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The morning started off with a very pleasant, non-shrill beeping from the alarm clock at 8am. Can you believe that
even the alarm clocks are polite in Japan? So Craig gets up and makes us some tea. We had a choice between green tea
and brown tea. We both went from the green but unfortunately, it didn't give us the caffeine jolt that coffee usually
provides. I've heard that tea has just as much or even more caffeine than coffee, but I've never felt quite the impact
I do from a cup of coffee. I wasn't about to pay three bucks for a child-size cup of coffee though.
We looked outside and we had a beautiful view of Tokyo Harbor, but what wasn't pleasant was the rain. It didn't
look too bad so we decided to just trek it to the famous Tsujiki Fish Market, which was located somewhere on the other
side of the harbor. I made the mistake of thinking we could just cross the bridge and end up at the market, but it
turned out that we had to walk the long way around the bay. The rain pelted down on us and it was uncomfortable and
cold, but Craig took some shots of a Nissan Skyline (another “only-in-Japan” car) and a
funny, dopy-looking car. Most of the cars look like that in Japan, even the trucks. I think what
makes them look so toy-like is that the wheels are the same size for any car and they're much shorter and narrower than
cars in America. Along the way we heard what sounded like a person speaking in a very articulate tone, “caw.” “Caw.”
We looked up and a black bird the size of a hawk flew above our heads and landed in the trees. It turns out that crows
in Japan are enormous and like to enunciate their cawing to an extreme. Craig said, “these birds are so cliché.” It
was hard to get a picture because they never stayed in any one place for very long, but if you look closely at this
picture you can see the black crow against the trees.
I was almost ready to give up on finding the fish market when we turned a corner and instantly appeared at the
front of the market. It did take us half an hour just to find where to get in, and we had to go in through an entrance
where a bunch of workers were hauling shipments of fish into the market. What we didn't expect at all was that the
market consisted of narrow rows with fish vendors displaying their products
in the aisles, but there was no real walkway that was pedestrian friendly. We constantly had to dodge little motor
vehicles with sharp prongs sticking out the front. They didn't even hesitate when they'd come within three inches of
skewering us. But the fish on display were amazing! We saw enormous slabs of beautiful,
fresh tuna and various other fish and seafood. The market
went on and on and we passed by giant squids, lobsters, shellfish, crab… you name it, they got it! I had in my mind
that the Tsujiki Fish Market was going to be similar to Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco, and boy did I underestimate
Tsujiki to an extreme.
This might come across as really odd to some people, but after immersing myself in frozen, raw seafood for about
two hours, I got hungry. And where else can you expect fresher sushi than right at source? Craig and I made our
ways through the maze of ice, fish, and trucks to a shopping and eating section. We bought an umbrella because the
wind had flipped Craig's inside out, and we checked out the desserts displayed outside of the shops. We were on a
quest to find the best sushi for the price, so we went row by row looking at photographs of sushi meals propped up
on windows and how much they cost. We finally settled on a place that had a reasonably priced sushi combo which
looked tasty in the picture. When we sat down, we were presented with warm tea which was so nice considering we
were out in the freezing rain all morning. Then the server brought us miso soup with shrimp heads, which may not
sound appealing but actually was delicious because the heads gave the soup a prominent shrimp flavor. Of course
the heads were not for eating. We pointed to the sushi we wanted on the menu (I love there are always pictures of
food on the menus, it makes it so much easier for tourists) and weren't disappointed! I knew about half the items
in the combo, such as the nigiri pieces of egg, roe, shrimp, tuna, and salmon. The tamago (egg)
was cute because they had printed some sort of design on the top that must've been the logo of the restaurant. I
didn't know what the roll consisted of and there was one piece of nigiri that was utterly disgusting. That light
pink one in the center of the picture turned out to be chewy at first, and then it got slimy but never got soft
enough to swallow no matter how longed you chewed and chewed. I finally just swallowed it and it felt like
swallowing a giant wad of gum. Yuck! Here's a picture of me pondering what's in that roll with
little seafood chunks. Overall I'd have to say it was a positive experience and absolutely one of the best meals
I had in Japan.
Our next stop was Ginza, the shopping district. Ginza is supposed to have the latest trends and fashions from
around the world. While walking to the train station, Craig shot another photo of one of those
Japanese cars he likes so much. We hopped on the Yamanote line and arrived in Ginza with the rain still being
relentless. While we were walking around the neighborhood, we noticed that was no litter and it
was eerily quiet. Even though there were lots of people walking along the street, the only noise was the wind,
rainfall, and the occasional car that drove by. Nobody was speaking to each other or on their cell phones. Ginza
did really just consist of one store after another. Craig saw some cabinets he liked. I
wasn't really impressed with the outfits displayed in the windows of the department stores. We
did see an interestingly narrow and tall apartment building. Check out how close it is to
the buildings beside it! I'm not sure people can fit through the sides of that building. Overall, Ginza was pretty
boring. I can see the appeal if you want to go there strictly to shop, but for two tourists trying to save as much
money as possible to survive four more days in Japan, it wasn't all that great. All I got was a cute little umbrella with a plastic
bear head as the handle.
Bored with Ginza, we were ready to head to the “Electric City,” Akihabara. This district's nickname reminds me of Disney World.
But being the tech geeks that we are, Craig and I were psyched to get there to check out the state-of-the-art electronics. We
arrived at 7 o' clock and were immediately greeted with bright, flashy signs and blaring j-pop music. There were tons of pachinko
parlors also, which was pretty fitting considering they're vivid and loud. Oddly enough, in the presence of such magnificent
electronic stimulation, our first stop was into a One Yen store. Let me tell you, these are the most fantastic stores you
could ask for when it comes to getting souvenirs. One yen is roughly equivalent to one dollar, and most everything in the store
is authentic Japanese. This means you can get teapots, chopsticks, dishware, Japanese toys, and all kinds of other stuff for a
dollar each. Craig and I bought a bunch of items and proceeded to investigate the rest of the district. It was about dinner
time so we stopped to eat at a soba shop. One of the best inventions the Japanese have are the food ticket machines. It makes it so much easier and faster to look at pictures and descriptions of what they have to offer,
buy a ticket for that item, and then bring it up to the counter. This removes the need for a server to give you a menu, let
you look at it, and then take your order. The server at fast restaurants in the US could be sped up tremendously if this method
was ever implemented. The soba was delicious and cheap — it cost about $3 per bowl. By the time we stepped outside, it was about 8:30pm, and to our dismay it seemed like most of the stores were
closing! We frantically ran around trying to find the stores with the cool, futuristic gadgets and giant robots, but doors
were shutting left and right. We were able to make it into a few more shops, but they didn't have anything out of the ordinary.
Defeated, we started walking back to the train station.
But our defeat was immediately overcome by sheer delight when our eyes set upon….the beer vending machines! We had been searching for these the whole time we were in Japan and having not caught a
glimpse of a single one until now, we assumed they were just rumors. But lo and behold, there were 40's that could be
purchased from a vending machine! There were a few varieties even, such as Sapporo and
Kirin — it was so exciting. That concluded our second day with content. Craig and I made a note that we were going
to come back to Akihabara before our trip was over, because there was so much that we missed. Then we hopped the JR back
to our hotel and crashed.
Go to Day 3 >>>
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