26/07/2011

Day 9 - Tsukiji Fish Market and Tokyo Tower

Today is our last day at Khaosan Tokyo Samurai, we decided to get some of the touristy stuff out the way that we had yet to check off, we were suppose to do both of these on other days but just didn't get round to it.

The alarm went off at 7, we were out by half past, we eventually got to Tsukiji for about half 8, and it was just sheer mayhem, row upon row of frozen fish, I was more interested in finding some of the "legendary" fresh sushi, but alas we must have lost sight of that in the chaos of it all. It's such a fascinating place, with workers rushing around the place to get lorries and vans loaded so the customers can get their fish ready by the nightfall, obviously fish tastes better the fresher it is, freshness is the key to all sushimi used in sushi. The only thing I don't really understand about Tsukiji is why they would let the public in? This is a place of business, with some very dangerous fast apparatus moving about and with million yen transactions taking place, rather than the off cut of salmon for tonight's dinner. It just seemed a little weird, you wouldn't exactly take a walk around Smithfield Meat Auction-house in London as a tourist or would you?

We left the fish market after getting frustrated with trying to find the food stalls! I wanted some super fresh sushimi God damn it! And set a course for Tokyo tower, we got off the train at Daimon station near Shiba Park, which we walked through to get to the temple Zōjō-ji, this temple has a vast Buddhist history, the park itself was created around it back in 1393. Some very famous shogunate are buried here.

We spent some time taking in the sites before heading to the Tower, we paid 1,400yen to get to the top observation deck (250 meters up) You are also allowed to take pictures and go shopping at 150 meters up! I took some spectacular shots of the city from up high (Soon to be updated) and got some fantastic shots of the Zōjō-ji temple from above.

Got back to the hostel to get organised for tomorrow as we are suppose to be heading to Mount Fuji tomorrow.

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