Tuesday, 10 July 2018

Adam: Today we visited the Tsujiki Fish market (pronounced skee-jee). It is the largest wholesale fish and seafoodmarket in the world. Some 60,000+ workers are employed plying 700,000 metric tons of seafood annually – 400+ different types of seafood from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar, and from tiny sardines to 300 kg tuna and various whale species.

But Brenda was only looking for a knife. On our last visit, we purchased a chef’s knife at the market that Brenda says is the best knife she’s ever owned/used. She loves it so much that she’s afraid to use it for fear that it will break.

The knife doesn’t have a brand (that we can read, anyway). We decided to search the many acres of booths and stalls to see if we can find the vendor again.

Note the gift-wrapped square watermelon.

Today was unbearably hot.  The market was so crowded it was hard to maneuver or even see anything.

Fruit in Japan tends to be very expensive so we haven’t been eating much of it.  Josie has been craving grapes lately and finally found some … but they came with a nearly $30 price tag for one pack.

I thoroughly searched this knife store, but it wasn’t “the one.”

The market has many food stalls. People were lined up to buy various delicacies on sticks, which they had to eat standing out in the blazing sun, battling the crowds.  It didn’t look like fun to us so we didn’t end up trying any of the foods.

This area is famous for it’s small sushi restaurants. People line up and wait a long time for the opportunity to sit down and enjoy the freshest, most “authentic” sushi in the world. Most of these places at least have counters.  You have to wait for a seat, but you get to eat your food sitting in the shade once it’s your turn.

Some of the stalls sell weird things that seem unrelated to fish.

But mostly it’s stall after stall of seafood and kitchen equipment.

A glimpse of the loading docks.

This warehouse is where fish shipments come in and get packed for distribution.  The general public is allowed to wander through some of the aisles but it’s pretty clear they don’t really want looky-loos hanging around getting in the way.

 

I insisted on taking one last pass though the selling area before leaving, dragging my hot sweaty family behind me.  The kids were desperate to get out of there.  BUT …. success!  I couldn’t believe I finally found the same knife.  It was in the very last store I checked just as we were about to leave the market.

It’s the second one from the left on the top row.  I briefly thought about getting one that was a little different than the one I have at home, but ultimately decided to just get an identical one.  I already know I love it, and this way I will have a replacement lined up for when my old one inevitably gets ruined.  This type of knife is made from a harder steel than Western-style knives, which means it has a sharper, thinner blade but is more brittle. Last time I was here, the guy warned me never to cut meat on the bone or something that might have frozen spots — hitting something hard can chip the blade.  I use mine every day, but am very careful not to cut anything but vegetables with it.  Nevertheless, I just know that someday it will get dropped on the floor and the tip will break off or something. For three years now I’ve been babying that knife because I couldn’t replace it …. now I have a back-up!  This was a treasure hunt well worth the effort.  I am giddy!

For lunch we found a little hole-in-the-wall place across from the fish market.  It was the type of restaurant where you order from a vending machine, which spits out a ticket that you hand to the chef.  It was yet another spectacular meal.  In this case, each bowl came with 3 or 4 sheets of that dried seaweed.  Holden loves that stuff and after he ate all his, begged more off the rest of us.

Josie was happy because they had a (mostly) vegetarian option.  This meal came with a single medallion of pork placed on top, which was easy to pick off and give to someone else.  This was called “dipping noodles.”  The soup ingredients are served in a separate bowl and alongside you get a smaller bowl of soup/sauce.  It was thicker than regular broth and coated the noodles sort of like a marinara sauce — although it wasn’t made of tomatoes.

We all got slightly sunburned yesterday at Disney in spite of copious sunscreen applications, shade-seeking, and (for me) carrying an umbrella around.  Today is even hotter and sunnier.

Conditions have gone from unpleasant to literally sickening.  During lunch, we were trying to decide what to do next and Isabella said, “Actually, I don’t feel very good.  I kinda want to just go back to the apartment for the day.”  Holden said, “Me, too” and then Josie said, “Me three.”

We decided to go back for siestas, and made plans to return to the Shibuya district after sundown to take in the night life and get some night photos for Adam.  Once he and I were sitting on our beds at 1:30 p.m., he said “Who are we kidding?  Nobody is going back out today.”  And we didn’t.

Later that evening, while making himself a peanut butter sandwich in our little kitchenette, Holden said, “I’m just loving being at home for awhile.  It’s so relaxing after more than a month of doing so much stuff every day.”

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

Before we left Georgia this summer, I went to Target and loaded up on sunscreen because I’ve found that it can be very expensive in other countries.  I bought so much of it that Isabella and Josie were embarrassed to be seen with me, and the girl at the checkout counter said, “Wow … are you taking a vacation on the surface of the sun?”

We went through ALL of that sunscreen three weeks into the trip … I had to buy a bunch more in Korea.  Today we used up most of what was left of the Korean batch and I had to buy even more this afternoon.  Nevertheless, we are all battling sunburn now.  It just keeps getting a bit worse, a bit pinker, a bit more itchy and stingy, each day.  I was unhappy that a single bottle of a sunscreen brand I recognised (La Roche Posey) was $40 but paid up anyway because we NEED it.

When we got back to the apartment, I decided to research Japanese sunscreen brands and discovered that most of them are far superior to American and European sunscreens, and also (in Japan, anyway) much cheaper.  Japan is a world leader in sunscreen technology, largely because they so highly prize pale, unfreckled skin and there is an enormous demand for ever better options.  The Japanese developed a rating system for measuring UVA protection, called the PA rate.  PA stands for protection grade of UVA and is based on the Persistent Pigment Darkening (PPD) reaction reading at 2-4 hours of sun exposure. PA is a protective level of strength, ranging from PA+ to PA++++.

Other countries are slowly adopting this measurement and rating system, so maybe we’ll be seeing it in US stores one of these days.  Anyway, I am now armed with a couple of brand names and will try those tomorrow.  If we like them, I can load up before we go home.

Adam: Today we made plans to visit the Imperial Palace and then finish up with the Tokyo Science Center. They are near to each other and both (we felt) were within walking distance of our apartment.  We started out fairly early and hit a Starbucks for breakfast and drinks.. and then got to walking.

Adam: In Hibiya Park – a unit of currency from Yap Island. I remember as a kid reading about different currencies of the world – and they always mentioned the Yap Islanders and their large, round limestone disks.

This stone was donated to Japan in 1924 and, at the time, was supposedly worth the equivalent of about US$500 (in 1924 dollars). I have no idea what you could buy with $500 on Yap Island in the 20s, but it’s apparently not worth enough now to be worth appropriating.

On the way to the Imperial Palace. We visited here the last time we were in Tokyo and we remembered fondly touring the castle and walking up 6-7 floors to get good views. We thought we would check this out again.

Classic view of part of the Imperial Palace buildings. Looking across Nijūbashi bridge.

Same spot, three years apart:  June 9, 2015 and July 11, 2018.

In the picture taken today, Josie is standing on a curb because she’s tired of always being the shortest one in the pictures.

Adam: We tried to enter the grounds, but the gates were blocked off with guards. I thought I remembered we needed to sweep around clockwise around the moat to find the proper entrance.

We walked for miles, circumnavigating the entire 300 acres.. but each time we found an access point, they were blocked off.

We decided that the Palace was closed for the day and pretty much gave up. It was hot and humid and we were all dripping wet with sweat. Going to plan B, we decided to walk to the Science Center. It would be inside (a/c) and would surely have some drinks.

Holden finding a fountain on the way.

Adam: When we got to the Science Center a guard told us that, being a Wednesday, this place was closed. We’ve just learned that all that walking was for naught. I’ve emptied my change pocked buying drinks for everyone.

We sat down in defeat to reapply sunscreen and suck down cold drinks.

We continued our walk through the gardens of the Imperial Palace – they were at least open.

A hill of tea plants.

Even the crows are sick of this heat.  They just sat at the water’s edge panting like dogs.

There were about a dozen people standing around looking at the crows, which were all of 2 feet away because they were too heat exhausted to move.  I was standing right in front of the one in the above photo, making little cooing noises at him (as I am prone to doing when I see birds.)  A man standing next to me enthusiastically poked me on the shoulder, gestured at the crow, and said, “Do you see that huge bird?!”  Um, yeah Buddy.  I see it.

Adam: Brenda spoke to a police officer at the front gate and he confirmed that the Palace wasn’t open. It wouldn’t be open tomorrow, either. 

We did a little research after lunch and learned that the Palace is NEVER open. It is, of course, the current home of the Emperor (Akihito, son of Hirohito) and his family.  It is as if we walked all around Buckingham Palace and never found a way to get in, all the while wondering why these guards keep preventing us from wandering around the palace.

After we got back to our apartment, we re-read the blog from 2015 and learned that we KNEW it was closed back then – the false memory I had turned out to be a different castle that we toured in Osaka.

In the end, we put in about 7 miles of walking and had yet to find any indoor activities. Got some good photos, though.

We took the subway to Ginza, a popular, high end shopping district. We got lunch and figured out our strategy for the afternoon.

This restaurant was called “Casual Tempura Restaurant.”  Here we are at the counter casually waiting for our tempura.

Isabella couldn’t resist teasing Adam a bit.

In Ginza, there was a store called Tokyu Hands that Josie discovered online. They have an entire floor dedicated to stationery, pens and other art supplies. Both Isabella and Josie left with their wallets lightened a bit.

More cheap Copic markers!

Tokyo is already getting ready for hosting the Olympics in 2020.  These posters are all over the city.

Our total mileage today was 9.4 walked.  Exhausted by 2:00 p.m., we bought some groceries and turned in for the rest of the day.  We found a specialty store in the subway station that sold imported foods … mostly French, but that didn’t stop them from blaring Mexican mariachi music over their sound system.  The only “Mexican” food I found were little packets of Old El Paso taco seasoning. They were on a shelf next to Spam and some kosher pickles.  I also got excited over what I thought was hummus but turned out to be “4 type pork paste.”  Thank goodness for the translator app! We loaded up with olives, camembert cheese, crackers, garlic pickles, wine with a real cork instead of a screw cap, a baguette and several French pastries. Holden remarked, “This looks exactly like what we ate for dinner every night in Paris last summer.”

Thursday, 12 July 2018

Adam: We started the day with a return to Shibuya – without much of a plan. Brenda wanted to revisit some of the high end, second-hand stores that dot the city.  I had convinced the kids that we ought to try out Karaoke in Tokyo.

Adam: Karaoke turned out to be the highlight of the day. I had to twist Holden’s and Josie’s arms to participate, but once we got into the room, they took over and had a blast.
I picked (purposefully) the same location as the Karaoke scene in the movie “Lost in Translation” with Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson. We did better (less sexy, more goofy and screechy) than them.

The Scarlett Johansson / Bill Murray scene was filmed in rooms 601 and 602.  We were in room 604 at the end of the hall.

Holden and Josie figuring out how to search for songs on the playlist.  Holden chose Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual.”  Then the kids made me sing “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Adam sang Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and then the kids took over completely.  They quickly discovered that Disney songs were the most fun and ended up spending most of the hour singing different tunes from Alladin, The Little Mermaid, etc.

The Disney songs are easy to do silly — they already knew the lyrics by heart so they could stand up and dance around without having to look at the words on the TV screen for help, and best of all they could sing as characters (e.g., do voices and accents.) They had such a great time they want to come back and do it again tomorrow, but for longer than just one hour.

After karaoke, we ran into another location of the Mexican restaurant Guzman y Gomez and decided to give it a try this time.  (We saw one at Disney Ikspiari a few days ago.)  The food was far more authentic than we would have guessed … they even used corn tortillas instead of flour.  As with almost all Mexican meals, I had to dodge bits of cilantro that ruined the experience for me, so that added to the authenticity as well.  We were impressed.

Then we hit another huge stationary store.  The girls loaded up on some more of the unbelievably cheap Copic markers.

We finished the day’s outing with a return to Harajuku and the crepe vendor.

Below is a picture of the giant cotton candy you can buy.  Holden wanted to try this, but it was more than $9 and Adam and I refused to pay it.  Holden decided he didn’t want it bad enough to spend his own $9 and was satisfied watching other people walking around with theirs.  We figured we all knew what cotton candy tasted like already and the only thing special about this one was the size.

Adam: For the first time on the trip, Brenda and I actually went out on a date in the evening. Within walking distance of our apartment, there was a restaurant that focuses entirely on Gyoza. We bought a plate to share, some pickled vegetable appetizers and we each had a small glass of Sake.

The gyoza on this trip has been amazing, and this place that specializes in it was the best of all.  We didn’t get any photos, sadly.  I’m going to try making gyoza at home along with the ramen soups.

Friday, 13 July 2018

Another blazing hot day.  We decided to visit the Ueno Zoo, thinking that if we went right when they opened, we could beat the worst of the heat.  The zoo is in a neighborhood we’ve never been, so we went a little early to get in some wandering around time.

This area is full of markets and seems to be the unofficial Second-Hand Clothes district.

Holden already needing a break.

The park in front of the zoo entrance has an enormous swampy area filled with lotus.  They are finally starting to bloom here and are probably only a few days away from being spectacular. They are already impressive.

We’re already sweaty.

We arrived at the zoo entrance about 10 minutes before they opened, so we wandered over to this nearby shrine.

Some old guys had packed the nooks and crannies in this tree with birdseed.  We sat in the shade and watched the chickadees for awhile.

This guy had a baby turtle that he offered to let the kids play with.  It was such a cute and curious little creature!

In front of the shrine.

After entering the zoo grounds, this is the first animal we encountered.  He is a Steller’s Sea Eagle.  They typically spend their winters in Japan, then migrate elsewhere during the summer.  This guy had been severely injured on some power lines a few years back and can’t fly.  He is a permanent resident of the zoo now.  He has his own little island that is sort of not really a part of the zoo … it’s the area near the entrance adjacent to the public park.  He is not in a cage.  The zoo feeds him and has provided a shelter for him on the ground.

We read a sign saying that the panda exhibit is first-come first-served and that when the lines get too long, they will turn people away.  Since we were practically the only visitors in the zoo, we decided to head over there before it got crowded, but took our time looking at animals along the way.

North American prairie dogs.  These were pretty much the only animals in the zoo who weren’t acting too hot.  In fact, the prairie dogs were basking in the sun even when they could have chosen shade.

We should have hustled. By the time we got to the panda area 15 minutes into our visit, the line was already 80 minutes long! We couldn’t believe it.  Where did all these people come from?  We never saw anyone else enter the gates.

We’ve seen pandas before, so we opted to skip the pandas and take advantage of the fact that practically every other person in the entire zoo was standing in that line.  It gave us the rest of the zoo to ourselves.

Indian elephants.  Even the elephants were acting over-heated.

Misters!  It was already so humid that the misters didn’t provide much relief.

Mama gorilla ….

…. and her new baby, Riki.  He is only about 9 months old.  Here he is chewing on a stalk of celery.

Meanwhile, the panda line is now even longer.  People are hoping to get a glimpse of the female giant panda cub Xiang Xiang, born on June 2, 2017.  She’s just a tad over 1 year old now. Note all the people standing under umbrellas, trying to provide just a little relief from the heat.

After the zoo (which is quite a nice one, although would be better if it was about 10F cooler) we checked out another video game parlor.

On to lunch.  We love these noodle restaurants all over Tokyo.

Table setting commonly seen at the Udon noodle shops.  Jugs of ice water, chopsticks, and the little pots and dishes containing all the condiments — soy sauce, vinegar, grated garlic paste, chilli powder (Shichimi tougarashi), some green stuff that we never identified, pickled ginger, sesame oil, etc. (Edit: I later learned that the green stuff was probably Yuzukosho — a paste made from fermented red or green chili peppers, salt, and peelings of the Japanese citrus fruit yuzu.)

Kids gulping down glass after glass of ice water.

Udon noodles, and they even had a vegetarian option for Josie.

Walking through Ameyoko market on our way back to the train station.  It’s “a bustling shopping street where the distinctive calls of market sellers can be heard selling everything and anything from clothes, spices, cosmetics and fresh fish.”

For all your seaweed needs.

Back at karaoke!  Different location, same chain. This time we booked the room for 90 minutes.  This is the only place we’ve found where you can be LOUD in Tokyo without consequence. The kids took full advantage.

They had a fantastic time, but when we left Holden said, “That was fun, but I don’t think I need to do it ever again.”  They got it out of their systems.

That’s it for Tokyo!  Tomorrow we catch a flight back to Hong Kong in preparation for our long flight home to Georgia on Monday.