Fish Mongers of Tokyo

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Well it's our last day in Tokyo (we've been here for a total of 5 days) Alexis left off noting we were not able to slag a bus ride to Mount Fuji. Instead we thought we might as well get our hands dirty and head to the Tsukiji Fish Market. If you aren't into googling things, this is THE place where the highest amount of trade in a multitude of deep sea creatures from mullosks, eels, conch and, so we hear, even whale takes place. I'm pretty glad I didn't see any whales.

Normally the 'action' begins at 4 am. Conveniently enough Lex and I aren't so interested in waking up for this, and let me tell you, we were still almost being run over by fish toting, mollusk driving and tuna buying fish mongers by 8 a.m. when we arrived. This area covers roughly four city blocks or so and was ridiculously busy! If you didn't pay attention you'd be hit by a fin or run over by a fork lift hauling far too many fish for its own good.

Needless to say, it was great to see this, but, as a common theme it seems here in Tokyo our stomachs were in dire need of some food. What better way to satisfy than early morning sushi!!!

I had read of world famous sushi chefs who only operated in this area before 11 am, so we searched high and low down many alleys and back again until we turned down one alley with a large, but what I thought a respectable queue (see 'line up'😉. I bee-lined it to the end and estimated that we had maybe 45 minutes. Hey, I was willing to wait... That is until a rather annoyed looking (not saying anything) Japanese lady grimaced at us. It didn't clue in for me until Alexis got out of line and went around the corner. I couldn't hear anything over the hustle and bustle of the crowds and cars. Alexis beckoned me to her. I really didn't want to leave this spot, hell, we were going to be served sushi by a legend!

Alexis gave me one of these 'you need to get over here now' looks. Well, no one was behind me in the queue so, I went to the corner of the building... And there stood at least 80 more people wrapping around the building to quench their early morning sushi desires. Needless to say, I apologized the best I could to the lady who I unknowingly butted in front of. The thing about of Japanese people in comparison to the rest of the world is that they are VERY polite and orderly (also very kind). I mean here I was some ridiculous white guy, and I just casually walk up in front of the 'break' in the line (so people could pass between businesses) and snake her spot, without a word! Only her looking at me in horror of the unpolite 'crime' I committed. This place is great!

Lexis and I could not survive a 2 hour wait to eat. So, we began looking around for a sushi serving place. In the world capital of sushi this wasn't hard to find. Another thing about Japan is, when you enter a restaurant (or even Starbucks) EVERYONE in the restaurant greets you! It feels like your coming home!

Sure enough we're greeted and seated and have one of the greatest sushi breakfasts of all time! Okay, sushi meals of all time as I realize probably almost no one would consider eating a sushi breakfast. I'm turned though and would recommend it!

Most of what we have done over the last few days has been exploring one of our most favourite places to be. This place is wonderful, clean, the people are great and even if you aren't a sushi fan, the food is incredible and you can find a multitude of dining options (traditional Irish fare anyone??). Also, despite the common image of Tokyo, other than at 'rush hour' in the subways it's population is not overwhelming.



So finally, here we are sitting in the airport. Our last hours of this seemingly short trip. Which included, but was not limited to train rides, tuk-tuk travel, motorbike riding, a lot of insane hired driver rides, boat rides, 11 flights total, tears, laughs, friends, smelly crab fisherman, smelly people, roti, far too much curry, India's 'diaper dumps', beaches, endless sunsets, early mornings, seeing Malaysia's princess (did we mention this before?), wasp stings, subsequent swelling and severe itching of said wasp stings and definitely a lot of sushi!

It was a blast to say the least. Lex and I are both really sad it's come to end, for now. But, (and there always is one) we're already planning our next adventure. Perhaps more sooner than later! So we'll catch you on the other side of the world, we need to catch our time machine and head back-to-the-future!

Justin

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