Tsukiji Fish Market and the Rest of Japan

On our final day in Tokyo Chris, Carla, Stephanie, and I decided to wake up at 3am in order to grab a taxi to witness the very famous TUNA auctions at largest fish market in the world, Tsukiji Fish Market! You have to get to the market very early because not only does the TUNA auction start at 4am and end around 5am, but due to the large demand to witness this event and the very sincerely authentic nature of the business you must wait in a line in hopes of gaining entry! They only allow around 140 people in two groups to go in at two different periods, and you are confined to a very small viewing area. Understand this is honestly not a tourist sight, i mean tourist go, but this is professional market and you are considered quite an annoyance to everyone that works at Tsukiji (which by the way employs over 60,000 people). Lets just say it was a surreal experience, one because of how passionate they are for fresh tuna and how much they will pay to get it, but also because you soon realize they are selling very much endangered tuna. Japan, if you have ever watched the show, Whale Wars, is responsible for a lot of over fishing and does not obeyed by international standards in terms of what is considered inappropriate to catch. It was quite shocking, but nonetheless is a very important part of their culture. The videos below show you the crazy nature of the auction as well as the hilarious expressions of the auctioneers :)

Tsukiji fish market, as i already stated, is massive. So after the auction we decided to walk around and observe all the odd and very very fresh things you could buy. It was over whelming and often we were completely confused as to what we were even looking at. Before leaving the market we did the only sensible 4 starving people who have been up since 3 am could do at 7am, we ate some sushi! It was amazing (as you might imagine it was absurdly fresh) and very different from what we are accustomed to eating in the states! We finally decided to grab a train back to the hostel around 8am and each of us crashed right when we got back. We spent the rest of he day figuring out what to do. We had to wait for Chris's blood work results to come back so we knew he did not have a major infection, but we wanted to move on to Kyoto since we only had a few days left in Japan. We got the results, all good, and decided to walk to the train station to try another first in our world of transportation adventures - the Bullet Train! If you did not know, this is the fastest train in the world and it was great, but as expensive as our flight to Japan :)

We arrived in Kyoto, which is the old capital of Japan, pretty late at night and took it easy. As you might imagine Kyoto has hundreds of temples (Chris just informed me it has the most UNESCO world heritage sites in one area for anywhere in the world). Our first night in the hostel was quite funny as we had an encounter in our room that made me, for the first time in the trip, tell somebody off in our room. DO NOT SKYPE WITH YOUR FAMILY AT 1AM in an 8 bed dorm with other people sleeping or you will get an ear full from a raging Italian American :) .....the second night the guy typed instead of chatted.


SIDE NOTE: sleeping in these 6, 8, or 10 bed dorms is very interesting. Living with your best friends in different rooms can be challenging enough, but when you travel and have people from all over the world staying in one tiny area you really see how certain cultures behave, what they think is considered okay and in general the unique tendencies they each have. You also can never seem to catch up on sleep as everyone is on completely different schedules. People come in at 1am, rustle around and leave come back at 3am go to bed, while others have been trying to sleep since 10pm and wake up at 6am or 8am to go off and explore.  They are also a breeding ground for getting sick and staying that way! Needless to say, a month into our trip and now being in SE Asia where are dollar goes much further Chris and I are starting to opt for more expensive private rooms so we can actually get some rest.


The next day we met back up with Mark, who arrived that morning from Tokyo, and went exploring the temple system. Mark introduced us to SHAKI SHAKI chicken via the 100yen menu at McDonald's which we ended up eating quite a bit of during the rest of our stay in Japan in order to save money! We ended up departing Kyoto for Osaka, but decided to do a day trip in Nara. Nara is a very tourist place due to its amazing temples and the domesticated deer which wonder all over the town and allow you to pet and feed them. Here we saw the largest Buddha in the world and crawled through a whole in one of the columns that was the size of Buddha nostril! This is said to give you enlightenment if you are able to actually fit through it. (both Chris and I were surprisingly able to complete this task but it was far from easy). While we were in Nara i tried to turn on my camera and it would not power up or give any type of message. On top of that the lens shutter seemed to be completely loose and would not stay shut. As you can imagine panic hit me and my entire mission from then on out was to find a camera repair shop so we hopped back on the train and headed to Osaka!

Osaka was a place that many people said was not that cool, more of a port/shipping and industrial city, but if you know me then you know how much i love Anthony Bourdain! This is his favorite place in all of Japan, i mean the guy did an entire episode just in this city and talked about how strange the night life was and how amazing the food is. For this reason I really wanted to go and luckily enough we had to be there anyway to catch our ferry back to China. Bourdain could not have been more correct about this amazing city!

We stayed in a tiny hostel, which was truly more of a guest house run by one very very nice and humbled man named MASA! The first thing we did was figure out where there was a repair shop and luckily about 1.5 miles away was a Sony repair shop (which is my brand of camera). We walked there and started talking to the ladies, and the first thing she did was tell me it would take at least 2 weeks to repair, because they first needed to figure out what was wrong. So the first thing I thought was OMG I am gonna have to buy a new camera :( .... She then asked if had tried changing the battery and I assured her that I had charged it the night before and it was fully charged. She took my battery out anyway and put a new one in. Guess what happened :) ... the camera turned on perfectly! Chris and I about died laughing and I felt so dumb. First major brain fart of the trip goes to The GRIZZ :)

Back to Osaka! So we end up walking around our district of town which is in the heart of the night life area that Bourdain loves so much. First thing I do is spot a street vendor selling "TAKA YAKI" balls, which is one thing Bourdain again explains as being so amazing! I instantly bought a batch and was overcome with joy! These things are like little buff pastries filled with squid, fresh vegies and spices and you use a tooth pick to pop them in your mouth. They grill them on these specially made cast iron type molds that form perfect balls and its incredible! Best thing we have eaten at this stage of our journey, IMO!

Next thing we did was walk around this area in complete awe. I am serious this city (or at least the part of town we were in) is everything you imagine when you think about Japan youth and crazy culture. More Neon lights then Vegas, massive (I'm talking the size of a mall) "Game" rooms, the oddest advertisements you have ever seen, strangest type of retail shops and offering you have ever seen, and just crazy people talking in really high voices trying to get people in the doors! Words do not even explain, but trust us it was insane! Hopefully the pictures do it some justice! After the night of wondering we decided to go back for a nice long night of sleeping!

The next day we did not do much in Osaka. We took it easy and tried to regain some energy after being on the move so much. That night MASA and another girl who had been studying in Japan for the past 2 years made all of us food, it was great for our budget :) ... The next day we got up super early and hopped on our 2 night / 3 day ferry to Shanghai!

Trouble in Tokyo

       We woke up at 2:45 am, took a taxi to the airport, and then after being completely baffled by the Chinese airport system, we made it on our flight to Tokyo. I was so bored I watched the Bounty Hunter. We got a great view of Mt. Fuji before landing in Tokyo . We immediately noticed the stark contrast between China and Japan. Everyone here was quiet and humble. Customs and immigration was a breeze and they even have a free clinic at the airport where arriving passengers can go if they have a fever or cold symptoms. There was minimal pollution and the city seemed very well maintained. After running all over trying to get money, we got checked into our hostel. It was hilarious because the only ATM's that foreigners can use in Japan are at 7/11. They also have their own brand of beer simply call The Brew, which tastes exactly how you'd expect beer brewed by a convenience store chain to taste.
          John and I walked down to a major river to relax and check out the scenery. We commented that the water looked very high as we waved at a big tour boat cruising past us. We were looking at the wakes coming towards us and both thought to ourselves "hmm... those are coming straight towards us. Hmm...those are huge waves." At the last minute, we both snapped into action and ran back as the water rushed over the embankment, barely missing us.

     We spent most of our time in Tokyo relaxing, cooking, and wandering in order to save money. We spent a lot of time with Stephanie, Mark, and Carla. Stephanie is a fashion designer from California, Mark is a teacher on sabbatical (or maybe permanent leave because traveling is so fun), and Carla is an actress and activist from Spain. We had a few mellow nights and then we went out with a big crew of people to explore Tokyo at night. We went to Shibuya Crossing which is the biggest crossing in the world. Traffic stops from all directions and people (around 2000 per walk signal) walk in all directions across the intersection.

       So... I got two mosquito bites in Beijing, one on each ankle. They were a bit red then but by the time I got to Tokyo, the color was starting to spread up my leg. One day I woke up and my ankles were both swollen up like balloons and bright red. I debated for half a day and then decided I needed to see a doctor. John and I went to St. Luke's International Hospital which turned into a crazy experience. I had to get x-rays taken and the technicians were cracking up as they gestured and watched me wiggle around into the proper position. Next, I had to have two blood samples taken. During the second one, the blood wasn't flowing very well so I watched as they pushed and pulled on the syringe for what seemed like an eternity. After waiting for awhile in the lobby, the doc came out and said my blood was too coagulated so they needed to take another sample using a "different method." I interpreted this as "we need a bigger needle." After 5 or 6 hours of waiting and being stuck with needles, the doctor diagnosed me with Cellulitis. He prescribed antibiotics but said I might have to be admitted to the hospital depending on the results of my blood work. John and I went to the pharmacy to get some antibiotics which was another struggle with the language barrier.Luckily, the following day a nice woman from our hospital called the hospital and informed me that I was good to go! The infection had spread to my blood or anywhere serious so I got the go ahead to leave Tokyo. Although I was out quite a bit of money, it was a massive relief.

Getting checked in

Third time's a charm