One Fish, Two Fish...

Being the largest city in Japan means that Tokyo is a completely overwhelming place to visit. There is so much to see, do and eat. However exciting it is initially, it can feel too big and I'm ready to leave after 4 or 5 days. I've visited Tokyo 4 times now and without a doubt one of my favorite touristy spots to visit is Tsukiji fish market.

Tsukiji is the world's largest seafood market. If you want to check out the real action its best to get there early... like 5am. (That's when they auction off the tuna). In the last few years the market has been more restricted due to the fact that people are trying to work and having a bunch of gawking tourists probably gets old.

It was quite challenging to take photos that demonstrate how crowded and busy the market truly is. My family and I didn't even make it to Tsukiji until around 8:30am and it was still mobbed.

Obviously there are fish everywhere. More fish then you've ever seen! And in such a wide array of size and color. Surprisingly enough, if you visit in the morning things are fresh and it doesn't smell that fishy.

Everywhere are piles of boxes, people pushing carts carrying boxes and people unpacking boxes.

I love the chaos of the market; people running from stall to stall. Everyone had a job and knew what they needed to do while us tourists tried to take it all in and stay out of their way.

This is a shot looking at the storage areas behind the stalls.

Live crustaceans!

and squid probably not so alive...

One of the most awe-inspiring sights is that of the bluefin tuna. Men running by with the tuna on carts or taking an axe to them or putting a whole frozen tuna through a bandsaw.

In general though, I think one of the best ways to get a sense of a cultural or a country is to visit markets. It's always interesting to see what other people eat and buy at the store. While in Hokkaido we visited a much smaller but still fantastic fish market in Sapporo. The benefit of visiting a market like this is that it's much easier to get around. The market mostly consisted of small stores and a lot of them would give out samples.

Hokkaido is known for its delicious crabs and we saw a lot of them for sale here!

Would you like some octopus? or a package of fresh fish? In Japan there is always an impressive fish section in the market. Usually you can find fish that is sushi grade, fish that is marinated and ready to cook and fish that has already been cooked with a sauce. There's always fresh sushi/sashimi and all kinds of other sealife I wouldn't know what to do with. In addition to the wide variety it is also less expensive to buy fish in Japan.

This guy was on the side of a freezer. As far as I can tell this is an octopus chef on a baked potato.

Two different types of crab and some ikura (salmon eggs). They had a table to sample various types of ikura which made me very happy as it is one of my favorite things to eat over a bowl of rice.

Spiney crab. Making a bid for freedom?

In addition to delicious samples we had the chance to interact more directly with some of the fish market guys. This guy saw us photographing the crabs and went as far as to let us each hold one of the crabs and take photos.

I know it looks really badass but the crab didn't put up much of a fight. The crab guy told us this crab was 16 years old; I guess that's why theses King crabs are so heavy and expensive. Here's Victo, Olivier, Steven and I with the crab! Some of my favorite photos from the trip!

We grabbed some tasty lunch after our perusing. I had a giant bowl of ikura and fresh crab on rice. This also came with a variety of small tasty things; shumai, meatballs, something cooked in tofu skin, white miso soup. It was so good!

Our trip to the market inspired me sooooo much that I started sketching fish and then men from the fish market. I got a little carried away and managed to create enough pieces to put together in a small book/zine. I'll put up some of the images from that next!

Tokyo a GoGo!

I spent a few days in the end of October through the beginning of November in Tokyo. My trip was mostly seeing the sights, shopping, and delicious food. We saw a lot, so I'll just put up favorite photos and say a little something about them.

We went to the Ghibli Museum on the first day we arrived in Tokyo, its a museum of the work of animator Hayao Miyazaki. His most famous movies are probably Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and my Neighbor Totoro. I haven't seen most of his movies. But his most recent one, Ponyo was released in the US and I enjoyed it a lot. Here's from the roof: the building was especially designed for his work and its very whimsical. All of the details from the stained glass inside to the light fixtures have images from Miyazaki movies on them. You aren't allowed to photograph inside the building, but we took some photos from the roof.

It was a beautiful sunny day and Victo and I made our way from the overnight bus to the museum. We were a little sleepy but determined to see the museum.

On the roof of the museum there is a statue of the Iron Giant. Having just seen Ponyo right before I left it was great to see sketches and the gorgeous hand painted backgrounds from the movie. If you are a Miyazaki fan and are in Tokyo its a must!

I stayed in a the Ninja Hostel in Asakusabashi!
It was cheap, clean and I got this cool cabin bed!

Here's the room of cabin beds.

The inside of my cabin included; a light, a shelf and an outlet so I could charge my phone.

Here's me looking out from my bed!

Victo and I spent a day sight seeing and we grabbed a beautiful bento set lunch near the Asakusa temple. It had soup, chirashi (sushi on rice) and a variety of delicious pickles. The outside of the container is painted to match the famous lantern of Asakusa.

Asakusa is a very popular tourist destination, its quite crowded with lots of other tourists each trying to get a photo of themselves under the lantern.

Past the lantern are stalls leading up to the temple filled with kitschy gifts, food, and other souvenirs.

I really liked these dog costumes, too bad they don't come in a larger size to fit Lexey or Chloe.
Past the stalls are another set of lanterns and these abnormally large sandals.

The lantern is bigger than me!

The inside of the temple has these beautiful painted ceilings, last time I was here I tried to photograph them but I wasn't able to get a good photo.

Around the outside of the temple there are small shrines, a koi pond and a garden.

Yay Koi!

More street vendor food: takoyaki! (octopus cooked batter)

Seafood on a stick!

Olivier and I took a trip to the 53rd floor of Roppongi Hills,
where there is an art museum and this great view of the city.

I spy... children standing in a heart shape outside!

Giant bowl of ramen in Shibuya or Shinjuku?

We also went to the Tokyo Design Week Exhibition where Olivier was attacked by a preying mantis.

We managed to meet up with friends of Victo's and Olivier's. Victo's friend Nori brought us delicious dessert from a great place in Tokyo. Banana tart and cream puffs!

Victo and Nori with the cream puffs!

Laeyn was able to meet up with us so
we grabbed some dinner at a delicious Chinese place and we got some drinks too!

Harajuku, the younger fashion district, was one of my favorite places to walk around. There's great shopping there that appeals to a younger crowd, mostly teenagers and twenty somethings. In Harajuku you can find lots of creperies, sock stores, toy shops and trendy boutiques.

Shinjuku at night looks like lots of other big cities.

...Except that its even bigger and so very crowded. We had a great time in Tokyo; running for the last train, grabbing okanomiyaki , karoke and visiting with friends. I look forward to going back again when my family comes to visit!