After the brilliance of kabuki, the adventure through Ginza and the joy of watching the NEWS CM, our second day in Japan had a lot to live up to. And it got off to an early start…
The previous day, people had been mumbling about the Tokyo fish market. I had firmly said “No” each time – I hate fish and I love sleep. It seemed like an easy decision to make. Did I really want to get up at 4.30AM to gawk at fish carcasses and they weirdos who buy them? Not bloody likely!
Of course, I couldn’t bear to be left out of anything and grumpily found myself in the hotel lobby as the sun was rising. I was missing out on a good four hours of sleep to go to a fish market. ME! I convinced myself that this was a once in a lifetime trip and that I should take advantage of everything. I almost believed myself…
<- Barbara, Pablo, Tom, Evelina, Kristine – Let’s fish market!
The hotel staff were amazing and sorted us with maps and transport. We took two taxis and drove through the streets, which were still empty at this early hour. I did see a few people who were obviously just making their way home after a night out though! The taxi men dropped us at the place they said was the best entrance. We took their word for it and headed in…
<- “Is this it?” First impressions were not good…
<- Cats like fish, right? Follow the cat!
<-What the hell is that?!?!
Despite it still being dark and night-ish, we could see that we weren’t in the right place. It seemed almost fish-markety, but not quite. We decided to pick a direction and hope for the best. Besides, there were lots of interesting things to see on the way…
<- Fish market mural: we must be on the right track! (See the men counting the fish?)
<-An elephant? Maybe we’re not on the right track 
<- A huuuuuuuge park full of motorbikes. I took a brighter photo later, think of this one as the “before”…
On we wandered. Then we started walking through lots of big haulage trucks…it seemed promising. Suddenly this huuuuuuuge open warehouse loomed in front of us. You couldn’t even see from one side to the other. We had come in a side door (i.e. the wrong way) but we could see literally thousands of stalls all squashed together and lots of people scurrying around, preparing to open for business. Foolishly I didn’t take a picture of this, but I have some good ones later, when we were leaving. Anyway, the thing that struck me most about this place was the contrast between the really, really, REALLY ugly people who worked there and the really, really, REALLY hot people who worked there.
What, you expected me to look at the fish?
This guy was the pick of the bunch:
A bit too short and skinny for my tastes but, well, no harm in looking.
<- The hot guy was guarding ice. Actually, the ice was just as interesting! Look how big the cubes are!!!
I did remember to take some fish pictures:
<- My arch-enemy, squid. Not so mighty now, are you?!? HAHA!
<- The eels looked a bit sad though. Sad and delicious.
<- Alive, alive-oh!
With not too much difficulty, we found the the auction site. Actually, I didn’t really know about this beforehand but the tuna auctions are very famous and a real tourist attraction. I always thought tuna was a small fish, like the size of my hand or something. Turns out that they’re MASSIVE though, wait til you see!
<- Finally!
Have loads of fish photos:
<-Horrible!
<- Scary!
Up until now, all the buyers had been surveying the fish. There was a small area that we tourists were kept inside, like a cattle pen or something! Then the auction itself began and all hell broke loose with people shouting and running everywhere. We were told not to take any photos, but I was like “Nyaaaaah!”
<- And that was the auction! It was worth getting up for…though a bit strange all the same. I don’t know why people find it so interesting to be honest. I enjoyed it because I knew it was a tourist attraction and expected to have fun. But otherwise…
We left the fish market by a different route that took us through more stalls and past more weird fish:
<- Crabs is quicksand? Battered crabs?
<- Look at the crab second from the top – it’s blowing bubbles!
<- Remember the yard full of bikes from earlier? This is the “after” picture!
<- Mushrooms for breakfast? No thanks…
<- I was just walking down the street and was ATTACKED BY MATSUJUN!!!!
<- You can buy anything in Japan, even giraffes
<- While we were trying to find the train station we came across a temple…why not?
We had to be back at the hotel in time for some breakfast and to get the bus to where ever we were headed that day. It would have been nice to walk back but we were pushed for time. So we got our first experience of a Japanese train!
<- I am a technological WHIZZ!
<- Just like Korea, everyone asleep on the morning train
We made it safely home. By now I was realising that we wouldn’t be spending many daylight hours at the hotel, so I took some photos of the area while I could. It was right beside a big temple:
The grounds of Tokyo Prince Hotel were really nice too:
And that was the morning of the fish market! Hope you enjoyed it 
We got back in time to freshen up and grab some breakfast. Lucky that we did, because it was suuuuuuuch a long day ahead.
Coming soon: Nippon Keiradeidendeiran, University Challenge, Kyudo, Flower Arranging, Taiko Drumming and…KARAOKE!
