On to the Next
And just like that, a week of travel is behind me. With 36 crazy hours in Madison and 5 non-stop days in Tokyo, attention now turns to the main objective: Australia and the conference.
I am sitting at my gate at Tokyo-Narita airport with an hour to go before boarding. I have my Surface, phone, and Fitbit charging in preparation for the next 16 hours of transit, and also downloading some stuff to allow me to put together my visuals for the lecture next week during the flight. Hopefully I will sleep during the second flight.
Never ones to rest, since I wrote last, I've only gotten about three hours of sleep. Instead, we took in more sights and enjoyed some unique Tokyo experiences.
Last night I met Rochelle after class at Tsukiji and we caught a train over to Shinjuku where we happened to meet up with two of her friends from the program she works for who were in town from other cities. We made our way over to a tiny alley, barely four feet wide in places, for some good food. Known both as "Memory Lane" and "Piss Alley," the setting was expectedly hectic and the rain added to the atmosphere of a sort of underbelly of the city (with steam and smoke emitting from the tiny restaurants, crates stacked in the lane, and things strung across the alley). The tiny storefronts held counters with cooks hard at work behind them and reminded me of the setting in the market of Marrakech with the tiny, questionably sanitary (clearly unsanitary) conditions of the food carts. Men sat shoulder to shoulder, smoking and drinking, as plates of yakitori (grilled meats) appeared in front of them. Once we walked the length of the lane, we found a space on the second floor of one of the establishments and Rochelle and I enjoyed a meal of a variety of yakitori and dumplings washed down with Hoppy.
We made it back to the hotel around 11:00 and quickly got ready for a few hours of sleep before an early, early, early morning.
Not one to willingly wake up at 3:00, it takes something special to get me moving that early. As you know, Japan is known for sushi. Really good sushi, often made with tuna. Much of that tuna passes through the Metropolitan fish markets at Tsukiji. Early in the morning, auctions take place, as the large tuna are sold in the bustling warehouses. Every day, 120 visitors are allowed in in two shifts to witness the action, starting at 5:00. With no reservations, entry is on a first-come basis. And so, at 3:15, we made the 20 minute walk through the (shockingly busy) streets of Ginza to the market.
Our timing was really impeccable, and I am very glad we left when we did. By the time we were ushered out of the rain and into the waiting room for the tour, there were already 100 people there. Five minutes after we arrived, they closed the doors. We sat on the floor with everyone else, waiting for two hours. at 5:15 the first group left. And then at 5:45 it was our turn. We were directed through the bustling yards, narrowly avoiding getting run down by speeding trucks and carts. The auction itself lasted only a few minutes, as we watched dozens of fish, some larger than a person, be sold for hundreds of dollars. Around us other auctions occurred simultaneously throughout the warehouse.
After the auction, we wandered the streets around the market to get a chance to taste some of the tuna from the sushi stalls. We settled on one stall and enjoyed huge bowls of rice topped with different fresh tuna cuts (fatty, not fatty, etc.). Nothing like a massive bowl of raw fish and rice at 6:30AM.
From Tsukiji, we caught a train to our last destination in Tokyo: Odaiba. Located on a man-made island in the bay, Odaiba is home to some pretty crazy architecture. We enjoyed walking around the neighborhood in a bit of rain, and the trip to and from via the Rainbow Bridge offered my first really good views of Tokyo Bay.
Finally, we returned to the hotel, I cleaned up and repacked, and we checked out around 11:00. Before my train to Narita, we checked out a huge store called Donki (short for Don Quijote) which sells a little bit of everything; I bought a few things to bring back home.
And now we are getting ready to board. Next stop is Guangzhou for a brief stopover before continuing on to Brisbane. I'll be in Australia tomorrow morning by around 9:00!
Happy 4th of July for those back in the States, and I'll update again when I've arrived in Oz.
I am sitting at my gate at Tokyo-Narita airport with an hour to go before boarding. I have my Surface, phone, and Fitbit charging in preparation for the next 16 hours of transit, and also downloading some stuff to allow me to put together my visuals for the lecture next week during the flight. Hopefully I will sleep during the second flight.
Never ones to rest, since I wrote last, I've only gotten about three hours of sleep. Instead, we took in more sights and enjoyed some unique Tokyo experiences.
Last night I met Rochelle after class at Tsukiji and we caught a train over to Shinjuku where we happened to meet up with two of her friends from the program she works for who were in town from other cities. We made our way over to a tiny alley, barely four feet wide in places, for some good food. Known both as "Memory Lane" and "Piss Alley," the setting was expectedly hectic and the rain added to the atmosphere of a sort of underbelly of the city (with steam and smoke emitting from the tiny restaurants, crates stacked in the lane, and things strung across the alley). The tiny storefronts held counters with cooks hard at work behind them and reminded me of the setting in the market of Marrakech with the tiny, questionably sanitary (clearly unsanitary) conditions of the food carts. Men sat shoulder to shoulder, smoking and drinking, as plates of yakitori (grilled meats) appeared in front of them. Once we walked the length of the lane, we found a space on the second floor of one of the establishments and Rochelle and I enjoyed a meal of a variety of yakitori and dumplings washed down with Hoppy.
We made it back to the hotel around 11:00 and quickly got ready for a few hours of sleep before an early, early, early morning.
Not one to willingly wake up at 3:00, it takes something special to get me moving that early. As you know, Japan is known for sushi. Really good sushi, often made with tuna. Much of that tuna passes through the Metropolitan fish markets at Tsukiji. Early in the morning, auctions take place, as the large tuna are sold in the bustling warehouses. Every day, 120 visitors are allowed in in two shifts to witness the action, starting at 5:00. With no reservations, entry is on a first-come basis. And so, at 3:15, we made the 20 minute walk through the (shockingly busy) streets of Ginza to the market.
Our timing was really impeccable, and I am very glad we left when we did. By the time we were ushered out of the rain and into the waiting room for the tour, there were already 100 people there. Five minutes after we arrived, they closed the doors. We sat on the floor with everyone else, waiting for two hours. at 5:15 the first group left. And then at 5:45 it was our turn. We were directed through the bustling yards, narrowly avoiding getting run down by speeding trucks and carts. The auction itself lasted only a few minutes, as we watched dozens of fish, some larger than a person, be sold for hundreds of dollars. Around us other auctions occurred simultaneously throughout the warehouse.
After the auction, we wandered the streets around the market to get a chance to taste some of the tuna from the sushi stalls. We settled on one stall and enjoyed huge bowls of rice topped with different fresh tuna cuts (fatty, not fatty, etc.). Nothing like a massive bowl of raw fish and rice at 6:30AM.
From Tsukiji, we caught a train to our last destination in Tokyo: Odaiba. Located on a man-made island in the bay, Odaiba is home to some pretty crazy architecture. We enjoyed walking around the neighborhood in a bit of rain, and the trip to and from via the Rainbow Bridge offered my first really good views of Tokyo Bay.
Finally, we returned to the hotel, I cleaned up and repacked, and we checked out around 11:00. Before my train to Narita, we checked out a huge store called Donki (short for Don Quijote) which sells a little bit of everything; I bought a few things to bring back home.
And now we are getting ready to board. Next stop is Guangzhou for a brief stopover before continuing on to Brisbane. I'll be in Australia tomorrow morning by around 9:00!
Happy 4th of July for those back in the States, and I'll update again when I've arrived in Oz.
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