Japan Day 4A: Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

I'm finally back with a new post. Life's been hectic for the past few days weeks months...new university, new courses, new everything. But I'm trying to get back into a routine of getting on top of my studies, work and catching up on backlog.

So picking up from where I left off -- Day 4 of my Japan Trip, all the way back in January.
I had two days left in Tokyo (Friday and Saturday). Initially I was going to go Mt. Fuji on Friday and Disneyland on Saturday. But then we realised weekends were peak and it would have been better to go on Friday.

My one wish in Tokyo was to have a sushi/sashimi breakfast at Tsukiji fish markets. We've already seen tuna auctions in Australia, so there was no need to wake up at 4 a.m. to line up for that.

With a strong will to make the most out of our JR Rail Pass, we decided to catch the JR to the closest train station then walk it. Travel sites tell me to take the Yamanote Line to Shimbashi station then a 15 minute walk.

This is me trying to lead everyone to the right direction. Knowing me, I obviously walked into the wrong direction at first! (that's why I'm holding a map)
They were doing some construction (trust that to happen to me), so the images were slightly different to Google Maps. However, all the locals (despite rushing to work) will direct you the right way and then there are a couple of road maps and directories around the way. But make sure that you recognise kanji!

When we got there, it was already around 9:30 so all the action had ended. I have no pictures of the actual market because it just looked like Paddy's -- vendors that sold fruit, vegetables, bonito flakes and even sashimi knives.

Straight into the food part!

Even though it was only 9, the lines were already quite long. We had done no research beforehand - because I spend all the time at the hotel either sleeping or eating, so no time to research!

Not wanting to wait any longer (as we were starving) we chose a kaisendon place. Mainly because the guy promoting the store (guy in the red) was hilarious - say hi for me, if someone goes there again!

But one thing for sure, regardless of where you choose, the food will be infinitely better than anything you've had (because Japan does everything better)

As JB wasn't really up for seafood, as she usually is, we only ordered 3 things amongst the 4 of us.
First up, a mixed plate - we made sure that we tried at least one bite of everything and NO REGRETS! This plate comes with a plate of rice as well, but rice doesn't look pretty, so no pictures!
The urchin has this taste that cannot be found in Australia - tastes so different. It was so good, we ordered another bowl just by itself (see the little plate on the left). The tuna is a lot fattier than the ones you have normally at restaurants in Australia (i.e. higher quality but not the higher price!) The one disappointment was the crab. Maybe we were so amazed by everything else, but it didn't taste especially nice..just crab. Since JB couldn't eat the seafood, she ate all of the egg and she thinks it's the best egg she's ever tasted in her life!

How could we not order a kaisendon at a kaisendon restaurant?! We chose the Yellowtail one, which comes with everything you see! It's the same as the plated one, but the bowl makes it easier to mix the creamy urchin and exciting fish roe together.

We got another one that was more like chiraishi, so that everything was more chopped up and scattered. It was was still yellowtail, but it came with prawns instead of urchin. They looked a bit dodgy because the head section had a bit of blackness to it, which I've been taught to recognise as bad prawn. BUT that prawn was so good and so sweet!

I don't have prices or more in-depth descriptions because I was too busy wolfing everything down and forgot about it. I think it came around to 6000yen or so all together.

After we ate we were too stuffed to take the 15-20 minute walk back so we hailed a taxi back to Shimbashi station. What surprised us was that it was only 760 yen, split between 4 people, that's like $2 each. Taxi drivers won't turn you down just because you're going somewhere close by. So unless you feel like losing some calories before you bulk up at Tsukiji, bring a couple of friends and take a taxi.

That wraps up the morning of Day 4. I'll be back with the rest of Day 4 - Disneyland!

See you then!

xx