I met chaplain Bradshaw this morning at 4:50 am outside the BOQ and we went non-stop until now (3:30 PM)! I had to have him review the subway map with me to remember all the places we went and all the WICKID FRICKIN COOL stuff we saw (including the 1000 Yen I found on the ground when walking to the train station in the morning)- Fish Market
- Royal Palace and Breakfast sort of
- Akihabara; the electronics meca of the WORLD
- Tokyo Tower
- Roppongi real Japanese lunch
- Back to base (with a stop by me at the Fresh Market under the Akinaya Department Store)
The Fish Market
Apparently, Tsukiji hosts the world’s largest fish market. There is crazy auctioning for large amounts o very big fish that happens at 4 am every day. Chaplain Bradshaw and I missed that. We did arrive by 7 am to see lots of the fun though…
The pictures and video tell most the story-it was a lot of gross and a lot of amazing and a lot of fish-and we were there AFTER the craziness had died down!! But thankfully, we were there early enough that everything was still fresh and nothing smelled bad J
On our way out, we paused at a stall selling Japanese goodies with lots and lots of samples. I tried everything. I have NO idea what I ate but it was GOOD. I bought some spicy sea vegetable stuff which is sort of like kimchi…but not. It was too early for Chaplain Bradshaw to join me in my tasting adventure…
Royal Palace and Breakfast Sort of
From the market, we walked over to the royal palace. Chaps was a great guide and a great adventurer so we had fun finding our way from Tsukiji. We were hungry so we were looking for places to stop along the way. Japan does not do European/American style breakfasts so really we were looking for an am/pm or a 7-iHoldings (aka 7-11) to grab something breakfast-y. We paused at a few packed sushi stands but Bradshaw does not do the raw fish and I just cannot imagine sashimi at 7 am-especially after everything we had just seen.
We eventually found ourselves at the Palace without successfully finding grub so we stopped at the little concession stand. The only thing they were serving was hot dog. (hot dog at 7 am v. raw fish…which is better/worse?) I ate some cereal I had brought along for the ride.
The Royal Palace opened and we got as close as we could (which was about 500 meters up a ramp) and then we left
3. Akihabara; the electronics meca of the WORLD
We made our way (and by made our way, I mean meandered some circuitous route which was apparently not exactly straight there-Bradshaw knew that but I did not and I was totally happy just to wander the Ginza district) We walked through Ginza which is the 5th avenue of Japan-except between Gap and Jaegger there are little Japanese restaurants and stores instead of tasti-d-light.
En route to electronic land-Bradshaw introduced me to grape juice. It comes in this little can with a very heavy base. The juice is something more like syrup than juice but not soo think or soo sweet as to be gross. It was like drinking liquid grape-something like what I imagine melba sauce to be…but I have never actually had that so I don’t really know…It was awesome! It was like liquid ridiculous in my mouth. You all have to try this stuff some time…
At the Akihabara, we went into this 9 story mega store of electronics. NINE STORIES! The funnest thing I saw was the high-techest toilet seat ever for 29800 Japanese Yen ($298)-it warms, it plays water sounds when you sit on it so no one can here you doing your business, it has a bidet and other cleaning features—this thing did everything other than your dishes (although….). Note: I had seen this toilet seat before.
We also strolled through the toy department. Apparently bubbles are
very popular in Japan. When I say bubbles though, I mean those $.50 things you get outside of the grocery store-here they are a whole industry with stores and stores and aisles and aisles of real estate devoted to small pieces of kitsch in a plastic ball.
ToTokyo Tower
A few train stops later, we were at Tokyo Tower which looks like Tour Eiffel but Japanese-y in architecture and orange in color. We went all the way to the top…sadly, it was overcast so we could not see Fuji but it is out there…somewhere…
PS-I had to lie down on the sidewalk to get this pic...:) That brought a few looks...
5. Roppongi real Japanese lunch
We walked up the hill from Tokyo Tower into Roppongi where we sought out some authentic Japanese. We went to this one restaurant, Milan (I think that was the name) and were seated in our own private cubby hole. The maitre d had to function as our waiter as there was no English anywhere and no pictures. I got the egg and
chicken bowl and thought, who knows?? It was great-dark meat chicken complete with skin over hot rice and an egg cracked on top (and left to cook on the hot rice-and by left to cook I mean, cooked-ish). It came with some pickled stuff and some seaweed stuff and some miso soup and some grapes. I recognized the last two items…It was quite tasty and I never have to do that again. J
6. Back to base (with a stop by me at the Fresh Market under the Akinaya Department Store)
We then made our way back. I was EXHAUSTED. If you have been following along in my travels, you may notice a theme of me not SO much sleeping and I think it is catching up a bit. Not to worry, I am doing ok, I just need to slow down a bit (my grandmother told me to so I definitely have to do so!). But before heading back to the Q for a nap, I had to stop in the Akinaya Department Store. I was told I HAD to have a Japan peach so I went searching. Um, I can’t describe it…imagine a whole floor of a department store devoted to cuisine and gorgeous. Everything was beautiful-fruit, vegetables, prepared foods, cake, cookies, candy EVERYTHING. This apparently is just the normal store…(I am not 100% certain about that) I bought a spice I had enjoyed at lunch which I think will be fun for a certain culinary adventurer and I to play with and some flower-looking vegetable thing which tastes like radish (I did not know then that it tasted like radish, but it looked like a fun food to try). I took pictures of the peaches because I could not bring myself to spend $6 on a piece of fruit…but maybe I will some time this week…feels sort of like something I will have to experience before I go.
No big morals of the day. Chaplain Bradshaw was just too fun to hang out with and I had an amazing time. I really am loving Japan.
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