Japan Part 1: The Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search

Japan may be a Western country, but it's so wonderfully different from any Western country you will ever visit. With it's unique culture and customs, a population with excellent manners and hygiene, and just enough crazy to keep things interesting--it's a fun, fascinating place to visit. 

We were sleepy but excited when we landed in Narita airport that morning. Passing through customs was naturally a breeze as the Japanese have efficiency mastered to a science. We passed through the screening to determine if we had a fever, because on an island country any disease is a no-no, and had our fingerprints scanned by the very courteous customs agents, speaking behind their surgical masks. We collected our bags, making our way to the information counter to get our train tickets into Tokyo.

Greeting the very friendly woman with "Konichiwa," she was able to provide us with specific instructions on which trains we need to take to arrive at our destination, and was able to provide us with the exact time of arrival. True to her word, we arrived at our destination exactly on time. The ride from Narita to Tokyo on the slow (and less expensive train) could take up to 1.5 hours, but luckily they had heat pumping out from beneath the seats to keep us toasty warm in the nippy December cold. They think of everything I tell ya', bless them. 

Prepped with my hand-drawn directions to our hostel, we made our way out of the station but got a bit lost trying to find our hostel. I think the most overwhelming thing about anyone's first trip to Japan is that EVERYTHING is in Japanese! Which is understandable, considering the country is about 98% Japanese. Unlike other countries that usually have many English signs available, Japan is distinctive in its lack thereof. They do have a distinction between Japanese characters, which are the traditional symbols, varying in their ornateness, and also Romanji characters, which are written out using our alphabet but pronounced the same as the Japanese word.  But we managed, as the Japanese are very friendly and happy to help bewildered looking foreigners who obviously stand out with their non-Japanese-ness. 

The other thing that stands out about Japan, and my personal fave, was that it was SO CLEAN. Any hostel we stayed in was clean and tidy, and I mean to the T--so that was a lovely plus. Our hostel was great, and the friendly reception people were able to check us in (after we took off our shoes, of course) and led us up to our dorm room on the top floor. Now, another cool trend that is specifically Japanese is capsule hotels. Mainly catered to male businessmen (and hence most of them are male only), capsule hotels are tiny little rooms with a bed, sometimes desk and TV, only tall enough to sit up in, with a shared bathroom that overworked businessmen in the city can use to crash in for the night after an exhausting days work, rather than using say, a public bench, which is quite common as well. 

However, due to their male-only status, this wasn't an option for us, but our hostel incorporated this idea into their "deluxe dorm" design. Each bed was stacked like a bunk bed, but was contained in basically a big box. You had several blankets and a futon mattress and pillow, a reading light and electrical outlet, (with EXTREMELY fast unlimited wifi--what a treat that was after crappy internet for so long!) and the best part was that each one had a sliding door that could close and lock. This meant that you were able to enjoy a room at dorm prices but without worrying about the snorers! My dream! To give you a better idea of what they actually were like I got a picture:

So, the first day we took a much needed nap in our nice little capsule dorm beds and then ventured out that evening to find food--which wouldn't seem like such a difficult thing to do, right? WRONG. The issue of finding appetizing and AFFORDABLE food in Tokyo would become one of our biggest challenges. Armed with a map and descriptions of places to eat, we wandered around the streets near our hostel trying to locate one of the places indicated on the map. We'll call this part one of the Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search. After 30 minutes of wandering, we still had no success. Mainly because almost all Japanese restaurants have no public English menu. We were relying on plastic food replicas of the dishes, which probably doesn't do them justice, along with the advertised prices which seemed much too high for what was basically tempura shrimp and rice. Eventually we gave up and just got some pre-prepared food at a convenience store around the corner called Lawson's. Different from US convenience stores, this place actually has decent Japanese food including sushi, gyoza, pasta, weird breads stuffed with all kinds of things--all for much cheaper prices. Plus they have a microwave and can heat your meal up for you. This place would become our saving grace during our first trip in Japan. 

So we filled our tummies with instant Japanese food, which is much better than it sounds, and headed off to bed to enjoy our extremely clean showers, super fast internet, and snore-free night!

The next day was a whirlwind introduction to everything Tokyo. We met up with our friend James from New Zealand, who worked as the Sous Chef at Elephant Hill with John, but had moved back to Tokyo with his Japanese wife. We met up with him at the busy morning platform in Asakusa Station, grabbing a coffee from one of the ubiquitous vending machines.

Armed with an all-day pass and personal guide to help us make sense of the multi-layered Japanese transit system, we headed out to get lost in the world's largest city!

First stop was Akihabara, an area known for it's lights, electronics, and young teenagers dressed like sexy french maid dolls standing on street corners. An interesting blend of Japanese technological superiority and sexual oddity. We wandered through the huge tech department store, Yodobashi, with floors upon floors of every tech gadget you could imagine, including many not even available in the states. They do love their cameras. That is no stereotype. 

After leaving Yodobashi, we wandered along the streets of "Electric Town," trying to absorb the almost overwhelming Japanese-ness of the place. 

For all their work-hard-support-your-family-respect-your-elders-don't-blow-your- nose-in-public mentality, the Japanese certainly do have a freaky side when it come to sexuality.  While walking through Akihabara, just look at any manga poster, plastered onto buildings at every street corner, with a girl spreading her legs while showing her underwear and ample bosom, and you'll know what I mean.

Or perhaps this sentiment could be further understood by observing the plentiful  real-life young girls standing on the street corner, dressed like little dolls with that pre-pubescent voice and pigtails, advertising to any and every passers-by. Apparently these are the Japanese "maids." Young girls whose job it is to work in clubs and restaurants, serving and entertaining the Japanese business men who are so lonely or socially inept that they have to pay a young girl to feed and talk to them so that they can feel better about themselves. They seem kind of like Geishas, only not really, as most of them are plucked or "recruited" by creepy guys dressed in all black who hang outside the exits to major subway stations, scanning the crowd for girls who are attractive, young, and sexually exploitable. Geishas, by contrast, are quiet different but I'll save that for another day.

Within this subculture of maids we were introduced to another Japanese phenomenon--AKB48. A J-Pop group consisting of a giant gaggle of giggling girls who dress like said little dolls and sing in that sugary, cotton candy voice while dancing in sync to the crazy intense admiration of their adoring fans, most of whom are young to middle-age Japanese men. For serious. They have AKB48 stores all over the place where you can collect all kinds of memorabilia, including clothing and trading cards. They even have a small '"cafe" in Akihabara that we passed by one evening while they were handing  out lotto-style tickets to that evening's performance. The majority of the crowd gathered outside being dudes.

As a first stop, Akihabara was certainly an in-your-face introduction to a side of Japan that we didn't really know existed. 

But we weren't put off, just amused and bewildered, and headed off to the next crazy destination. Which just so happened to be the Japanese red-light district.

Kabuki-cho is a small area of narrow cobbled lanes, packed with bars/clubs, restaurants, sex shops, and, naturally, pet stores. Only they don't just sell cats and dogs in Japan, oh no. This is the place to go if your greatest desire is to have a small, obscure monkey as your own personal pet.

But besides that, they do have some very delicious traditional ramen. James helped us scope out a great little hole-in-the-wall place that served up a delicious and filling bowl, at much better prices than what John and I could have found on our own. With our tummies filled and obscure pet quota met, we headed off to a more subdued part of the city. 

The massive size of Tokyo really becomes apparent as you begin to travel to these vastly different areas, including the large shrines and parks within it's limits. 

The one we visited was Harajuku, a Shinto shrine set within a large, beautiful park right in the heart of Tokyo. The entrance was a wall of old, used sake barrels, and the archway to the shrine was made from the wood of a single Japanese cyprus.

This was our first experience with a Japanese shrine and some of the universal customs associated with them. Almost all shrines have a purification area out front with running water for people to wash their hands and gargle to properly clean themselves.

After this, predictably one must also always remove one's shoes before entering the shrine room. Also frequent among shrines are different charms for sale that serve as protection against something bad or positive juju for something good. While many of the charms were for things such as a good marriage, birth, academic success, etcetera, I did notice a large number were for traffic safety. As the common stereotype is Asian = bad driver, I found this amusing. The one other attribute at the shrine that is quite common is the use of paper or wooden prayers. You write your prayers on either a piece of wood or paper, and eventually the priests burn them to send out your prayers into the Universe. 

But yes, the stop at Harajuku was great, and it was hard to believe such a calm and quiet place could be located right in the middle of the city, especially right next to the major shopping street in Tokyo that bears it's name.

Passing under an archway as dusk was approaching, we were bombarded with a street full of bright lights, packed with young teenagers scampering around in their crazy fashion, snacking on delicious-looking sweets produced by the numerous stalls. This was the place to be if you were a teenager in Tokyo. While their particular style of fashion wasn't my taste, and as a consequence I pretty much looked like a bum during our jaunt in Tokyo (jeans are not that popular among women), I was amused by the variations and effort put into style. Skirts, doll blouses, tights, heels, ugg boots, pea coats, and school uniforms with the skirts rolled up--those were the common threads that I noticed. At least among the prepsters. The more "alternative" kids had a look that was had to describe as "style." We also spotted many girls lugging around rolling suitcases, which James told us were full of clothes as many girls go through several outfit changes in one day. Props to them for such effort, but I personally could never be bothered to put up with such shenanigans. 

We didn't linger long on Harajuku street and headed back to the station to encounter another kind of massive crowd.

Shinjuku is one of the largest stations in Tokyo and one of the busiest. To put this into perspective, James told us that about 4 million people, or the entire population of New Zealand, pass through Shinjuku on a daily basis. The place is huge with not only train platforms, but shops and restaurants all within it's massive area. Some of their delicious cake shops are particularly noteworthy (and mouth watering).  During peak hours, people pack into the trains in this station like sardines, aided by platform attendants whose job description includes shoving as many people into the trains as possible so the doors can shut. Considering the amount of people inside, it's oddly quiet as talking on your phone in the train is considered impolite and taboo. Texting and surfing the net, however, is considered the norm. One stop over from this crazy-busy station, you find yourself directly at Shibuya, the world's busiest crosswalk. Every few minutes traffic stops in all directions to let the massive amount of people make their way through this square. Looking down on the action about 3 floors up is the world's busiest and most profitable Starbucks. Apparently the only size coffee you can order there is a tall, so as to keep people from sitting too long and taking up highly prized sitting space. Not surprising, huh?

Located within the square itself is a statue of a dog. The dog is named Hachiko and was a pure Akita, taken in by his master, a professor at the University of Tokyo in the 1920s. Everyday the dog would wait for his master at the exit to Shibuya station. One day, the master did not come back, having died from a cerebral hemorrhage. Yet, the dog still came. Eventually, many commuters took notice of the dog and remembered him interacting with his master. They took the initiative to feed and look after the dog, who would still wait outside the exit to Shibuya everyday until its own death 10 years later. 

Next to Shibuya station is a huge, famous department store in Japan called Isetan. Located in the basement of the building is a high-end grocery store on steroids. Perusing through the perfectly packaged, sliced, presented goodies far beyond our price range, we were astonished to find the lengths taken to achieve perceived perfection in these culinary endeavors. A box of 12 perfectly red, luscious strawberries cost you a cool $30. A single orange, bright, round, ripe, would cost you $8. We even found a huge watermelon for about $80! It was insane, as were the other numerous delicacies spread out over the bottom floor. Everything looked deliciously enticing yet equally elusive due to their "haut couture" marketing and crazy high prices. It was still fun (and free) to browse and you could even snag the occasional free sample. 

But instead of blowing our money on a single piece of perfect Kobe beef, we headed for a more wallet-friendly establishment for a nice Japanese dinner yakitori-style. It was located on the fourth floor of a building, a chain restaurant called Doma Doma. We deferred to James to make our dinner choices, as it was mostly snack-sized or tapas portion dishes varying from kimchi (or pickled vegetables) and edamame beans to chicken skewers and asparagus wrapped in bacon. This all polished off with a grapefruit sour, which was actually very refreshing. Anytime we wanted something there was a button we could push on our table that would summon our waiter, holding their handy palm-pilot ordering machine to relay our orders directly to the kitchen. And the best thing is that tipping in Japan is non-existent. They make enough money through their wage and if you try to tip it's considered an insult and they will chase after you with the spare change. They really do think of everything.  

Which brings me to a quick homage I must pay to the Japanese toilet. Mostly manufactured by a company called Toto, hence the name "Toto Toilets," the Japanese are well known for their high-tech bowel movement apparatuses. Along the side is a slew of buttons controlling everything from the bidet feature, including the pressure and temperature of water, to a deodorizer, music to keep your activities private from the other patrons in a public restroom, and seat temperature. It's fantastic. I can't adequately express what a delight it is to come in from the cold of a December evening to sit down on a pre-warmed toilet seat. It makes going to the bathroom a special occasion!

So after our light dinner (as we were still full from the late afternoon ramen), we headed out to find a place to grab a drink in the red-light district. The first place we found was a little hole-in-the-wall, standing-only place, offering beer and mixed drinks. I, personally, didn't want anything but apparently if I didn't order a drink I wasn't allowed to stand inside (which is strange because the place was not at all crowded). So, we instead wandered the streets trying to find another place to go, which wasn't that hard considering we were being constantly approached by representatives from the various bars and restaurants trying to entice us to come inside. We finally found a small bar on the second floor of a building that James used to frequent, but the minute we walked inside I was encompassed in the smell of cigarette smoke. For all their concerns about germs and hygiene, many Japanese men still have no problem corroding the inside of their lungs with cigarettes, which they can buy from vending machines on street corners for as little as $3 per pack. The funny thing is that in public spaces, or basically all of outside, there are designated smoking areas on streets, outside of which it is illegal to smoke or dispose of your cigarette. This is to keep smokers from negatively infringing on the clean air of non-smokers around them, yet they still allow smoking in indoor bars. I don' get it, and we didn't stay as I had no desire to have my clothes and hair reek of cigarettes at the end of the night. 

So we called it a day, as it certainly been a whirlwind introduction to Tokyo, and headed back home. Not before stopping, however, at the gigantic commercial mall that is the basement of Tokyo station, to go on a cake hunt for a delicious, affordable sweet to satisfy my craving. I mean, you can't look at all these fancy, artesian sweets and not want to try one. Tokyo ended up being a 30-minute bust, but we were in luck when we arrived back on the Asakusa platform, as they had a delicious cake shop, and a favorite of James, right there in the station. So I brought home a yummy slice of strawberry and cream cake to end the day.

After that we decided to take it easy, exploring more throughly different regions of Tokyo one at a time. The next day we headed to Ueno park, famous for it's cherry blossoms during the spring and also the sight of the Tokyo National Museum. We stopped first, however, at the markets located just off the subway stop. The markets here date back to WWII when they used to operate as a sort of "black market" selling all kinds of items, including contraband and American goods. It was certainly an interesting place to browse.

During our perusal of the market we once again began the second installment of the Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search, and once again we failed. After walking around the market looking at all sorts of odd foods, then walking around Ueno station trying to find something to eat, John decided to throw in the towel. Cranky and hungry, he headed back to the hostel. I, however, didn't want to waste a day of beautiful weather so I found a trusty Lawson's, got some more odd bread snacks, and made my way through Ueno park to the Tokyo Museum.

I sat out front for a while near the fountain enjoying my bread stuffed with gravy and corn, watching the passers by.

I was approached once by a strange, possibly mentally-ill guy who kept smoking in my face, so I  kind of ignored him and he went away. I was also approached by another random guy asking to take my picture. Now, this all sounds a bit shady, but being in the middle of Tokyo I wasn't that worried because as a rule I found most Japanese to be non-threatening people. So I finished my snack and headed into the museum. I really wanted to check out the exhibit they had on some Terra Cotta Warriors from Xi'an in China, which we would not be visiting on our China trip. The exhibit, however, was an extra $15, so I stuck to looking at Samurai swords, old Japanese Samurai gear, and very fancy wooden boxes. The garden of the museum was quite beautiful, however.

So all in all, not that big of a day, but it was a nice change of pace.

The next day it was off to see the Imperial Palace, also called Edo Castle, in the middle of Tokyo. The ground themselves are off limits, but they offer free tours for tourists everyday. You have to book online well in advance, though, so we just stuck with the parts of the grounds that were open--namely the East Garden.

For being in the center of a major city, the peace and tranquillity of the gardens was an unexpected, but delightful surprise. Obviously they have the money to upkeep them, but even in December they were quite stunning as the leaves were still changing to colors of vibrant red, yellow, and orange.

I suspect that this was actually the best time of year to view them in such beautiful color. With the sun shining, it really rounded out the beauty of the traditional Japanese Garden. We also spotted a lot of Koi fish swimming in the pond.

It was wonderful just to sit and relax, right in the heart of Tokyo, and it certainly didn't feel like you were in the center of the world's largest city. The Japanese know their Zen.

Afterwards, it was time for part three of the Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search. We were getting better, though, I must say. We were starting to learn the tricks of the trade and this time we had luck! The area around the Imperial Palace is the main big business district including all the high-end shopping, so we didn't think our chances were great when we began and feared we would have to once again head back to the hostel or a trusty Lawson's to find a meal. We made our way to the basement level of some business tower, as they had a slew of advertisements for restaurants. Armed with little cash and a hefty dose of doubt, we began wandering around the basement level when we stumbled upon a little surprise. It was lunch hour, so all the Japanese business men were out and about and so we passed one place that had a line out the door. It was a traditional ramen shop, with one row of people slurping their ramen at a counter as fast as they possibly could manage, before bolting out the door and back to their offices. We had a glance at the menu and to our surprise it was actually affordable! 850 Yen, or basically $8.5 for a lunch combo of a huge bowl of ramen and a serving of gyoza. We, my friends, had just mastered the Great  "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search! We got in line behind all the businessmen, you know, trying to blend, while a man came out and gave us a menu and took our orders right then and there so our food would be ready when we got to our spot on the counter. These people eat fast, just look at Kobayashi, so it didn't take long. We took our spots and they handed us each a plastic bib to protect our clothes while we enthusiastically slurped on our ramen. I say it again--they think of everything! I must say it was delicious and I couldn't even finish it all even though I was eating as fast as possible. We left the building feeling satiated and satisfied that we had finally managed to find a decent place to eat in less than an hour of looking! Progress, my friends. 

That night we headed back to the hostel to once again have dinner from our trusty friend Lawson's. We had just returned to our hostel and were in the entrance way when all of a sudden the building began to shake and sway! Having lived in New Zealand, we knew all about the frequent aftershocks that plague a city/country in the aftermath of a giant earthquake, and Tokyo was no exception. James had told us they experienced aftershocks on a very regular basis and so during our stay we were treated to a 7.5 earthquake! No major damage, just a little excitement.

The following day was time for a small tour of old town Tokyo. A district called Asakusa, it's the main backpacker district in the city and also contains many old cobble streets and buildings from old Tokyo before it became a hyper-modern city.

It's mostly old shops and restaurants, some of which have a very interesting idea of cuisine.

We stuck to the traditional, reliable, ramen and gyoza. It's really good stuff.

And the great thing about Asakusa is that since it's the backpacker area, there are lots of affordable restaurants! So finding lunch that day was actually a very easy affair (for which we were grateful). What is also easy to find in that area is another Japanese phenomenon called a cat cafe. Yes, this is a real thing. It's a cafe full of cats and you pay to hang out with them while enjoying your tea or small meal. They can actually be quite expensive though, since they have to keep well-behaved clean cats cause no one wants to sip their tea while fending off an attack by a rabid, dirty street cat. Just to prove they are real here is the proof we found walking down the street:

It's a shame they don't have puppy cafes. I totally would have gone for that. 

But back to Asakusa. The main attraction is an old Buddhist shrine called Shinjo-ji that sits in the middle of the district. There is supposedly a golden picture of Buddha inside the shrine, so people light incense in a big pot outside and bathe themselves in the smoke in order to give them good luck.

I personally didn't feel like walking around all day smelling like smoke, nor did I want to do laundry, so I refrained from that aspect but it was still nice to walk around and see the huge lantern and six-level pagoda on the complex.

 The Tokyo Sky Tower is also in the area but it's a big tourist trap so we just looked at it instead.

Right outside the temple are rows of tent stalls selling all kinds of knick-knacks and souvenirs. Some of the smells coming from the sweet stalls were delectable. I stopped at one place selling what I thought was a kind of Japanese cookie for $1 a piece, but it ended up being a salty cracker.

Our other main purpose for going to Asakusa is that it contained, from what I could find in guide books and on the internet, one of the few public onsens, or public baths, available to tourists in Tokyo. Hot pools and public baths are a huge thing in Japan, especially in many smaller cities outside Tokyo, and John and I wanted to have an authentic experience of this ritual. Boy did we get one. We finally found the building, which was quite nondescript, thanks to my intensive investigation and figuring out the Japanese characters for "onsen." We went inside and notified the proprietor that we wanted to go into the baths. Most public bath houses are completely separated by gender, this is because the main rule in most of them is that you have to go naked. The guy pointed to a sign in English notifying us that swimsuits were not allowed, which we knew beforehand. We agreed to this condition, paid our five dollars, and headed into the changing rooms. Just in case we had any more questions on the rules of public bathing there was a sign in the dressing room outlining these for us:

Glad we cleared everything up.

So yes, on that particular afternoon I stripped down to my birthday suit and walked around naked in front of complete strangers. Luckily there were just two other women in the bath room with me, one middle aged and the other one a very old woman who had no shame or hesitation about baring her full on old-lady saggy breasts, which actually made me feel much better about baring my much more . . . youthful body in public. Before you actually get into the bath, however, you have to clean yourself off first. This is because they believe the water in the onsen has special properties and so they never change it. Thank goodness the Japanese take cleanliness seriously because otherwise that water would have been nasty. So I follow the rules and head over to a spigot on the wall where I sit on a small stool and clean myself off head to toe before getting into the bath. I wasn't sure about the extent to which I needed to wash before it was considered sufficient, so I peeked out of the corner of my eye to see the middle aged woman washing her hair for like 5 minutes. I figured it would be better not to offend so I spent some more time lathering and washing my hair and body before getting in. Grandma apparently doesn't stand on ceremony, as she just hopped right in. 

I kept my time in the onsen short--1) because it was actually really hot so I couldn't sit in it for very long and 2) regardless of the time that passed it was still super awkward to be completely naked, bathing in front of a couple of older Japanese women. 

So I got my onsen experience, got out, got dried off and headed out to wait for John. He came out shortly after, probably for the very same reasons, though he only had one old Japanese dude to contend with. But still, it was a good experience and, you know, now I can say I've fulfilled everyone's lifelong dream of engaging in public nudity.

Moving on!

After experiencing all of these Japanese traditions, we still had one more to tick off the list. Everyone said that a trip to Tokyo would not be complete without a morning trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. Of particular fame is the Tuna Fish Auction, which begins at around 5 in the morning when the all the fresh catch of the day, and especially giant blue fin tuna, are brought in for auction. It's an industry that generates around 600 Billion Yen (or 7-8 Billion US dollars) every year. Nowadays, just being able to see the Tuna Auction is very difficult, as the hordes of tourists have caused them to cap the number at 120 people. That sounds like a lot, but so many people want to see it that you have to be in line by 4 am or you have no shot. When we were there during the holidays, they actually banned tourists from viewing the auction as to not interfere with the high demand during the period. This was fine by us, as I had no desire to wake up at 2 in the morning to go look at some fish. 

However, the market itself is fascinating and open to the public after 9 am when most of the business has already taken place. Wandering though this giant area, with aisle after aisle of any and all kinds of seafood you could image, was quite a trip. The floor was covered with water, while people in rain boots and plastic aprons bounded this way and that, pushing carts full of fish and seafood. We walked past buckets and displays of all kinds of sea creatures, both alive and dead, and we even witnessed the murder or a fish or two. If the smell of the fish and salt water didn't get to you, watching a man shove a knife into the gills of a fish and then watching it flop around as it dies would probably do it. We only walked around the actual wholesale area for about 10 minutes, but I would say that was plenty.

Located at the entrance to the area are rows and rows of stalls with heaps of sushi restaurants, shops selling sushi products, and other bits and bobs. John and I walked around the stalls selling sushi knives and fresh wasabi.

One of John's biggest complaints was that you don't get real wasabi in the US--it's all horseradish with food coloring. This is actually mostly true, and the wasabi root is different from that of horseradish, with a different taste as well. The guy at the stall was really nice and actually let John try a fresh piece of the horseradish root--I passed. 

So after wandering around for a while we were hungry enough to delve into a sushi breakfast. Now, most people think that sushi is a big Japanese meal and that people eat it all the time. No, not true. REAL sushi, or REAL sashimi, is actually quite expensive and is considered quite a treat, not an everyday meal. Most of the stuff that you get at sushi places in the US or Australia is basically crap compared to the real thing, and if you want the real thing you go to Tsukiji. You can't really get raw fish any more fresh than straight off the boat like you can there. But even down there, they still charge a pretty yen for the pleasure. There are stalls upon stalls of sushi restaurants in Tsukiji and most of them had lines out the door. Most places don't open until 9 am as well, so people want to make sure they get a good spot in line. There is one place, however, that is famous for being the "best" sushi stall in Tsukiji and it wasn't hard to find considering the line for it wrapped out the door and around the corner. Standing at the end of the line would have meant a two hour wait--for raw fish!

1) I don't like sushi all that much and 2) we didn't have money to burn even if we did like sushi that much, so we shopped around the different stalls to find one more suitable for our purposes. At the famous place, an 11-piece set, so 11 small pieces of sashimi and sushi sets you back a cool $35. Yeah, I'm sorry I know that some cuts of fish are better than others, but the taste of raw fish between that stall and the others around just couldn't have been that drastic. Sushi chefs are still highly trained and regarded in Japan, so I figured whatever we got at Tsukiji would still be miles better than anything else we would ever try outside the country. All the food was all still straight from the market. So after walking around for a while, we came upon a place that seemed much more reasonable, but still had a decent number of clientele inside, so at least we knew we weren't going to get ill. Plus, we were able to sit down, unlike most places where you stand, scarf down your raw fish, and then move on. Here we were able to order a delicious 13-piece sashimi set for $18, so half the price, and a small side order of avocado sushi. Our meal came with miso soup and green tea as well. We found this to be a much better experience than the hassle of trying to get in to the famous place, and we very much enjoyed our meal of no standing in line, sitting down, and paying a reasonable price. It was REALLY good.

So our time in Tokyo was almost over and over the course of the week we had certainly been introduced to a whole host of new cultural experiences. But there was one that we wanted to explore a little more. During our day tour of Tokyo with James, he introduced us to a department store called Don Quijote. What little time we spent in there opened up our eyes to some of the, excuse my French, bat-shit craziest items ever available for purchase. We had to go back and explore some more! So we headed that night over to Roppongi Hills, an up-market shopping area where I knew one of the stores existed. All over the place were Christmas decorations and stores advertising for Christmas specials. The funny thing is, most Japanese aren't Christians. Most of them are Buddhist or Shinto. James told us that the whole Christmas thing was purely commercial. They get into the shopping aspect, but the day after Christmas, boom, everything is taken down. But yes, unfortunately we couldn't find the store there, and after walking around for a while we once again regressed and failed to find a suitable place for dinner. Thus, the  Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search lived on.  We seriously walked around for ever. 

Finally we made our way back to Akihabara, where we knew the store existed because that's where James took us the first time. We managed to find the store this time and spent a lot of time wandering around the floors of ridiculous stuff, and I will let the photos speak for themselves. If you don't understand what something is . . . . maybe it's best that you don't.

After leaving Don Quixote we decided to walk back to our hostel, as it was a 15 minute stroll straight along the train line. It was getting late and we were still hungry, and the alleys along the train line are packed with small restaurants and shops. We had almost made it back to our hostel when a small restaurant along the alley caught our eye. They had one of those displays out front with plastic food and prices, only this time it looked pretty decent. There were only two people inside, but we decided to give it a go and it was a pleasant surprise! We ordered two dishes plus some gyoza, all at a decent price. The food came out in these really ornate wooden plate holders and both were delicious!

We were ending our trip to Tokyo on a high note! 3 points for John and Kristin in the  Great "Try to Find Edible, Affordable Food in Tokyo" Search and 3 points for Tokyo--we'll call it square. 

The following morning we were up early to catch our extremely prompt train to Narita Airport, where we would catch a flight across the Sea of Japan to that little country called China.