Arigatou Gozaimasu, Tokyo

JAPAN!! I can’t believe we’ve already made it to Asia! WOW.

So Robin and I have a bit of an obsession with sushi, so naturally Japan was on our list of places to go on this journey. Japan was extra exciting because it was the first stark cultural contrast of our trip in relation to Australia and New Zealand. Both countries former colonies of Great Britain. Also, not a lot of people speak English here so this presented a new and exciting challenge for us. But Japan, Japan is a breed of its own. The people are lovely and kind and they take a great deal of pride in everything that they do. They work hard, and they also like to play hard. It wasn’t uncommon to see crowded subways at 1 am with people in suits and pickled from a night out after work. They’ve also perfected the art of standing and sleeping and somehow still knowing when they’ve reached their stop. And in the morning they get up early and work long hours. It also wasn’t uncommon to ask someone for directions and them stop what they’re doing and walk you to where you needed to go. And, they  are some of the most efficient people. Machines to order meals, machines to buy your tickets, machines to take your tickets. Machines everywhere.

On that efficiency note, thankfully with such a large area to cover, Japan also has an excellent subways and train system. Robin and I walked about 12 miles a day while in Tokyo, but that includes many subway stops to hop around. We spent about 5 days in Tokyo and could have spent much more really. Most of our time was spent eating (go figure) and hoping the rail to another new and exciting area. Some of my favorite things of note are the Tsukiji Fish Market, eating raw sashimi style horse at the Piss Alley in Shinjuku neighborhood, the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Akihabara, Tokyo Zoo in Ueno, live Edo cultural show in Asaksa and riding the subway during rush hour on a work day.

The Tsukiji Fish Market was pretty impressive sight to see. It is THE place to go to for Otoro, or fatty tuna. Here we arrived early to eat sushi for breakfast and we waited in line for about an hour. It was so worth it. The funny thing is, some people at other shops were waiting 5 hours! Crazy, I know. We didn’t have that sort of dedication so we went to one of the less touristy spots that also had amazing sushi and not a lot of the line, although once we got in line it quickly grew much longer so I’d consider us lucky. This portion of the market is known as the inner market. It isn’t just sushi shops in here, its also a giant warehouse where they begin auctioning off all the fresh caught tuna of the day fresh off the boat starting their work around 3 am. It is serious business here. In fact they only allow a small amount of tourists in each day during action hours, and they cannot interfere with business at all or they will be quickly escorted out. We missed the auction because we don’t have that 3am tourist dedication gene in us, but we did still get to see some of the aftermath. After Sushi for breakfast we went and observed the cutting of the fish and some of the grading. Later we went into the outer market where the streets were brimming with locals and tourists alike. Here is where many buy their fresh produce, meats, knives, souvenirs, and good street eats. It’s over whelming for sure, but pretty amazing to see everything.

Another of my favorite eats was in Piss Alley or more favorably known as Omoide Yokocho (does not translate to Piss Alley). I actually have no idea why tourists know this place as Piss Alley, but it is a much fonder picture in reality than what that name suggests. Piss Alley is an actual alley way that has a collection of Izakayas squeezed in. Izakayas are small, casual bars that usually serve Yakitori which is grilled skewered meat. These places are cheap and a very traditional Japanese style of eating.  While there we also decided to try something a little unusual. They had raw sashimi horse meat on the menu and we thought, why not? Or “When in Rome…” Sorry to say to all your horse lovers out there, it was actually pretty damn good. Very thinly sliced and marbled. It melts in your mouth. Ours was served with fresh grated wasabi, thinly sliced white onion and soy to dip it in. I’d do it again and I recommend you do it too if you’re in Japan.

From Tokyo we moved on to Mt. Fuji. I’ll tell you more in the next post! Overall feeling at this point was that I love Japan, the food, the people. All of it. No one steals, no one tries to cheat you and everyone just wants to help you. What is not to like!

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