Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market

Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market

Sushi for breakfast? YES, please.

Okay, foodies, wake up. I know I've been posting my head off about architecture lately, but now I am going to redeem myself.

We arrived in Tokyo October 20th, and decided that that famous fish market was our first destination. At this point we were architecture-ed out. We weren't hardcore enough to wake up and get to Tsukiji Fish Market at 5am to see the tuna auction, but we did wake up in time to get a spot in like for sushi for breakfast.

During the ~2 hour wait, I meandered through the fish market ---

At 9am, the craziness has started to die down. Fish are being packed and shipped.

What's crazy is, although there's fish everywhere, the place smelled surprisingly un-fishy. As if the fish was so fresh, it wasn't fishy. I was expecting the smell when you walk by NYC Chinatown, where the sidewalks are washed with fish guts.

This crab didn't stand a chance. Poor thing, battered alive, still moving.

I head back to our spot in line at Sushi Dai, which is supposedly the best-kept secret at Tsukiji. It's not in the American tourist books (it may be in the chinese ones...) but he heard of it through word of mouth, the best way to get delicious food. When you see japanese businessmen with their luggage waiting in line, you know it's worth the wait.

The velvet ropes...for only a part of the line; the rest wrapped around the block.

FINALLY! We got in! Higher wooden ledge is your "plate" where they place the sushi.

Now, let me just say, before I came to Asia, I absolutely HATED sushi. I hated the fishy aftertaste, the idea of eating raw fish, everything... I know, a very un-asian characteristic (along with no skill for playing any musical instrument). But then I discovered  how delicious tuna was. And then, I went to Tsukiji.


I documented in sequence each delicious morsel, but can't remember exactly which fish was what. Here's what I remember:

1) Tuna (fatty)
2) Yellowtail?
3) ?

4) Spanish mackerel

5) Tuna (lean)

6) ?

[breathe]  

7) tekkamacki - tuna rolls

8) tamago - sweet egg custard

9) japanese eel

When I ate the last one, the eel, my tastebuds were very happy. I literally left there smiling, it was so damn good.

What a way to take Tokyo by storm!

Last Night in Kyoto

Last Night in Kyoto

We went to Gion in search for chopsticks and geisha, both of which we did not find. But we did find a beautiful part of Japan that we had been waiting to find since the beginning of this trip -- a place that genuinely felt like Japan.

Alleyways in the Gion

 Life-sized stuffed animals for each of the short girls:

I ate blowfish! and lived to tell about it.