The Tsukiji Fish Market

Getting up at the crack of dawn to experience the largest fish market in the world is definitely worth the pain.  I wouldn't really say that this is the place for any tourist to be, considering the danger of getting ran over by a forklift (or auto carts) while workers with big knives and table saws are slicing the morning's catch, but it is an experience not to be missed.

The market was just so very busy.  Some workers were very happy and welcoming to us tourists, but others were the "bah-hum-bug" type who were annoyed at the fact that we were there solely to take pictures and not to purchase anything.  Of course who's to blame them?  Never the less, I snapped a ton of photos of the interesting seafood that is the staple of Japanese cuisine. 

I always wondered what scallops looked like, I've only seen them on my plate at restaurants. These are the biggest of them all...

This has got to be the biggest tuna I've ever seen in my life.

I don't know I thought they were kinda cute.

There was a small fruits and vegetables quarter with produce that looked like the wax kind you would buy for the kitchen table.  They were so perfect and fresh looking.  And so big! Apples, tomatoes, strawberries, and many other products were individually wrapped.

These asparagus were the biggest ones I have ever seen in my life!

The best part about the Tsukiji Fish Market are the places to eat where they will serve you the seafood you just went to look at.  For this traditional Japanese breakfast, you have to get to the food shops before 7:30 am or the waiting line to eat will be wrapped around the sidewalk.  There are many shops to choose from and they are all decently priced with essentially the same thing: sashimi, shrimp, scallops, uni, rice, miso soup, and hot ocha (tea).   (We went for round two the next day because the fish was so fresh and nothing like you have ever tasted before.)  

This is the line to the shop we ate at. You can see the pictures of all the order choices displayed on the window. 

The shops are very small and only tend to seat about 10 people seated around a bar.    

The rest of the day we walked around Tokyo exploring all the weird and wacky things to love about the city.  Namja Town home of Gyoza Stadium and Ice Cream City was an interesting adventure with an ice cream cup museum and over 20 different ways to eat gyoza.  Cheese gyoza is definitely something I'm going to try to cook when I get home.

The one thing about the Japanese I noticed right away is their need for presentation.  Ice cream cones are not just ice cream cones, as Cammie displays her's here...

This was the photo op of the day: At Ropponggi Hills