Day 4

John Noel — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 10:00:28 +0000

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

This was to be the day we leave Tokyo and head on down to Kamakura, however there was the option to head to the Tsukiji fish market early in the morning. So having just gotten over my jet-lag, I wantonly get up at 0430 to get the first subway train to the fish market.

Tsukiji is the biggest working fish-market in the world and is this huge place that sells pretty much every variety of sea-food possible. We were warned beforehand, but because it’s a working fishmarket and we would be tourists, you have to watch your back constantly as stuff goes on swiftly and if you don’t move for someone or something, then you’re going to get shouted at. Good thing really as these crazy electric cart things scream around you constantly as you’re weaving in and out of what is essentially organised bedlam. How people know what they’re doing is beyond me.

The first call on the trip was to the tuna auctions. Kicking off at around 0530, these auctions sell these huge whole tuna, sometimes for exorbitant prices to restauranteers, other sellers etc. Essentially the tuna come with their gills hollowed out and a small chunk out of their tail, all fast frozen from being caught literally 4 hours ago. People wander about in wellies and aprons with a torch and small pick axe and examine all the tuna before the auction gets underway. Each auction only takes about 15 seconds in which there are some unintelligible words and raising of hands.

After the auctions had calmed down and we’d had a little wander on our own we all went to a pseudo-famous sushi restaurant right there in the fish market. Pseudo-famous as people like Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz has been to the restaurant before, even though it was only big enough for about 8 people max. I’m not a big fan of sushi, but fresh sushi caught the night before was pretty gorgeous, certainly makes every other sushi I’ve tried else pale in comparison.

Heading back to the hotel, it was now about 0730, when I should have been getting up instead of almost being run over by little electric carts or being talked to by drunken businessmen. We grabbed one of the local trains from Tokyo station and headed out to Kamakura which only took about 30 minutes.

Now brilliant sunshine, Kamakura is pretty much a small village on the outskirts of Tokyo. However, it was now in the midst of a festival for the 3 day bank holiday weekend for Japan which meant there were all sorts of things going on.

(The drumming lady on the right was exceptionally cute but didn’t hang around enough for a better photo.) The shrine maiden you see there is a candid shot as you’re not allowed to take photos of the maidens as it apparently steals their souls (or some such). Suffice to say that one doesn’t have a soul now, mwuh ha ha ha ha.

The main temple we went to was hosting the Yabusame festival, which translates to Horse Archery. Our tour guide had sweet talked our hotel owner into getting us some decent tickets which meant we all got a rosette which let us into a nicer section for viewing the event.

After standing about for 2 hours (having been up for 12 hours now) and listening to them drone on over the tannoy about the origins of the festival, the archers paraded up and down. The long track was lined with three targets, basically plywood boards, the archers set off down the track and tried to hit each target in one run. As the event wears on, the targets get smaller. Even with our rosettes the position we were in wasn’t great so I had to point my camera and hope for the best during the runs.

The power of the bows and speed of the archers though was stunning. If an arrow actually hit the target dead on, it pretty much just obliterated it, sending bits of wood everywhere.

After watching a few rounds of that, a few of us headed out to see the big Buddha, another of Kamakura’s attractions.

Not much to say really, it’s a big bronze Buddha. Good thing the religious man who built it put those handy dandy windows in the back for tourists to look out of. Prognosticators the lot of those Buddhists. Heading back with Gemma, we both got lost trying to get back from the funicular rail station so we grabbed a rickshaw to the hotel which was awesome.

Dinner that night was Kaiseki (stone pocket) which amounted to nouveau cuisine Japanese style.

Places visited:

Tsukiji fish market
Kamakura
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu
Great Buddha

japanographia.com » tuna

Day 4