Saturday, July 18, 2009
Prologue
The Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market IN THE WORLD and also one of the largest food markets of any kind (click here for more wikipedia info). The recommendation is to go really early so you can catch the tuna auctions, unloading of shipments and also be first in line for the most popular sushi spots... apparently the most popular places can be as long as a 4 hour wait at 6am on a Sat morning!!! (I'll get more into lines in Japan in another blog - crazy!).
So Mom & I tried to wake up super early to go to the market hopefully to see the unloading of all the shipments. We did wake up on time but ended up yapping too much and at 5:30am we hadn't even left yet!
She was so busy telling me how fat I've gotten and how men love stick figures with no curves and I told her that it took a grueling adolesence and shaky college life but I'm finally happy with how I look and her words of "encouragement" weren't really so encouraging. In her defense, I suppose she wasn't trying to offend me, but I guess she assumed that I wished I was skinnier?? *shrug* What is it with Filipinos and always commenting on weight, ANYway?? Too skinny, Too fat... bah humbug!
Anyway, I had no idea how to get to the fish market so figuring it out was certainly an adventure!
6:15am JST, Sat. Jul 18, 2009
@ the Tsukiji Fish Market
Somehow, I feel like I'm in the wrong place. It's not the GINORMOUS wholesale fish market place I imagined/googled, nor do I see the tuna auction place OR the 4 hour sushi restaurant lines! Or maybe I'm just overreacting...Well, the sign said Tsukiji Fish Market, and there's mad fish for sale here so I guess I'm overreacting.
Anyway, it is quite adorable though and some Tokyoites are SO fabulous! Even at 6am wearing their fancy, shiny open toes, with their fabulous hairstyles and colorful attire.
There are so many tourists here but I still can't help like I'm missing something. Where are the massive lines for sushi? Where are the tuna auctions?! I'm a little disappointed but Mom and I decide to have our breakfast sushi here anyway.
HOLY COW!!!! Sushi here is SOOOO friggin great and fresh. I dunno if I'll ever enjoy Sushi in NYC again. So here's something that'll make you laugh, I got the 6 specific rolls of sushi I ordered and by the way, the kind of sushi they serve in America is not Japanese sushi. It is AMERICAN sushi. In Japan, they don't do those fancy rolls with cream cheese and crunchies and all of that other fancy "dragon/rainbow/tiger etc roll" things. In fact, Japanese chefs would have to take an AMERICAN SUSHI class if they wanted to serve sushi in the States. But... I digress..
So anyway, I get my 6 rolls of sushi, and there's soy sauce on the table, but I wonder to myself... where is the wasabi?? Fearing that I'll end up ordering something like EEL DUNG, I refrain from asking the non English speaking waitress and decide to make do without the wasabi. And... to my WONDERFUL surprise.. a WHOLE section of wasabi was waiting for me RIGHT in the middle of my sushi!...... those TRICKSTERS!!! *shakes fist*
But, now that I know, I can take out the chunks and spread it evenly throughout the roll. Man, I had tears running down my face.....After a nice sushi breakfast, by 8am, my mom and I are ready to do some walking around and exploring. It got hot/humid really quickly so we were back at the apt by 11am... SWEATING. The humidity is friggin bananas out here. I came at the end of rainy season so now, instead of raining the humidity just hangs around like some annoying guy who won't stop trying to dub you in the club... no seriously, it's worse than an August day in NY at noon.
1:00pm JST
@ Roppongi Hills, Tokyo / Gonpachi Restaurant / Koots
MW and I met up with P at Gonpachi in Roppongi Hills for lunch! The restaurant is one of many that are part of the company she works for so it was cool cuz we got a discount!But anyway, Gonpachi is a popular restaurant in Tokyo aka TOURIST TRAP because 1) they speak English; 2) former Pres. Bush ate there when he went to meet Japan's Prime Minister and 3) the best part It's the restaurant that inspired Quentin Tarantino for the set of the famous fight scene in
KILL BILL Vol 1!!!!!! - you know, with the wrap-around wooden balcony overlooking the main floor/dining area....What made the whole first lunch in Tokyo experience even more pleasantly cute and authentic was the group of 6 or 7 old women decked out in really nice Kimonos having lunch at the table next to us! Definitely a rare sight for a boring New Yorker like me =P
After lunch, for dessert, P and MW took me to KOOTS, a Japanese style natural & organic cafe that has a whole bunch of authentic Japanese desserts (basically green tea in every imaginable form possible). I got a green tea float (cold green tea with green tea ice cream on top) and Princess & I also shared a green tea sundae of some sort - which had green tea ice cream, jelly, tapioca balls, straberries, red bean paste and some crusty/graham cracker thing - YuMmMm!
So P, MW and I are sitting outside Koots, enjoying our desserts and chatting. This is the first time P and I are meeting in person - I've only known her vicariously through my best friends' facebook so we're just catching up on commonalities aka making fun of Ir and his crazy antics ;)
I'm enjoying the conversation, but it's about 3pm JST (2am in NY) and jet lag is KICKING MY @SS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started nodding off while everyone was talking and staring at P and MW through bloodshot eyes and was finally like... dude, I gotta go home and pass out. I thank P for the lovely authentic Japanese experience and we make plans to meet up the next day for Harajuku shopping and more sightseeing.
MW and I decide to WALK back to the apt, and when I said we were in Roppongi HILLS, I wasn't lying!!!!! After the humidity and all the walking up and down the sloping streets, not to mention the satisfying meal/dessert I just had had me KNOCKED OUT as soon as I dropped down on the bed...
I was supposed to try and wake up later to go out with P but.. yeah, that failed miserably.
Either way, definitely not bad for a FULL first day in Japan!!!! =)
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Day 4 coming soon.... HARAJUKU/SHIBUYA shopping and people watching, Dancing in Yoyogi park, and world famous streets: Shibuya Crossing, Omote-Sando and Takeshita! - yeah google them!!!
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