Today Scott and I spent a day apart. We had the BIGGEST FIGHT EVER. Just kidding.
Typically we both love, love, love food tours. But when I was trying to find one in Japan I was hitting a lot of roadblocks due to Scott’s, um, limited palate. He won’t touch sushi, or most seafood. There are a lot of foods in Japan he likes, but finding a food tour limited to those options was impossible. I had resigned myself to missing out on a food tour this trip, then Scott discovered an amusement park that he wanted to check out and that’s not a taste that appeals to me. So, boom – a day apart to enjoy our separate interests. Fuck codependency.
Scott left very early in the morning for Fuji-Q. He walked over to Tokyo Station and caught a pre-booked coach bus that provided a direct, 2-hour one-way service to the park (and then back home again). He wanted to maximize the opening hours so his bus left at 7:20 AM, and he didn’t get back to the hotel until really late. The r/t bus fare was about $30, and his park entry fee was $44. He spent around $15 on food/snacks that day. Later we would know that he would be the only one of us to see Mt. Fuji on this entire trip and it was on this day. Also, when have you ever had a full day at a big amusement park for less than $100?
My day also started early (but not that early) for my Tsukiji Market Food Tour with Japan Wonder Travel. The starting point was only a 22-minute walk from our hotel, but as it was once again north of 90 degrees and humid out I elected to take the train. I arrived a bit early so had the pleasure of exploring the Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. It’s a bit unique as it is built in the Indian style rather than the Japanese style.
I met up with the tour at 8:15 which was guided by this lovely woman, Yoshiko. The group was really small – only 4 travelers.
It was a Tuesday morning so the Market wasn’t crowded at all. Yoshiko led us around several of the streets, educated us on the foods and preparation processes, and fed us a lot of yummy snacks. Snacks included fresh muscat grapes (not covered in sugar), octopus fish cake, dried snacks (I don’t remember what they were exactly), tamago, and saki. OK, maybe saki isn’t a snack.
The absolute most tastiest snack was the wagyu skewer with a side of real wasabi (I now know the difference!). I knew I needed to bring Scott back to this place.
Yoshiko then took us nearby to the Namiyoke Shrine. I got a refresher course on shrine etiquette, and I also learned about omikuji, the fortunes you can buy. Yoshiko helped me translate it on the spot – it wasn’t a bad fortune so I took it home with me and later fully translated it into my journal using Google Translate. Kind of like fortune cookies, the omikuji was more advice than foretelling. “No matter what happens on the rainy day or the wind or whatever happens on the pathless road, don’t stop and just keep moving forward.” Sounds good, will do!
The tour ended with a live demonstration of preparing sashimi, with a nice tasting platter at the end to share with our group. Does the chef look like a California model, or what?
I definitely recommend this tour, and of course Yoshiko if you’re lucky enough to be able to make that request. I would also target a weekday to avoid the crowds. Unlike other food tours in other parts of the world, I felt full but not gross at the end of it. Like pleasantly full, I got my money’s worth, but I didn’t feel like I needed to slip into a coma afterwards. Oh, I forgot to mention it was only $83.
After I said goodbye to Yoshiko and our group, I made my way back to Shibuya to buy my favorite souvenir. Amimono Spin was closed on the day we had been in Shibuya, but was worth the extra effort to go back. The shop is only their own dyed yarn so it was small, but the products were so nice and the store was very cute and inviting. I walked away with 5x 50g skeins. Yep, I’m gonna need to buy an extra piece of luggage to get my Japan-inspired consumerism home.
I came home with these specific beauties. Three skeins of dyed DK to make something for a friend having a baby, and another two skeins of undyed to make something for me (gloves, maybe?).
I contemplated doing some eyeglass shopping but I was pretty exhausted. I headed back to the hotel for a lovely nap, to get some laundry done, and to organize the many things I had already purchased on this trip. I think the draw is that there isn’t much of that touristy made-in-China crap around – the shops are all full of lovely, quality items that look and feel great.
Kjar-ied Away 