{"id":1517,"date":"2013-12-04T21:03:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T04:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1517"},"modified":"2013-12-05T22:50:36","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T05:50:36","slug":"japan-day-3-tsujiki-fish-market-knife-shopping-kowloon-walled-city-inspire-arcade-fugu-and-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1517","title":{"rendered":"Japan Day 3 – Tsujiki fish market and knife shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_1832\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Got up moderately early as I continued to overcome my jet lag and went over to Shibuya station.\u00a0 I got a better picture of famous Hachik\u014d<\/a> statue.\u00a0 Then it was off to the Tsukiji fish market.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1839\"<\/a> \"IMG_7900\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tsukiji is arguably one of the most amazing fish markets in the world.\u00a0 Every day, fishermen bring their nightly catches to the market.\u00a0 Madness ensues during the unloading and nearly instant auctions for the fresh catch of the day.\u00a0 They are usually well in swing at 4am sharp – so one has to arrive very, very early.\u00a0 I had several friends who braved the early morning madness.\u00a0 While they said it was a great experience, they didn’t know if it was really worth getting up that early for it.\u00a0 So, taking their advice and hoping for a nice full day instead of getting up insanely early then needing a rest mid-day, I went a bit later at 9am.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1841\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Upon arrival, I decided to get some food.\u00a0 And why not have what is arguably some of the best sushi in the world?\u00a0 Here’s a picture of the lines outside Daiwa Sushi and Sushi Dai – two of the most famous and probably best restaurants in the market.\u00a0 These two sushi shops are a father and son pair next door to each other.\u00a0 Sushi Dai is the father’s shop on the right and often has a 2-3 hour wait from the time they open at ~6am till 1pm when the close.\u00a0 I opted for the son’s shop Daiwa Sushi on the left and waited about 30-45 min before I got a seat.\u00a0 I had a nice chat with two Korean journalism students who were working abroad in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1844\"<\/a> \"IMG_1847\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You take a seat at the very small sushi bar.\u00a0 It only seats about 12 people and the cooks are hard at work.\u00a0 I decide to take their 10 piece ‘set-menu’ option with the chef’s choices of the day.\u00a0 At about $35, it was also a pretty darn good deal too.\u00a0 I place my order and sip on my tea.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1849\"<\/a> \"IMG_1850\"<\/a> \"IMG_1852\"<\/a> \"IMG_1854\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sushi arrives as you eat.\u00a0 As you eat up your first round, without even asking, the super-friendly sushi chefs simply leans over and delivers the next few pieces.\u00a0 I start working my way through the chef’s choices.<\/p>\n

Does it live up to the hype?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 You can tell this sushi is of another level all together.\u00a0 Since these fish were swimming in the ocean only 12 hours before, you simply cannot get much more fresh – and it shows.\u00a0 The tuna is particularly extraordinary as it pretty much melts on your tongue and barely requires you chew.\u00a0 Tuna (and other fresh fish) that has been stored or sits around tends to pick up more and more of a rubbery texture and looses it’s flavor as it sits\/is stored.\u00a0 This had none of that and was of a very different melt-in-your-mouth texture. Each of the pieces was absolutely fantastic.\u00a0 In fact, I just kept ordering until I couldn’t have another bite.\u00a0 It was the best $45-$50 of sushi I’ve ever eaten.<\/p>\n

While I most certainly had the best sushi I’ve ever had, I will admit that claims of near-religious experiences eating it are a bit over-blown.\u00a0 Would I go again if I went to Tokyo – absolutely and without hesitation!\u00a0 Would I recommend everyone who likes sushi to go to Tsujiki and try one of these two place – absolutely!\u00a0 Is it a near must-do for anyone going to Tokyo that likes sushi?\u00a0 Yep.\u00a0 But let’s just not get too carried away.\u00a0 Go do it, and experience some of the best sushi in the world; but don’t let the hype over-blow it for you. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7874\"<\/a>\u00a0 \"IMG_7872\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Upon finishing my food – you find that you enter in the front and exit out the back.\u00a0 As you walk back past the washing station, you pay a hurried lady in the back and find yourself in the alley in the stacks of preparatory materials.\u00a0 I make my way back around front, and find that the line for Sushi Dai has barely moved.\u00a0 Seems to be I made at least partially the right choice if the difference between the two is marginal.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7881\"<\/a>\u00a0 \"IMG_1858\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But this isn’t the only eatery in the Tsujiki area.\u00a0 There are rows and rows of places serving sushi, yakitori and all other manner of food.\u00a0 All of these places would blow your average eatery away in the states.\u00a0 So if you’re pressed for time and can’t wait for Sushi Dai or Daiwa Sushi – definitely try one of these others out and you’ll probably get a 90% experience as well.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7916\"<\/a> \"IMG_7923\"<\/a> \"IMG_7925\"<\/a> \"IMG_7930\"<\/a> \"IMG_7931\"<\/a> \"IMG_7934\"<\/a> \"IMG_7935\"<\/a> \"IMG_7941\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But don’t stop there!\u00a0 Keep going through the rows and rows of shops just north of Tsujiki.\u00a0 Shops sell things that just came from the fish hauls\/sales a few hours earlier.\u00a0 You’ll see just about every bounty from the sea there – fish, mussels, octopus, tuna, etc.\u00a0 You’ll also see all manner of farm vegetables along with nuts, fruits, and all kinds of things I wasn’t sure about.\u00a0 It’s absolutely worth a walk through and wish I’d actually spent more time there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1855\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the shops weren’t all fish and food.\u00a0 There were also pottery salesmen as well.\u00a0 I picked up a number of very cheap dishes and had them packed well.\u00a0 We’ll see if they survived a ship back to the United States when they arrive here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1861\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s another amazing find.\u00a0 Masamoto knives<\/a> is hidden among the stalls.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they were sold out of a great number of their knives when I went, but I picked up a beautiful 9.5″ specimin for ….well… a good bit of money.\u00a0 But you are getting just as much of a piece of art as you are a working tool.\u00a0 I am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival as I had it shipped back to myself.\u00a0 10″ knives aren’t the most clever things to bring in your carry-on luggage.<\/p>\n

But this was just the morning adventures!\u00a0 On to part 2…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Got up moderately early as I continued to overcome my jet lag and went over to Shibuya station.\u00a0 I got a better picture of famous Hachik\u014d statue.\u00a0 Then it was off to the Tsukiji fish market. Tsukiji is arguably one of the most amazing fish markets in the world.\u00a0 Every day, fishermen bring their nightly catches to the market.\u00a0 Madness ensues during the unloading and nearly instant auctions for the fresh catch of the day.\u00a0 They are usually well in…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WECr-ot","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1517"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1606,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions\/1606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}