Tokyo Part 1
I’ve been having a blast in Tokyo. It’s only been six days, but I’ve
made use of every available minute. Rebuilding the chronology would
prove difficult, instead a list of activities.
Each day has taken roughly the same form. I generally have breakfast with
Mr. Nakagawa, followed by a glass of his favorite beverage, grape juice mixed
with milk, a Japanese take on a Purple Cow. Mr. Nakagawa’s apartment is
located half a block from the Ningyocho subway station. After getting his take on my plan of
attack for the day, I hit the station and commence navigating the
multi-level maze that is the Tokyo Metro. Places I’ve visited:
Akihibara - aka gadget heaven. I was under the impression that
Shanghai’s seven floors of electronics constituted gadget nirvana, I
stand corrected. The Akihabara district is full of multi-level
electronic stores brimming with all the latest technology. So far I’ve
resisted temptation, new toys don’t fit in the travel budget. Given
that it’s only two train stops away, there is still time for my
resolve to soften.
Shibuya - the Lonely Planet describes Shibuya as the most famous neon
filled intersection in Tokyo. Famous, indeed, but better
characterized as one big blinking
flashing strobing epilipsy test. I took a walk through at night, took
the requisite photos and had a surprisingly affordable meal of sushi.
I stumbled upon the Yamaha music showroom. My hope was to try out one
of their new bass trombones, for old time sake, but had to settle for
an odd electronic trumpet. It turns out even with the aid of
circuitry, I’m a lousy trumpet player.
Tsukiji Fish Market - As virtually a lifetime resident of Tokyo, Mr.
Nakagawa had never visited the fish market, so he decided to join me.
The doors to the famous tuna auction open at 5AM. The subway system
starts running at about the same time. Given the schedule, we skipped
the subway and set off at 4:30AM for a fast walk/jog to the market. I
was hard pressed at time to keep up with the spry 67 year old,
especially when the cross walk started blinking and he set off in a
full on sprint. We made it to the market with a few minutes to spare.
I was a tad winded.
While Tsukiji is a tourist attraction, it’s a downright dangerous one.
It is first and foremost a market for wholesale seafood, with the
large trucks, motorized carts, and pallet jacks to prove it - an
industrial setting where one false step may mean a collision with a
speeding cart full of seafood. The people working the auction and
market appear almost irritated by the tourist hoard, though they do
reserve a narrow corridor of space for the camera happy. We packed in
and elbowed space for the show.
Arranged in neat lines on either side of the visitors corridor were
frozen tuna, large tuna on one side, maybe 100LB fish, smaller 50LB
fish on the other side. The tail fin of each fish had been cut off,
a half moon flap had been cut just above the tail stump, and bright red numbers
had been pained across the frostly scales. The buyers walked along
the row, each using their own method to determine quality. Some buyers
spent time studying the stump, others rubbed their hands on the fleshy
side of the flap. I watched one old hand nip frozen meat from the
tail stump, forming it into little fishballs that he stuffed up his
sleeve. Later he produced the fishballs for his business partner. One
at a time they studied the consistency of the now melted tuna. I tend
to think they found the best fish, for they were the only ones to flip
the fish and check out the other side.
After an hour of study the auction kicked off. For all the build-up
the auction itself moved really fast. Of course, I couldn’t
understand a word of proceedings. It appeared to follow a common
auction practice, odd auctioneer vocalizations followed by nods and
waves by buyers. The auctioneer worked himself up to a frenzy, yet
never stopped long enough for me to distinguish one lot from the next.
Given the high number of tourists and the small space, we were
ushered out to make room for others.
You can’t visit a fish market without eating some fish, so we hunted down a
sushi stand just outside the wholesale market. The adjoining public
market was similar in many ways to Seattle’s Pike Place Market, full
of seafood, produce, restaurants, and souvenirs. After having an
excellent sushi breakfast, we stopped by a temple on the way home
where we lucked into the morning chant. An exciting morning was
followed by, at least in my case, a three hour nap.
Post nap I met up with Sada’s older brother Ryoichi, a.k.a. Leo. We
had planned to meet for coffee, but given a conversation that spanned
family tree analysis, WWII history, a tutorial on the US financial
collapse, invaluable travel advice, and a lot of laughs, we ended up
talking until nearly 10pm. I really enjoyed spending time with Leo, a very
interesting guy.
It’s getting late and I’m running out of steam. I’m going to pull a
Paul Harvey and outline the “rest of the story” in a follow-up post.
Stay tuned for my introduction to Japanese baseball, the sites and
sounds of The Tokyo National Museum, and this note from our sponsor…
