Monday, April 22, 2013

Eat Pray Love - Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ginza

Things to take note | Pre Tokyo Trip | Tokyo Trip Day 1 | Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Shinjuku |
Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Harajuku | Tokyo Day 2 - Shibuya | Tokyo Trip Day 3 - DisneySea |
Tokyo Trip Day 4 - Hakone | Tokyo Trip Day 5 - Odaiba | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Ueno |
Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Akihabara | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Roppongi | Tokyo Trip Day - Hotel Room | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ginza | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ciba |
Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Asakusa | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Aoyama | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Tokyo |
Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Haneda

Tokyo Trip - Eat Pray Love - Day 7 - Tsukiji Fish Market


Plan for the day : Tsukiji - Ginza - Ciba - Asakusa
Early morning visit Tsukiji Fish Market and try the sushi meal.
Afternoon visit Ginza area.
Evening go to Ciba to find the house that Shirakawa Riko stay before in drama Buzzer Beat
Night visit Asakusa to take photo of Sky Tree and Sensoji Temple.


Ginza is one of the most expensive, most luxurious place on Earth. Almost all prominent brand will have a boutique open here. And each of these boutique is uniquely designed.

Price of the stuff here is certainly beyond my financial consideration. I am only here to say that I have been to Ginza. A tick for one of the place in the list of "100 places I wish to visit before I die".


To begin, I come out of the subway station and find this building look very familiar. A check on the internet show this is Wako Building and the clock at top is build by the guy who created company Seiko. But of course that is not the reason I know this building. This building is familiar because it frequently show in Japan drama. 


Also notice a Nenrinya shop at Ginza here. For anyone going to Tokyo, this is a highly recommended cake to purchase and bring back home. It is a bit pricy but definitely worth it.
Check out their website here.

Photo after this is a show of the luxury branded boutique that operate at Ginza area.


I always hear that Uniqlo open a biggest shop here and there but I wonder how can these shop match the Ginza Boutique. That is a 10 floors shop.


Tiffany & Co.




I don't think I have seen this brand before. I wonder what it is....


Another famous brand that is unknown to me. But with the word Paris, it should mean very famous brand.


I know Shiseido, a famous skin care, cosmetic and beauty shop in Japan.




SONY. I know Sony. Lol. This is the only shop that I went in. I was hoping to see some futuristic stuff that Sony might be developing or selling at Tokyo. But I did not find any thing interesting here.
The camera, the mobile phone, tablet etc look similar to what they offer in Malaysia.


Next door is Hermes shop. A very famous handbag shop. The shop design looks really cool.


Gucci. I read somewhere that this boutique had cafe upstair. I wonder if the cup, or plate is branded with Gucci name on it. But it gonna break my piggy bank if I have a coffee here. Better look for some famous Starbuck or Coffee Bean.



Apple store. This is the first Apple store to operate outside of America. I can picture the crowd queuing here when Apple launch their product.




After all the long walk, my breakfast + lunch meal is fully digest. I am feeling a bit hungry.


And so I found a shop selling Unagi rice.


The menu is confusing with all the weird name but I can see the price of this meal would not be cheaper compare to my sushi.



A nice looking green tea cup. Very artistic feel.


The shop assistant tell me I will need to wait about 30 minute forthem to prepare the food. Even though I am very hungry, I choose to wait for it. It is a very rewarding meal. The Unagi is prepared almost without any sauce. I wonder if it is this way because in Malaysia the sauce for Unagi is very important.

The unagi meat is very soft and the skin is easily separated with chopstick. Even though there is lack of sauce but the meat is not tasteless as it seems. Feel just good.


Found a this sign board that show the number of casualities. I wonder is this means only Ginza area or it is Tokyo. If this is for Tokyo. It means really good. Because no death from accident.


Things to take note | Pre Tokyo Trip | Tokyo Trip Day 1 | Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Shinjuku |
Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Harajuku | Tokyo Day 2 - Shibuya | Tokyo Trip Day 3 - DisneySea |
Tokyo Trip Day 4 - Hakone | Tokyo Trip Day 5 - Odaiba | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Ueno |
Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Akihabara | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Roppongi | Tokyo Trip Day - Hotel Room | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ginza | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ciba |
Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Asakusa | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Aoyama | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Tokyo |
Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Haneda


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Eat Pray Love - Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji Fish Market

Things to take note | Pre Tokyo Trip | Tokyo Trip Day 1 | Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Shinjuku |
Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Harajuku | Tokyo Day 2 - Shibuya | Tokyo Trip Day 3 - DisneySea |
Tokyo Trip Day 4 - Hakone | Tokyo Trip Day 5 - Odaiba | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Ueno |
Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Akihabara | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Roppongi | Tokyo Trip Day - Hotel Room | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ginza | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ciba |
Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Asakusa | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Aoyama | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Tokyo |
Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Haneda

Tokyo Trip - Eat Pray Love - Day 7 - Tsukiji Fish Market


Plan for the day : Tsukiji - Ginza - Ciba - Asakusa
Early morning visit Tsukiji Fish Market and try the sushi meal.
Afternoon visit Ginza area.
Evening go to Ciba to find the house that Shirakawa Riko stay before in drama Buzzer Beat
Night visit Asakusa to take photo of Sky Tree and Sensoji Temple.


Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest wholesale seafood in the world. The location of the fish market is highly debated in recent years as the location of the market is situated close to the center of Tokyo. And with the rising property asset price in Tokyo, the Governor of Tokyo, has called for relocation of Tsukiji Fish Market. For foreigner and traveler, Tsukiji Fish Market is famous for tuna fish auction.

In tradition, the best tuna catch in the begin of the year is highly sought by bidder. A 222kg bluefin tuna sells for 155.4m yen – a new record for a single fish – at the first auction of 2013 at Tsukiji fish market, in Tokyo, Japan.

However, it is not easy to participate the auction. You need to reach the place before 5am. And at that hour, the only public transport available would be taxi. If you really interested, to view the auction, then you need to find a hotel to stay for the night near Tsukiji and reach there before 5am. The earlier the better as the market only accept a limited number of participant everyday. Some blogger suggest to reach there at 4am.

I give up after finding out all the info and only went to Tsukiji to try the sushi.


The queue when I reach there around 7.30am. And I queue up for almost 4  hours here. So my breakfast has become lunch.


The cute car that is used to carry the seafood around from the wholesale market to nearby sushi shop or truck.


Fresh wasabi. Before it is grind. Most people ate wasabi and never know how the plant look like.
Well this is how wasabi look like. Outside of Japan it is not common to find wasabi plant.


Daiwa Sushi is another famous shop here. This shop has 2 lot. Thus it serve the customer faster. An average queue time is 2 hours. If you have shorter time than can consider this shop. However, blogger comment that sushi price is higher in Daiwa Sushi and the chef has less patient with the customer. They will request you to have the sushi faster instead of letting you to take your time to take photo of the food. 


Sushi Dai is the more famous sushi shop in Tsukiji Fish Market. I queue up for 4 hours here. Worth the time? I feel worth it given the taste of the sushi. Certainly one of the best sushi shop in the world.


What I like about the shop is considerate of the customer that is queuing outside the shop for hours.
The shop owner sent staff to provide hot green tea to the crowd that queue up. The tea warmth my hand and my heart.


But that is just cheap green tea. Not my cup of tea. This girl on the left is my cup of tea. (^___^)


The recommended menu here is Omakase. It consist of 10 piece of sushi chosen by the chef and 1 piece of sushi that you can choose from the menu. Price is 3900 yen(About RM 160). Ouch! You can also choose the sushi you like from the menu and have beer too :P


The handsome chef. But he told us he is in this business for more than 30 years. Wow!!!


Free miso soup. Taste good as it is boil with part of fish that is not used in sushi such as the fish head and tail.


Free tamago. Tamago in Japan taste better compare to Malaysia. And normally some extra ingredient is mixed with the egg. Won't only had the chicken egg as ingredient.

Photo below is the sushi that I had for Omakase course. Beware, don't look if you are hungry.


First serve is the fatty tuna belly, Chutoro. The chef generously serve me with a big thick piece of tuna that almost cover up the sushi rice. Also teach me to eat right away without need to dip into soya sauce or wasabi anymore.



I forget what is this 2 sushi. Just remember it is good taste.


Definitely one of the most fresh sea urchin that I ever had. The color, texture and aroma is perfect.





Ikura, or salmon roe. Another one of my favourite.




This is the real sea eel sushi. The meat is so soft that I feel as though it melt in my mouth.



The chef show me the menu and ask me to choose the last piece that I wish to had. I have no idea what to choose and try to get advise from the Japanese that is seated next to me.


And this is the sushi they suggest. It is a seasonal sushi. Meaning it is only available during certain time of the year. And this is called, Sperm Sac of Cod Fish (鱈魚白子)


When I walk out of the shop, a look of the crowd outside the shop next door.


Japanese Matsutake, is a very expensive mushroom.





There is a few Tamago speciality shop near Tsukiji. Some look real nice.


Japanese beef. The fat is nicely marbled.


Super large crab. I wish I can had one but the price......





Some other shop nearby that had large crowd queuing for the meal. And from the look of the businessman and office worker, both shop should serve very good meal. But I am still full with the sushi.


Things to take note | Pre Tokyo Trip | Tokyo Trip Day 1 | Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Shinjuku |
Tokyo Trip Day 2 - Harajuku | Tokyo Day 2 - Shibuya | Tokyo Trip Day 3 - DisneySea |
Tokyo Trip Day 4 - Hakone | Tokyo Trip Day 5 - Odaiba | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Ueno |
Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Akihabara | Tokyo Trip Day 6 - Roppongi | Tokyo Trip Day - Hotel Room | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ginza | Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Ciba |
Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Asakusa | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Aoyama | Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Tokyo |
Tokyo Trip Day 8 - Haneda