Episode 25: Bullet train with butterfly wings
Konnichi-wa Mina-san!!!
Ben: "Well, that was a disappointment and a half. So get this, Laura and I got up at about 5:20am in order to have enough time to make it out to this fabled Tsukiji fish market, which is potentially the largest fresh fish market in the world. Basically, they serve up some crazy fresh and delcious fish between the hours of dawn and maybe 8am to people, restaurants and anyone cool enough to be up that early. Unfortunately for us it just wasn't in the cards."
Laura: "Obon is a three-day period when people celebrate their ancestors. Lots of people get this time off work, so a lot of stuff is closed. Obon this year was August 13-16, and we went to Tsujiki on the 17th -- apparently since they hadn't been out fishing the day before, there was nothing to sell on the 17th. It reallly sucked-- I was looking forward to eating some really fresh and delicious sushi! Oh well. We went to a corner store and bought breakfast there instead. FYI, the prepared food at corner stores here beats the pants off of anything you buy at 7-11 back home. It's better for you, and pretty tasty. I got a couple onigiri- triangles of rice full of various kinds of fish wrapped in seaweed. Maybe not for everyone, but I really like them. After that, we had to find something to do in the area so that our early morning trek wasn't a complete waste."
Ben: "We decided to hit up the Emperor's walking gardens about a twenty minute walk away from the empty Tsukiji market. It was actually closed when we arrived there, seeing how we were still so early, but we just chilled out for about a half-hour in the shade by the parking lot. After getting into the gardens, we were pretty happy to be there. It's really actually quite cool to be in a big space that is simply some trees and grass, a few flowers, and a few really old walk-ways while being fully enclosed in a huge urban city-space. I know I've remarked on the odd dichotomy of huge city space and super-calm, traditional park/temple spaces here in Japan, but when you're in Tokyo... it's just, well, remarkable."
Laura: "I'll second that emotion. Japan, especially urban Japan, is such a weird mix tradition and modernity-- there's literally temples smack dab in the middle of huge shopping centres. After the garden, we hit up Subway. I got a shrimp and avocado sub with miso/soy sauce, it was really good. We checked out of the hotel, then made our way to our mode of transportation from Tokyo to Nagoya: the fabled Shinkansen."
Ben: "With it's shiny big nose, long sleek body, and agility of a puma, the Shinkansen, is the sweetest ride in the East. Just look at it's glorious train-i-ness. Still, despite it's outward appearance, and accessibility, it isn't cheap. Basically, the one way trip from Nagoya to Tokyo weighs in at about $110 CND. It doesn't actually feel like too long a trip (it's only about 1.5hrs) but some of our fellow train-riders still managed to grab a few beers or shots in order to fall asleep for the ride. Laura even managed to get a nice pic of the guy who was sitting beside us totally asleep. It is included here for your amusement.
Laura: "This old sleepy man and I pretty much became best buds...we were pretty entertained by his various sleeping poses. The bullet train was pricey, but I think it's worth it to say you rode on a bullet train. They go about 300 km/hour!
We took the train to Nagoya, then caught another train to Tsu, the city where Ben lives. It was nice to finally get to home base!
The next episode will detail our travels in Nagoya! Here's a hint: it will feature both fleas (of the market variety) and robots. Until then!
-Benjamin and Laura
Ben: "Well, that was a disappointment and a half. So get this, Laura and I got up at about 5:20am in order to have enough time to make it out to this fabled Tsukiji fish market, which is potentially the largest fresh fish market in the world. Basically, they serve up some crazy fresh and delcious fish between the hours of dawn and maybe 8am to people, restaurants and anyone cool enough to be up that early. Unfortunately for us it just wasn't in the cards."
Laura: "Obon is a three-day period when people celebrate their ancestors. Lots of people get this time off work, so a lot of stuff is closed. Obon this year was August 13-16, and we went to Tsujiki on the 17th -- apparently since they hadn't been out fishing the day before, there was nothing to sell on the 17th. It reallly sucked-- I was looking forward to eating some really fresh and delicious sushi! Oh well. We went to a corner store and bought breakfast there instead. FYI, the prepared food at corner stores here beats the pants off of anything you buy at 7-11 back home. It's better for you, and pretty tasty. I got a couple onigiri- triangles of rice full of various kinds of fish wrapped in seaweed. Maybe not for everyone, but I really like them. After that, we had to find something to do in the area so that our early morning trek wasn't a complete waste."
Ben: "We decided to hit up the Emperor's walking gardens about a twenty minute walk away from the empty Tsukiji market. It was actually closed when we arrived there, seeing how we were still so early, but we just chilled out for about a half-hour in the shade by the parking lot. After getting into the gardens, we were pretty happy to be there. It's really actually quite cool to be in a big space that is simply some trees and grass, a few flowers, and a few really old walk-ways while being fully enclosed in a huge urban city-space. I know I've remarked on the odd dichotomy of huge city space and super-calm, traditional park/temple spaces here in Japan, but when you're in Tokyo... it's just, well, remarkable."
Laura: "I'll second that emotion. Japan, especially urban Japan, is such a weird mix tradition and modernity-- there's literally temples smack dab in the middle of huge shopping centres. After the garden, we hit up Subway. I got a shrimp and avocado sub with miso/soy sauce, it was really good. We checked out of the hotel, then made our way to our mode of transportation from Tokyo to Nagoya: the fabled Shinkansen."
Ben: "With it's shiny big nose, long sleek body, and agility of a puma, the Shinkansen, is the sweetest ride in the East. Just look at it's glorious train-i-ness. Still, despite it's outward appearance, and accessibility, it isn't cheap. Basically, the one way trip from Nagoya to Tokyo weighs in at about $110 CND. It doesn't actually feel like too long a trip (it's only about 1.5hrs) but some of our fellow train-riders still managed to grab a few beers or shots in order to fall asleep for the ride. Laura even managed to get a nice pic of the guy who was sitting beside us totally asleep. It is included here for your amusement.
Laura: "This old sleepy man and I pretty much became best buds...we were pretty entertained by his various sleeping poses. The bullet train was pricey, but I think it's worth it to say you rode on a bullet train. They go about 300 km/hour!We took the train to Nagoya, then caught another train to Tsu, the city where Ben lives. It was nice to finally get to home base!
The next episode will detail our travels in Nagoya! Here's a hint: it will feature both fleas (of the market variety) and robots. Until then!
-Benjamin and Laura
posted by Benjamin Lynch at 12:50 PM
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