Woke up and screamed, "Sushi!". Ha..Ha.. I was not that enthusiastic but yeah I was pretty excited about our excursion to the Tsukiji market because that would mean sushi for breakfast. Whoa! sushi for breakfast!?....I wonder how my stomach will handle it. Tsukiji market was probably one of the most look forward to places on my list that does not involve shopping or food. According to the Insight City Guide: Tokyo, the fish market contains more than 400 species of seafood, weighing over 2,500 tons, from all over the world every day (Mon-Sat 5am-3pm). And for me that is good news because I will be able to see basically, an assortment of international fish and sea creatures that I could not find at just any Chinatown Market Place. Heck... I should have took more pictures but my stomach was growling and thus, the hunt for breakfast was on. Plan for rapid-picture-taking abandoned.
We had to wait for like thirty minutes for Judy-Chan and I to sit together and when we did because I am big-proportioned I was cramped up the entire time . Despite the seating accomodations being unfavorable, the food is otherwise exceptionally exquisite and scrumptious. I never tasted anything like it and the quality, exoticness, and freshness of the sushi was just Bam! in your mouth oozing with esctasy. In basic and crude terms it was like "sex in your mouth". It was the perfect atmosphere with a friendly chef who engaged us in good conversation. I wished I was a gaping hole because the sushi for my order of the chef special sushi-set just kept on coming and I already was getting full. Needless to say when Judy-chan and I left the restaurant we probably will not touch anything remotely-sushi related for weeks after this.
After that meal prepared by the sushi-of-gods, Judy-Chan and I ventured forth and looked around a bit more and I found a small temple wedged in between the chaotic happenings around the fish market. I am not sure if I recalled this correctly but I think Jayson mentioned or some other authority figure once said and explained the observation that it is really strange but shrines and temples would pop up like sanctuaries randomly among busy street-life. And indeed among the chaos was a quaint little shrine that seems to be lost in its own state of peace and tranquility of old Japan. I was pondering this thought as I snapped a picture of the shrine I found near the market.
Moving on, as Judy-Chan and I met up with the group again to make our way to the subway station so that we can go on to our next destination, Imperial Palace. It was during this time that Jayson gave us a small fifteen minute break to eat something, but since Judy-chan and I were stuffed full of sushi, we just mosey down the strip and at the ends of it we saw a little shop stand selling green tea products and to our amazement, they were selling genuine Macha-Green tea ice cream. So, Judy-chan and I who are fiends of green tea ice cream and (side note: we once started a " I <3 style="font-style: italic;">Decks there was only several minutes to explore and shop before we had to make our way back to our hotel, the Le Pacific Meridian, so we can get ready to go out for dinner. I regret not staying in Odaiba until dusk at least because as Aja and Bev exclaimed, that Odaiba was huge and there were more malls and that the gigantic ferris wheel lights up at night. But I did not regret not going with Jayson and the other group to watch Kabuki at Ginza and if I did go I can probably relate that Kabuki experience to Morton's Japan: Its History and Culture in which Morton explores the culture of Kabuki theater a bit more. I mean, if I was bored sitting through a famous Beijing Opera performance and fell asleep before, the chances of a repeat at a Kabuki performance is most likely. I snore sometimes.
After the rather long ride back to Le Meridan Pacific on a courtesy shuttle provided by the our hotel's sister hotel at Odaiba, my friends freshened up quickly and started making strategies to best attack our dinner dilemma, finding the legendary- NANA manga/anime inspired * Jackon's Hole: The Wyoming Cafe*. Step by step, we first got to Shinagawa's subway station and then changed trains at Shinjuku station. From Shinjuku we boarded a semi-express subway train to Chofu station, were we got off and trekked our way into finding Jackson's Hole. It really helped to ask the locals around. Making our way through a shady backstreet, we fianlly found Jackson's Hole at a basement floor. We have pictures to prove to NANA fans out there that we are not making it up. For some reason, the mean was a bit costly, and I think it had something to do with me ordering a drink that was not on the menu. But enough of the rantings-of the stingy. After a heavenly meal of Jackon's Holes' burger, we made our way back to the station. During the trek back, we spotted a live-band performance outside some park's public restrooms and so naturally, with our interests perked, we gravitated towards them after my charge signal of "Yatta'! ( tanslated: " Hell-yeah!!"). We ( Judy-Chan, Ron-chan, and I) probably stood there listening to the Ocean Box band's performance for nearly ten to fifteen minutes being serenaded by the vocalist's strong captivating voice that drawn us in like moths to flames. But before we snapped out of our lulling-trance to dash off to catch the last trains, probably one of the band members' girlfriend was passing out free CDs to bystanders. And what lucky audience-bystanders we are! ::winks as the CD was slipped into Mango's backpack::
After getting back to the hotel from our dinner expedition to Chofu, we pretty much ended the night with a full-stomach and heavy-lidded eyes.
2 comments:
Part of me regrets not eating the sushi that day. I wasn't hungry at the time because I was dumb and ate a big breakfast that morning. After we left Tsukiji, that's when the remorse kicked in. Maybe next time.
It was amazing that everyone was more excited about the crow than the palace gates. I've never seen a crow before and probably others didn't also. I guess that's why put our attention to the crow. I'm glad I wasn't the only one that had the thought Judy had. I was afraid what would happen if a crow were to crap on someone. Oh yeah, I still can't believe you called it "Abunai Shogun" instead of "Abarenbo Shogun."
It was too bad we didn't have enough time in Odaiba. It was a great place to go shopping. So many places. I think my wallet was trembling. I had to fight to urge to spend a lot of money since it was only the second day. I wish we had time to go on the ferris wheel. I really wanted to see the view of the city from it. I wonder how long and how much the ride is.
You must have been really ecstatic when you saw that band perform. It is a common thing to see bands perform at night. It's amazing how dedicated these bands are in trying to make it in the music industry. If only more musicians in America had that passion. In America, it's about making the millions. In Japan, it's about having people hear your work.
Dude, how's the CD?
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