Tokyo

Travel Dates: May 25-27, 2013

As a belated birthday getaway (and a really good excuse to use some free Hyatt nights) we decided to jet over to Tokyo for some sushi, shopping, and sight-seeing.  We realized too late that there was a sumo tournament happening and weren't able to get tickets in time.  However, we got to enjoy a fantastic lunch at a local favorite restaurant with my former student and his parents.

Once we arrived in Tokyo early Saturday afternoon (because even though we had a 5:00 pm flight scheduled for Friday night the incoming aircraft from Beijing was seriously delayed and resulted in our flight getting cancelled - that's a statistical victim of the 23% on-time rate for PEK) we fumbled our way through buying a train ticket to the city and got ourselves to the Park Hyatt hotel.  When you combine the luxurious brand of Park Hyatt with the impeccable style of urban Japan you get a truly magnificent experience.  The bed, the robe, the toiletries, the tea selection - everything was beyond compare.

Lounging in the Park Hyatt Bathrobe

Our main event for Saturday was a special sushi dinner, so we spent the afternoon wandering the dazzling Ginza shopping district.  Luckily we encountered C's favorite waffle shop.  Yes, he loves the Manneken Belgian Waffles hot from the oven, the ones that your mouth waters over as you wait in line to place your order.  We also visited some high-end stores and spent a long while browsing through one of my guilty pleasures: the Japanese stationery store.  

Perfectly Warm and Decadent Belgian Waffles

Oh wow.  The Japanese are known for their clean and pure aesthetic, their preference for simplicity and elegance, and their penchant for ceremony.  No wonder you can find Ito-Ya, a six-story stationery store, filled with every possible pen, pencil, brush, ink, paper, envelope, tape, and adornment you can desire.  If I linger for 15-20 minutes in the gift and stationery section of Barnes & Noble you can imagine my overwhelming joy in a store like this.  Somehow we walked away with only a notebook, an assortment of animal-shaped paperclips, a cute wooden hippo, some adorable stickers, and a few rolls of decorative tape.

Ito-Ya Stationery Heaven

After freshening up at the hotel we arrived at the sushi restaurant ready for a unique experience.  C. did his research as always and found Sushi Kyubey, which is located in swanky Ginza and known for its long history of culinary perfection.  We were seated in a small room with ten other diners, all comfortably tucked into the recessed sushi counter with an open view to the action.  Our chef was a man of few words, which helped us focus on his incredible skills with the sushi knife.  Again, his work station was an example of the systematic and organized method found in so many aspects of Japanese culture: a pair of glimmering knives laid across the top of a large wooden cutting board, a bowl of steamed rice to the side, small dishes of every necessary condiment and sauce, trays of fish in the cooling drawers, and a small rag to keep everything clean between courses.

Our Sushi Chef

It would be unfair not to mention some of the especially bizarre pieces of sushi that we ate.  We trusted the chef and ordered the "set" of his selection of sushi, hoping that we would enjoy the majority of it.  It was a good choice:  we loved nearly all of the items, particularly the fatty tuna, squid, tuna cheek (that was a new one for me!), mackerel, and grilled fish.  The biggest surprises were the clam, which arrived on our plate slammed down so that it curled back on itself, and the sea eel liver, which was something we knew we'd have to just suck down and chase with a beer or a tea to be polite.  That was not something we would order again.  Part of the experience is always checking out the other patrons, and while no one was wearing a kimono or anything special we chatted with a nice couple celebrating their anniversary.  Clearly we were in the right place for a special treat, even by local standards.

                

                    Tuna Cheek Kebab

Grilled Fish

Sea Eel Liver... Mmmmm!

Sunday was a perfectly clear and crisp spring day so we headed to a large city park with nice paths that led through massive, towering trees to a huge shrine.  We got to see a couple in preparations for a wedding, along with some interesting people out for a stroll.

Meiji Shrine

The treat of the day was more sushi, this time with my former Preschool student and his parents.  Aside from enjoying their gracious company and being entertained by the five-year-old's wonderful humor, we got to experience "carousel" sushi.  It's such a great concept, kind of like a buffet that comes to you while you stay seated at your table.  You just watch and wait for something tasty to come by, and grab the little plate right off the belt.  Naturally, as with everything Japanese, the plates are color-coded so you know the price of each dish, and it's great fun to see the stacks grow taller and taller throughout the meal.  My friend was especially generous and made sure that both C. and I got to enjoy his favorite: egg sushi (probably the equivalent of buttered noodles for the still-developing palette).

Ms. Allyn and Riku Love Sushi

Carousel Sushi Coming Your Way

We roamed the neighborhood and found a cool art museum, and went up in a tower for good views of the city, accidentally passing by what appeared to be a live concert of a virtual anime character.  That doesn't really make sense, and it didn't make sense when we saw it with our own eyes either.  We finished the day with another Japanese favorite: katsu, that irresistible breaded fried pork cutlet served in this case with shredded cabbage and a selection of sauces that you could mix to your liking.

                             

                                        Spotted Blobs - It's ART

Anime "Live" in Concert

Katsu:  Can't Go Wrong With Fried Food

It was an early night for us because I was determined to wake up on time to get our free spot at the fish market to see the world-famous tuna auction.  It's not like, "Oh, do we have to wake up early on vacation?  Do we really have to set an alarm?"  It's more like, "Seriously, we're going to sleep for a few hours to get up in the middle of the night for this???"  So, when the alarm went off at 3:00 am I tried to remind myself that this one-of-a-kind experience would be worth it.

Indeed it was - after a dreary taxi ride through the eerily quiet city and a short walk to the visitor entrance, we arrived just in time to be among the second group of tours.  Then we got to put on our snazzy vests and sit and wait for about an hour until the doors opened.  Once the tour began there was no time to stroll along or stop and take photos - everyone had to stick together and make sure to stay out of the way of the numerous little shuttle carts hauling barrels and boxes and things through the market.

The auction itself was much more subdued than I expected.  The buyers walked around stabbing and inspecting the frozen tuna carcasses that looked like little frosted torpedoes.  When the auctioneer rang the bell he shouted to the small crowd from his stump, but relied primarily on hand signals to determine the highest bidder.  Then, after a few short minutes it was all over and everyone cleared out.  We did not wait around until the entire market opened, and we did not stand in line for yet another sushi meal.

                               

                                                                Sleepy Tourist

Frozen Tuna

                         

Calling Out Bids

The rest of the day we wandered through different neighborhoods, had a good time trying to spot the most ridiculous outfits in busy crowds, and enjoyed a break getting a foot massage.  Before long it was time to pack up and check out, then head back to dusty, grimy home-sweet-home Shanghai.

Fluorescent is In

As always, these are just a sampling of all the photos.  View more of Tokyo and the Fish Market on my Flickr page.