Good morning!! wake up, tired, yes, but there is no time to lose, especially today as it's time to go to the fish market... for guess what?! yes, Sushi breakfast! :):) I decided though to sleep a bit more and not do the special Tuna audition which is at like 4AM... I was there by 9AM when the wholesales market is still open, wow! huuuuge! very impressive! so many different types of fish, so many I've never seen before! and all perfectly clean and organised, there was even barely fish smell as all was in separated containers with ice to keep them fresh... yep, only in Japan!
I walked around the different areas and after seeing so much fish I was starving! outside there were many different shops of sushi, of course! :) I started queuing in one and realise the one next door has no one.. I thought, mmm maybe there is something wrong? but my curiosity won and I took a peek, it was full inside and they had only one spot left.. so I happily took it :) I ordered a plate of sashimi of many different fish, the tuna was the best! where can I do this of have sashimi for bfast :) I was really happy! paradise!
One thing I have to say I am not sure is how these fish are being fished and how sustainable all is..... mmmm I don;t know.. Japanese don't seem to concerned with this... they use too much plastic, etc... anyway.... for now I will drop it of my mind...
I wondered in the area to find some veggies and also places selling egg cakes and mochi sweets with strawberries and other beautiful decorations.
I walked to Giza which is the posh area in Japan with big malls and brands, all nice and shiny and people perfectly dressed!
I had a fun experience in the mall going to the toilet... for the first time this toilet started making some water noise... just way too funny! I started playing with this washlet... go out and was a huge queue.... they were probably thinking... stupid tourist has never seen a toilet! jajaja I had to laugh at myself! later I learnt that the noise is because they are so shy they feel ashamed of noise at the toilet so like this they can relax :) jajajaj
I walked around the nice area, then into the Marunouchi building and Tokyo Station which made me feel in Amsterdam!
After so much modernity it was time to go back in time and visit the other temple so I headed to Senso-ji. Wow! this was very touristic place...crowded! full of stands before reaching the temple, here the speciality were hello kitty toys and sweets of all types and forms... mochis, cookies, some balls.... only for the eyes for now! I was full of the fish, ajaj
The best of the walk to the temple was to meet these 3 girls wearing beautiful pink kimonos, I couldn't help it and ask them to take a picture with me :) so beautiful!
After the temple I went to the Sky Tower... well, at the end I never made it.... it was like Disneyland, a massive long queue of more than an hour and to be honest there is so much more to see that I'm not wasting so much time on a line :)
I decided to go to Ueno where I found a beautiful big park full of old temples, so I spent a good time there and then crossed the street to go to this crazy place, neo light and full of people :) contrast once more.
For dinner I met Kaoru, Wendy's friend who gave me some tips before the trip. We went to Mongi Street for an amazing dinner: Monjyayaki. This is like a BBQ in front of you and was one of the best meals I had! veggies and fish all cooked in front of you, so yummy!
We also had 3 drinks, my favorite I think was the plump wine! the other were with grapefruit and lemon! we had such a great conversation exchanging about life in Japan with my stories! Thanks Kaoru for all the good tips and teaching me a bit more about living in Japan and Japanese culture! and the nice presents :) so sweet!
Good night!
Yes!! I made it, I am here and writing these after 5 days of being around, yes, its intense, never stop Japanese lifestyle! so let's rewind and start at the beginning...
It all actually started in the plane where I met a Japanese man who was going back home after some nice 2 weeks holidays in Switzerland! It was funny, the first thing he said to me when I asked him about his CH experience was, '' it's very nice, but it's all a bit of a mess here and also dirty, the airport its complicated, there are no slippers or toothbrush at the hotels and it's so expensive...'' but he also said he had a great time visiting his Spanish friend and that nature it's stunning.... moral of the story, as always, everything is so relative. It all depends on our point of reference and for some things, there is no good o bad, we are all different and unique creatures, with our own stories and background, so at the end we can only judge what is good or bad for ourselves. We talked a lot until dinner and when we landed he took me to Shinjuku, the station where I needed to change to a metro line to go to my hotel. And guess what? him, a local, who works in that area, got lost in the station... so.. well.. I knew how I would get lost myself :)
But for now, it was easy to find my place and the people there were super nice! great place by the way :) more on that later!
With so much excitement to get to know this new place, I took a quick shower, change, no sleep and I went out..there is too much to see to start by sleeping! go to the metro ticket machine..
And I decided to start by the traditional and head to one of the two main temples, Meiji-jingu. First step was t take the metro and I was expecting to get super lost but to my surprise it was very easy! Every line has a number and every station has a number as well so even if the map looks insane, as soon as you remember the numbers you are ok... and even for a person like me who is the worst with numbers it was ok :)
Ha! and on the way... i found the drinks machines I like so much.. so smart, like the guy in the place said to me, in Japan we don;t have t carry bottles of water, there is a machine in every corner, so true and a great idea! :) I actually didn't have to carry water at all!
The temple was hidden at the end of a park after passing some sake offering barrels and it was beautiful and different from all other temples I have seen.
Mostly all Japanese temples are Shinto temples as Shintoism is the biggest religion here, followed by Buddhism. In Shintoism, there is no one god but multiple ones called ''Kami'' and they worship the different nature elements, water, mountains, wind, sea, etc. Thats why there are no figures, yes rituals.
Before entering the temple, its important to rinse yourself: pour water on your left hand, then on your right, then wash your mouth and spit it and use the remaining water to wash the end of the wooden stick. Of course I did this every time to show my respect, its really rude just to go in and take pictures! The people also pray in a different way here, they through a coin, bow once, clap twice, bow and clap once more... hope I got it right!
There is always also a place to share the prayers and gratefulness messages in a piece of paper or wood as well as some fortune and reading of says of past people.. of course, a lot of special rituals.
While exploring the temple I was lucky to see a wedding picture ceremony! The lady was stunning, wearing a beautiful kimono and tons of makeup. And as everything else in Japan it had to be perfect. She was getting her make up re touched before each shot and the guest were being corrected on their postures or their clothing, at the end I am sure they got a beautiful picture :)
On the way back I took a detour into a garden with traditional tea houses, water pods, flowers...beauty all over, a try Japanese garden :)
After all these peace and tradition, I walked for 10 minutes and I was in crazyland: Takeshita Street :) I found it all, gotics, lolitas, people in ''customs'' and loooots of people, but all very quiet! I closed my eyes for a few seconds and i felt I was alone, open them and couldn't believe I was in the middle of such a mess :)
I went into a clothing shop where girls buy their normal outfit... what an amazing inspiration for a custom party :) My favorite section, you guess, was the wigs one :) so many colors and shapes, I would have gotten one of each for the coming parties. Among wigs there was everything, super high hills, gotic outfit, lolita outfits and whatever you could imagine... there were lots of crepe shops, new trend?!
I kept walking to a more ''sophisticated'' street with all the big brands, went to kiddy land, full of kid and big kids buying Star Wars and Lego games and toys and then into the Oriental Bazar where they have all these beautiful pots, tea cups, beautiful chopsticks, kimonos, house stuff... haaa I wanted all of it but cannot start buying on day 1, so I left and finally found food, my first real SUSHI in Japan, I couldn't be happier :)
Here sushi is like fast food, nothing very special, like taking a coffee standing up in Italy! You go, sit, eat quickly and leave and to my surprise it's not about salmon! Salmon is so overrated in Europe jajaj (but still my favorite). here Tuna has a bigger role and i have to say the tastier tuna i ever had. My firs was this white fish... delicious! :) loved it! something really nice is that you get green team for free, you make it yourself, with powder :) looks rare at start but its very nice.
After making myself happy with the sushi I headed to Shibuya, the very famous crossing with million of people! yep! loots! but once more, so silent, incredible! I looked at them for a while from the train station, just crazy to see this, then my turn to cross... fuun!
I went out to explore, was getting dark so all neon lights were on! full of arcade game places, i went in..wowwww soooo crazy loud, you need some earplugs, they are in a trace playing these games. From war games, gambling, sports to trying to get Hello Kitty prices. My favorite was the picture machine :) this was FUN, super FUN! I tried to get some Japanese girls to join me on the pics, but they are so shy, really! come on people, open up! This made it really hard to get human connection, really a pity.... anyway, I went into the machine and made my girly pics dancing to the bang bang song, I couldn't have had more fun. After the pics are made I moved to a ''cutifing'' station to put hearts and fun stuff on the pics and after i got them printed! I also here tried to ask her to some girls to send to them one of the pics and then send to me as the only version only worked in Japanese systems... but they were all to shy....
Well, at least I have my printed version, best pics of the trip :)
And yes, I had sashimi for dinner!
happy, happy, happy first day :)
Japan, Japan.... a country that I have been waiting to visit for a long long time. There was always an excuse, but this year I decided it was my year to explore this incredible place :)
Before leaving, when I would hear about Japan, my mind would think, the future, technology, they are way ahead on everything, they are crazy people that dress rare and eat sushi, sing karaoke and work very late and very hard! jajajaj wowwww... I was a bit wrong...
Japan is a land of contrast, yes the future, probably only in Tokyo and Osaka, where the big cities never stop, you find big screen and neon lights all night long, karaokes all around, crazy game arcades where kids and old people play whatever game they want and avoid reality, lolita and gothic people walking around without being looked at (except by tourists like me!), crazy shops with toys, comics and as many electronic products as you've ever imagine, restaurants from another world like alice in wonderland, yeees, only in Tokyo!
Japan doesn't have toilet, it has washlets and you really do need to look which bottom you will press or you will be surprised, jajaj, they have the fastest trains in the world but also a very bad bus system, where everyone needs to get out from the front so everyone get stuck for minutes at each station.... how come they didn't think of this?! They are the shiest and most reserved people I've met in Asia and so so hard to get to know... but then they all go naked to the Onsen and there they talk they do eat sushi.... but this is such a small part of their wonderful kitchen! and there is more green, greener than in any other place than there are big cities and did I mentioned everything is cute, done to perfection, gardens, food, work, make up, clothing... all is done up to the most tiny, tiny detail.
So, enjoy these contrast while I hopefully make you travel again with my adventures and if you think of going over there, let me know, I will happily help you think about your trip.
Enjoy!
