tokyo day 2

So as we are done with over half of our trip I thought I’d take the chance to update.

The day started with a trip to the southeast side of town to Tsukiji fish market. Recently there have been changes to what tourists can see at the market so I was a bit afraid the trip across town was going to be a lot of wasted time since there is pretty much nothing else we wanted to see in the area. When we got there, the street vegetable market was bustling with old women buying their fresh produce for the day. We pushed through the crowds and finally made it to the fish market at around 9, well after the peak hours. We were not let down.

Typically if you were to walk into somebody’s place of business as if it was a tourist attraction it would be a bit absurd(unless they work at Disney World I guess), but this day-to-day operation is something that is really amazing to see in person. There are locals buying up fish before it is shipped off to supermarkets. There are men driving cars just wide enough to fit down the aisles(no kidding). There are tourists snapping photos of the chaos around them. It really is great. And the absolute best part is stopping in for some breakfast sushi on the way out of the market. There is something great about eating food that is just a few short hours from living…even though that sounds morbid.

After Tsukiji, it was off to Bridgestone Art Museum. This was Melissa’s portion of the day. While I enjoy art, I am not into impressionism which was the highlight of this exhibition. I will say though, it is really cool to stand a few inches from a highly recognizable Picasso or Monet painting. It should also be noted that seeing a Monet in person is enough to turn a skeptic into a fan. Posters always make the paintings look so boring, but to see the textures and layers of oil paint really added so much to a seemingly boring painting. Pollock still has work to do to impress me.

That evening we headed to Ebisu Palace(turns out it was actually Ebisu Place, but we still prefer the old name). Ebisu is the premium line of Sapporo beer and like Sapporo, there is a museum tour with tasting at the end. I was able to taste a few of Ebisu beers and both were really good. One was a creamy stout beer much like Guinness and the other was an amber. Ebisu Palace was kind of like a large outdoor mall district or whatever. It is part of a new Tokyo trend of “cities within a city.” Anyways, the aforementioned beer museum is the namesake, but the real core is a 39 floor building with a great view of the city. The great view, however was lined with the expensive restaurants, and the decent view was lined with the “we can afford this” stuff. All in all, a nice dinner and a nice evening.

Following that we opted to walk about 25 minutes to Shibuya. Shibuya is one of the great night scenes in Tokyo and something we both considered a must. The walk was actually one of my favorite parts about Tokyo. I really can’t describe it other than it was kind of like America, but in a chilled out part of LA or something. There were tons of restaurants and bars and cool little shops with trendy clothes. It was the kind of place you meet up with friends and drink wine or something. I really liked the vibe.

Shibuya was also great, but in a not at all peaceful way. Shibuya brags the busiest train station in Japan and the busiest intersection in the world. Every few minutes the intersection closes completely to traffic and floods of people march through every part of the intersection on their way to a bar or karaoke joint. It is remarkably relaxing to watch the floods of people move about the night. The Shibuya night, while one of my favorite in Tokyo, was actually quite chill for us. My highlights were Krispy Kreme donuts and Burger King. I know many will criticize me for this, but seriously BK owns and I have almost zero options for American food in Aomori(haven’t seen an American burger chain outside of McD since…America. and BK is my favorite). Other than those two vices, it was pretty much people watching and me posing with the Hachiko dog(side note – this dog is actually a statue of a dog. It is the number one meeting place in Tokyo. The statue is of a real dog that waited at the station for his owner. When his owner died he continued to wait at the station daily for 11 more years. The people loved him and when he died they memorialized him. The rest is history.). My brother had told me about the dog and it was my goal to see him if I did nothing else…for my brother :).

Next up… Harajuku and Shinjuku.