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Published: July 18th 2008
Passed out
A japanese business man enjyoing the morning mist - about 6:30am.So as we are coming to the end of the third day of our trip we are finally getting used to the time difference but have yet to get used to all of the WALKING! It's especially strenuous because it's about 85 degrees with almost 100% humidity in the air so your skin feels moist and sticky all of the time.
This morning we went to the Tskuji fish market; although a little later than before so we missed the fish auction (we arrived around 7:30 am). My mom was in heaven! She was talking to every fish monger in sight and asking them all sorts of questions about their goods and about the area. She had never been to Tsukuji all her life! We had a huge sushi breakfast and of course my was talking to the sushi chefs the whole time. We had some interesting fish like bintoro which is fatty albacore (fatty is good) and yari-ika which is a premium squid and all kinds of other stuff that I have already forgotten the names of. We also indulged in otoro which is the best kind of tuna sashimi. I was bracing myself when the bill came because
Abacus
I have no idea how to even use this thing I was sure that we had eaten at least 15 pieces of sushi....but it only came to about $90 US dollars for the three of us!! That's dirt cheap!
Next came a Japanese television crew (Fuji-TV) that accosted us for some tv program. One of the guys had a big metal box and he told my mom to open it and ask a question, any question to anyone. We stepped back about 10 paces because we thought that maybe this was some candid camera show and something was going to pop out - but nothing didn't! I guess the point is that you ask a question and whoever you asked would see you on TV asking them. My mom asked my dad how much he loved her. They had me to do the same thing; but since I had to ask a question in Japanese I got really nervous and I think I screwed it up. I asked Dr. Komarova if she thinks I'm ever going to finish my Ph.D. program...as if she would ever tune into a japanese program see me! haha....they tried to get Robert on TV but he clammed up at the thought of speaking Japanese
Another fish monger
My mom just loves walking up to random people and asking questions. on TV! poor guy...
We then went to Kappabashi-dori which is a street that has every kind of restaurant/food service shop you could think of. There were stores that had candy molds and mixers big enough to churn out hundreds of loaves of bread. My mom was on a mission to find corroke molds (a corroke is a little fried potato cake) and it appears she has started a collection because she bought one at each place that sold them. After that we made our rounds to the Kaminarimon Temple and walked through the throngs of tourists and knick-knack shops.
Our plan after that was to go to the ramen museum; but the fellow at the train ticket counter suggested that if we were traveling to the base of Mt. Fuji we better go there from Tokyo rather than make a detour to Shin-Yokohama (where the ramen museum is at). The local train here in Kawaguchiko is strangely decorated with Thomas the Tank Engine. a strange choice if you ask me...the entire train was decorated with his likeness and even the local buses. The poor train conductor also had to wear a jaunty little hat that made him
Fu is fu and nori is nori, that's just the way it is.
my mom asked this guy how do you say "fu" in English. Fu is some kind of food product and I still don't know what it is! look like he was in a cartoon. But hey, I guess whatever pays the bills, right?
The weather is very pleasant here and not humid. We are planning to start our ascent of Fuji-san around 7:00pm Friday the 18th. We will try to take a nap before hand since rumor has it that the huts up the trail cost about $30 an HOUR to sleep in! Yikes!
Our next update will probably be sometime on Saturday (japan time) after we finished our climb. Hope to have lots of great pictures and stories!
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