what the Vic market sells on a good day, so is this witness to the fact that we are overfishing our oceans, a moral dilemma to be sure. I had mixed emotions about this in the end.
I ate some sushi there, fresh from the ocean, in one of many tiny stalls on the outskirts where there is a general market, but quite small in comparison. It was expensive compared to the sushi I have eaten but I had to try it fresher than I will ever have it again my lifetime.
Then back on the tube to Akihabara, Electric Town, which sells all sorts of electrical gadgets and is the site of a manga info centre... which only consisted of a shop and some info and brochures on all the anime and manga museums in town... it was such a contrast to the fish markets!
Then onto Nihombashi to see a small kite museum which was above a restaurant and packed to the rafters with old hand painted paper kites preserved behind glass to newer and more fanciful ones hanging from every available spot, with some antique bits and pieces, and a wee shop. I got myself a box kite and hope it makes it home without breaking the bamboo frame. I love kites and if I had time could have booked in to a kite making class.
My by now weary legs then took me to Ginza to find a famous bronze lion near a big department store (of which there are many) which up til today had eluded me. I finally found it and was pleased, as today I met my friend Tomoko there. Ginza is the 5th Avenue of Tokyo with all the big names and an awesome Sony building which showcases new products... I wish I had a lot of money coz I could have easily spent a lot. I have somehow managed to go Italic on this keyboard, hey change is good!
I had a nanna nap at the hotel then headed out for dinner at a nearby station, and had tempura and rice and miso for under $10, something rare in this country... then back to base. I had a long soak in the bath and my sore legs thanked me and I hit the sack.
Today I hit Roppongi, the night spot area but during the day. There are many art museums there but do you think any were open at 10am? I am slow to learn no one opens b4 11am here and stays open til 9pm, so getting up early to get a start is not such a good idea. I walked more and saw a design exhibition and headed back to Ginza to meet Tomoko by that ol' bronze lion!
Spent a nice day eating seeing the Imperial Palace which is the Emperor's residence, losing my lens cap to the big camera and retracing my footsteps to Lunch where we banged on the door so the chef would let us in and found it, and then out of Tokyo to the burbs for some green tea cake and a tofu dinner in a restaurant which just makes Tofu stuff, interesting textures and flavours. My green tea adventures are coming to an end, only tomorrow til 3pm and then I head to Narita airport and head homewards... I am sad to leave this crazy place but come if you can, it is really worth the experience!
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