Japan Day 3

Today started with a very early rise to be to the Tsukiji Fish Market while everything was still hopping. We wandered through the various stalls of fish products taking a lot of pictures until Brien was bored to tears and Scott was probably not far behind him. We had sushi for breakfast at a tiny hole in the wall place in the shops part of the fish market. It was very good. I actually had a sashimi layout along with George. Brien and Scott shared some omelet sushi.

After that we wandered through the Ginza area unfortunately before everything was open for the day until we decided it was a good idea to get back to the hotel to get cleaned up before going to the Imperial Palace. As a note, the temperature is more summer than autumn in Tokyo and if it weren’t for a stiff breeze at certain times I think it could almost be oppressive. It seems to be in the high 70s to maybe 80s with a bit more humidity than I could really wish for, but like England it’s an island so I can’t hope for really dry weather. I am expecting it to be a bit cooler in Kanazawa than in Tokyo as we get out of the city heat bubble.

After the short clean up we met and got to Tokyo Station where we spoke the very nice women at the desk for redeeming Japan Rail passes for quite a bit of time in order to get the passes redeemed and then reserve seats for our ride out to Kanazawa. I think we were at it for about an hour including getting all four of our passes and getting the reservations. One really strange thing to me was that their train routes were all figured out by giant books that looked like telephone books and not on computers. As the Australian guy in line behind us said, “They love to stamp everything.” I think our passes have about 10 stamps on them already and we haven’t even used them.

Right on the heels of getting that done we rushed, as fast as Scott can rush, to the Imperial Palace Kyomon Gate and got in line for the tour. The tour was a trip through the palace grounds where we could see a lot of stuff outdoors but could not go inside any of the buildings. We saw the actual Imperial Palace as well as several keeps and some other parts of the grounds and moats. The tour was conducted in Japanese but we were given special recorders that had the tour information in English. There were a couple of guides, one that told the stories and one that kept everyone in line. We were supposed to keep moving and stay in rows of four but no one really paid attention to the rules. No one was supposed to take pictures while we were supposed to be walking and the guy that kept everyone in order had to keep reprimanding people and getting them back in line. Towards the end one lady tried to take pictures from the bridge over the moat and he had to run back and chase her back into line. I am pretty sure the Gaijin in the party (which was mainly us) were the least of his worries. There was at least 100 people all totaled on the tour. I enjoyed it greatly and would recommend it to anyone who visits Tokyo. I should point out that in order to do it you have to request permission. I filled out our form well before we got to Japan. I have linked to the site earlier in the blog. It is well worth the effort.

After the tour we sat at a fountain area for a few minutes. Then we walked back towards Ginza where we visited a book shop and the Sony building. The Sony building was not as exciting as I had expected and really felt nothing more than a showroom and small shop. I was disappointed with it.

Finally the main highlight of the day. We had finished up everything on the agenda and we were ready for dinner. We hadn’t eaten any lunch and breakfast was before 7am. We wandered Ginza for a bit but it was still a bit early for all the various restaurants to be open. I had chosen the place to eat from the day before so George pressed Scott to choose a place to eat. Scott chose the first open place we could find. We got into the place which was not quite traditional Japanese but was obviously not remotely western. We opened the menu and looked through it. The first three pages were dedicated to blowfish meals. I think it was at this point that Brien started cackling hysterically and couldn’t stop laughing for at least 10 minutes. There were approximately 8 items that did not contain any blowfish in the menu. Well, we’d already ordered some sake by this point. Cold sake. Our first sake of the trip. It was dryish and very potent. I liked it but Brien wasn’t too keen on it. George drank his own and most of Brien’s too. Well, there was nothing to do but hunker down and order. George got a cooked fugu with garlic and citrus sauce. I tried the sauce it was nice. I got a plate of fugu sashimi. I didn’t think it would be near as big an order as it was. In any event George ate all of his fugu. I browbeat Scott into eating a piece of mine and Brien even tried a piece as well. I had also ordered some octopus, whitefish and tuna and with the other accompaniments I had a ton to eat. I know the fugu was the most expensive part of the meal and I really liked the flavor but I think I panicked a little and chose to leave behind about half the plate and was stuffed enough to give George some of my octopus and leave behind the rice and the miso soup. In any event the sake gave me a bit of a buzz so I wasn’t sure if I was feeling the beginning sensation of dying or just a potent booze kind of thing. I guess I will know by the time I am supposed to be on my way back from Kanazawa tomorrow. Our waitress was very pleasant and though she didn’t speak much English she was very polite and helpful and we even took a picture with her as we left for posterity.

As Brien didn’t fare too well for eating from the fugu place as he had ordered some soba noodles which he didn’t expect to be cold and didn’t like for that reason, Scott and I went with him back to Kirin City where he had another order of the lamb and potatoes. I had one Kirin Black Ichiban. We waited forever to pay the bill because the waiter seemed to be solo for the whole place. I had to pull out a, “Sumimasen,” to get his attention to get the check and then we had to wait at least another 10 minutes before we could pay and leave. The unfortunate thing about the Kirin City is that it is a typical Japanese place with no designations for smoking or non-smoking and almost no ventilation. Maybe someday they’ll follow suit with the rest of the world. I hope so but I cannot expect it any time soon. Far too many Japanese people still smoke.

Sorry for the lengthy one here, but obviously a lot happened.