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Published: December 3rd 2009
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A year after spending Thanksgiving Day driving 17 hours through the barren Patagonia landscape, I decided to spend this Thanksgiving week exploring Japan. It felt so good to pack my travel pack once again - the first time since returning from South America.
I landed in Tokyo after dark on the 20th and made my way to the Ueno area of the city which is where my couchsurfing host, Kyoko, lived. Couchsurfing under any circumstances will generally provide unique and especially fun travel experiences, but when traveling solo and in one of the world's most expensive countries (when the dollar is the weakest its been in your lifetime), couchsurfing makes even more sense. Those of you who know me well know that I don't have the best sense of direction (ironically, see Kyle's blog about the Patagonia road trip from last Thanksgiving); however, I faired well in making it to Kyoko's relatively smoothly considering I had a google map written in Japanese, and I didn't find out that Tokyo doesn't use street names until the following day. I managed to get close to Kyoko's area on my own and then hand gestures and a friendly Japanese man who spoke ZERO
english brought me to her front door. Kyoko welcomed me into her home as if an old friend, and a few minutes later she welcomed another couchsurfer, Pauline from the Netherlands, as well. All having met only minutes earlier, we immediately headed out to grab dinner at an entirely local, outdoor restaurant of a style called Izakaya. An Izakaya I would best describe as a Japanese pub, but its nothing like any sort of pub you are probably imagining. Beers and sake are served and relatively cheap Japanese bar food ranging from sashimi to miso soup to grilled skewers of various animals and animal parts. Soon after dinner my jetlag kicked in and I was fast asleep on a futon in Kyoko's living room.
The following morning I woke up at 5 AM to catch the famous tuna auctions at the Tsukiji Fish Market. It was a wild sight to witness seemingly endless decapitated and flash frozen tuna's on display of a warehouse floor as countless Japanese men inspected the color and quality of each fish in preparation to bid on them. I was told by a fellow traveler at the auction that $15 million worth of fish are
auctioned daily. Though it was an exciting event to witness, it struck me as an unsustainable event (whether or not that's true, I do not know). How can so much fish be pulled out of the ocean
everyday? And only to supply a tiny part of the vast world? After watching the auctions, I strolled through the rest of the fish market, where stand after stand sold every size, shape and color fish, crustacean or mollusk you can imagine. I'll let the pictures do the talking here. Topping off the Tsukiji fish market experience is a sushi breakfast. A little after 6 AM, I walked into a bustling sushi restaurant just outside the market borders. Undoubtedly delicious, but unlike other Americanized cuisines, it was hardly different from anything I'm used to (then again, I did not try the lightly toasted horsemeat nigiri).
Well I spent the rest of the day zigzagging across the different areas of Tokyo. I don't think I've ever done so much city walking in my life. Here's the very abridged description of the rest of my day. From Tsukiji I hitched the metro to the Shiodome region. Explored a small garden by the name of
Kyu-Shiba-rikyu which was most dazzling in the fact that this incredibly zenned-out setting was smack in the middle of Tokyo. Then onto my first Japanese temple of my trip, Zojoji. Followed by Tokyo tower for a view of the city from the elevation deck - clear skies provided faint glimpses of Mt. Fuji. From Tokyo Tower I walked all the way to the Roppongi district, a trendier and perhaps sleezier area known for its nightlife. Back on the metro towards the Marunouchi area for a walk through the Imperial Park with sights of the Imperial Theatre and Imperial Palace. My last leg was a long walk to the Ginza, the high-end shopping strip in the heart of Tokyo - if not for all the Japanese people, I would have thought I was in Manhattan. To cap my day, I went to the Kabukiza, a performance theater near the Ginza, to catch one act of the day's Kabuki performance, which is traditional Japanese theater. Wow, my legs hurt just thinking about that day, but it was a great day being a typical tourist in Tokyo.
My Tokyo adventures became far more unique when I arrived back at Kyoko's to a
Izakuya on the first night
Pauline and Kyoko to my side. Had my first soft bone chicken gristle (the shoulder)... its mostly bone with a tiny bit of meat on it, but you eat it all... pretty good. house full of Kyoko's friends (all friends through couchsurfing I might add). Suddenly I was amidst a nabe party! With a hot plate on the living room floor and 9 of us surrounding it, those experienced in the nabe art began making a stew of vegetables, meats, rice cakes, fungi, miso, kim chee paste, tofu and so on. We all grabbed chopsticks and a bowl and conversation only ceased while we shoveled food into our mouths. When the nabe started to run low, more of the necessary ingredients were constantly added. It was literally neverending. We all ate til we were stuffed and yet there was still plenty of leftovers. With drinks in hand, conversation, jokes and laughter with my new friends went well into the night. So late into the night that 9 of us managed to crash in Kyoko's living room that night!
Day 2 I had an entourage of tour guides. I followed the whole nabe crew to Shibuya to explore a massive park called Yoyogi Park which is home to Meiji Jingu, a stunning shrine within the city. Entrance to the park was marked by a Japanese gateway called a torii which was a staple
at every shrine. Long pathways lined by cherry trees and sacrificial barrels of wine and sake lead the way to the shrine which honors former Emperor Meiji. We happened to be there during the Shichi-Go-San Festival during which families honor their 3 and 7 year old girls and 3 and 5 year old boys by dressing them in traditional Japanese attire and visiting shrines.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the city, eventually making our way to Roppongi Hills, a relatively new cultural complex filled with endless stores, restaurants, hotels and expensive residences, where we went up the Mohri Tower for night time views of Tokyo in the observation deck.
With all of us exhausted from little sleep the night before, we called it a day at that. Though I was having so much fun spending time with my new friends and of course there was more to see in Tokyo, other adventures in other parts of Japan awaited me. After 3 great nights in Japan with Kyoko and company, I caught a 7 AM Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto to start the next chapter of my Thanksgiving in Japan story...
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The Bernard Brothers
Kyle Bernard and Company
Theatre in foreign countries?
Was Kabuki theatre that much worse than Uruguayan Modern Dance performances? How could it out do the "slight nudity" warning that implied an hour of hairy butts doing jumping jacks and microphone feedback.