Tokyo 2

More Tokyo photos, continuing from Akihabara and finishing on our way to Ginza:

Vending machine in Akihabara-- all sorts of meals-in-a-can. These are mostly types of ramen, including dan dan mian in the bottom left! No, I did not waste valuable stomach space on one of these, though I did briefly consider it.

Pork donburi. The twist, of course, is that the pork is marinated in a garlic sauce for 24 hours before being served-- the smell and taste of garlic is very strong, but as long as you love garlic you'll love this bowl of goodness.

Mori tower, from which we saw the Tokyo skyline (or looked down on it...)

Louise Bourgeois' famous sculpture, the symbol of Roppongi Hills

On the way up the tower

Mori Art Gallery

...

Cool sound + visual exhibit, with all sorts of appliances making a cool beat. And of course, it looks like a giant robot. Oh, Japan.

I would have gone in, but it wasn't oozing enough charm.

Name of a famous shopping mall in Shinjuku

Shinjuku

AMAZING ramen in Shinjuku, recommended by Hye Yeon's guide book. The next day, it was on TV as one of the best ramenyas in Tokyo. This bowl was 1000 Yen. A seafood-based broth, but the kicker was the thick cuts of fall-apart-tender pork... drool...

Kabuki-cho

In Don Quixote... Hye Yeon does her best chick impression

We went to the Tsukiji Fish Market around 6:15 in the morning...

Here are the just-auctioned off blue fin tuna, tagged and ready for delivery within the fish market. I was shooed away soon after, even though I wasn't in the way and it didn't say no photos :(

Some more shots of these behemoths. I found plenty more elsewhere :D

You can't tell from this photo, but 3 people are working together with a 5~6 foot blade to cut this fish apart. Quite the sight to behold.

Beautiful reds going on all day. Not so beautiful smell, but not as bad as I'd expect.

Shot of the market, 7am~ish

The sushiya I ate in. It had two sides, so I actually ate in the other one. We lined up expecting to be seated in about 10 minutes, but despite the high turnover, they were seating from two entrances... for BOTH shops. So it was more of a 30 minute wait. They were making a killing-- no wonder they look so happy (tho the waitresses were very curt-- I guess even Japanese become impolite in super-touristy areas).

In my defense, I didn't know it was "no photos" until after I took the shot of my first piece of sushi. Both Hye Yeon and I took the "omakase" set for 3500 Yen, a steal for sushi that fresh (although I'm no connoisseur of quality). I then followed it up with a single piece of fatty tuna, ootoro (800 Yen), pink meat perfectly marbled with fat-- it literally melted apart in my mouth. The omakase also had chuutoro included. The best sushi I've ever had (I should hope so, right?).

 

And no, we couldn't decide what this first piece of fish was. It had some nice fat though, lending it that rich quality...

And then I posed as Rilakkuma

More tomorrow!