We decided to go to the fish market as it was still early, although not 6:30am as recommended in the guide book. This is when we experienced the train “Pushers” but arrived intact at Tsukiji (reclaimed land) AKA Tokyo Central Wholesale Fish Market at about 8:30am, too late for the full on bidding but still in time to view the amazing variety of fish. Almost every day 2,300 tons of fish are delivered here from all over the world, there are over 400 different types of sea food; eels from Taiwan, salmon from Santiago, and Tuna from Tasmania. Although we only concentrated on the fish market, meat and vegetables are also traded here (information gleaned from 2005 Rough Guide) .

a worker wielding his knife

Christina and Dave with our new car!!(Actually a mini forklift truck)

Walking around the area we discovered a lot of cafes selling Sushi, of course, but however much we love Sushi it didn’t seem a good fit at that time of day.

Tsukiji Hongan–ji, a large and Indian-like Buddhist temple is in the area so we went inside, it can hold up to a thousand people.

We ended up in the Ginza (Place where silver is minted) it became Tokyo’s most stylish shopping area, although this is no longer true it still has snob appeal and expensive department stores. You have probably seen the main intersection many times in films. Their is also a theater in this areaKabuki-za, where you can see the famous Kabuki more on this traditional art form in another blog.

Ginza

Kabuki theater