Japanese Baseball and Tsukiji Fish Market

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Last weekend was amazing and exhausting...

On Friday, a bunch of Harvard interns and I (along with colleagues), went to a Japanese baseball game- the Marines vs. Hawks. Prior to the game, about 10 of us were allowed to go have a pre-game tour. Although I wasn't lucky enough to originally be selected for the lottery, someone couldn't go at the last minute and I was able to call in time and get it! At the stadium, we met Taro, a Harvard intern who is interning with the Marines and who got us free tickets to the game! He walked us through the stadium onto the field, where the players were practicing. Although I have never been a huge fan of baseball even though I live in New York and go to school in Boston, it was pretty cool. After a little while, Bobby Valentine, the current manager of the Marines and previous manager of the Mets came and took pictures with us. He was a little pompous, but we'll forgive him.

The game was much tamer than I thought it would be. I've heard that the Japanese go crazy for baseball, but relative to the only other game that I've seen (Mets), it was very tame. Crazy for the Japanese, I guess. The food that you can find in the stadium is a lot better than in the states and I got my dinner for under 10 bucks. You just have to look in the right places and not be tempted by the $20 personal pizza from Pizzahut :p. During the 7th inning, because it was Independence Day in the states, lots of fireworks went off. They were pretty amazing.

After the game, we decided to come back to Roppongi with a number of the interns. We all piled into my apartment and talked for a little bit before heading out to Gaspanic Club. As a tip, Gaspanic club is pretty good and there is no cover charge. However, the dance floor is very crowded and the staff constantly looks to see if you're holding a drink. My reccomendation- buy a dark bottle so they can't see how much is in it to avoid the hassle. Also, some Gaspanic Clubs are better than others, so ask someone before going.

After leaving the club, we went back to my apartment for a little, and then about 7 of us decided to head out to Tsukiji, the famous Japanese fish market. I recommend going to the tuna auctions at around 5:30am. Visitors watch as large fresh frozen tuna are auctioned off to bidders. Inside the market, be wary of the carts! People wheeling fish around are not all that pleasant and are rather pushy. We saw all different types of fish that were just caught that morning- could anything be better? Afterwards, we sat down in a local restaurant and ate the freshest sushi that we've ever had. I'm not a huge fan of eating raw fish, but this was great. I got the feeling that the area surrounding the fish market was a bit of a tourist trap though. The sushi was fairly expensive, so be prepared for that. Also, it might be a good idea to sleep prior to going because I was exhausted. You would probably enjoy the sushi a lot more when really awake. The rest of the day, I slept. A lot.

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Comments

[biggestfan]

Wow! Sounds cool!
Wish I'd been there, Aleksandra Kuczmarska!