Tokyo Trip (part ni) ...

Ok ... Naoko was kind enough to lend me her computer while mine is being fixed (in America) and, now that I have figured out how to use it, I can start blogging again. My only gripe is that I only have some of my pictures on disk and this keyboard is different than the one I am used to, so please forgive spelling and grammatical errors. My apologies ahead of time. :)

Tokyo - Day 2

After going to be roughly around 3am (did I mention that before?), the alarm went off at 6:30am. Usually I would hit the snooze and sleep for 5 more minutes but this time I was afraid my alarm would wake up the whole floor of the capsule hotel so I got right up. I was excited for the day so I didn't dwell of the fact that after only 3 hours of sleep I was incredibly tired. Plus Melissa appeared to be up & chipper & ready to go for the day. I followed suit.
We got ready at the capsule hotel. We brushed out teeth with the provided toothbrushes, quickly got ready (no time for showers, which were communal and on the 9th floor), cleaned out our lockers & checked out. Night number one - finished.

Around 7:00 we ventured out. Although tired, we were rather lively. Maybe it was the idea of drinking beer for breakfast. We headed down to meet Ashley and Teresa at the subway station and when we came up we were in a completely different area of the city. (This happened quite often on our trip).

We walked to Tsukiji (sue-kee-jee) Fish Market, a popular tourist destination, for some fresh sushi for breakfast. The smell was overwhelming, the area was cramped and there were men driving these forklift/tractor/scooter like things and shouting - especially if you got in their way. Most of the fish were still alive, which was crazy, and you could watch people filleting the fish right on the street. You could buy anything and everything and the market seemed to go on forever. We had to have walked at least 10 blocks & we were still in the market.
For more information on the market, click here:
http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/youkoso/about_e.htm
or for some graphic pictures, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market
One of the many streets in the market:

Some tanks of some live somethings or anothers:
Don't forget the squid. I'm sure my dad would enjoy the squid.
Some of the fished was cooked & available for purchase. Most was uncooked, including what we ate.

We decided to stop at one of the many small restaurants to eat sushi and drink beers for breakfast. What a way to start the day!


Teresa, Melissa, Me, Ashley & Xiao in front of the restaurant:
Sushi, eel, & beers:

We sat at the counter so we were able to watch the chefs prepare the fish for every order.


My breakfast. Tuna & some 'fixings':

Teresa's breakfast. A bowl of raw everything. I tried the fish eggs (bottom right). Gross, huh?

As we were leaving we realized that it was only 9:00! On any normal Saturday I wouldn't even be awake yet ... One tourist site down, next stop: Sumo Wrestling!

Stay tuned...
much love,
tara
xoxo