Back in Tokyo!
We took a little break in the morning, not putting too much in the plan because we decided to take the trip to the other side of town with my mom today to meet her youngest brother and to see where she grew up. He still lives in the original home where my mom and her siblings were raised. He’s remodeled it and changed a few things around, but it is still the same basic structure in the same place as it was decades ago. Across Tokyo in a less busy area, but still not like a suburb area of town, we hopped off in Nippori and started the short walk to her childhood home. We had taken the same train and were walking the same route she took to high school and passed the school she attended as an elementary student. Education is a big deal in Japan. Most kids go to school on Saturday as well. When we arrived at the house, we were given the outside tour which was actually a bit larger structure in the past. That storefront shown in the picture had been part of the home in the past, but is now currently owned by another individual, but remains part of the structure. I’m not sure how they work out the “HOA” dues, but by the way everything looked and my little knowledge about how many of the homes in the area are split up, I’m sure it gets a bit complex.
Her brother greeted us at the door and after taking off our shoes we started the tour up the stairs to the second floor. The basic layout is still the same, but all of the finishes are modern. The kitchen is still in the same place, and although much smaller compared to what we’d be accustomed to in Oklahoma, was large by Tokyo standards. The dining area and connected living room were large enough to hold a family and one of the bedrooms, although now a room with a TV and small shrine, still had tatami floors installed. Overall, I’m sure growing up in a space this small with 5 siblings (6 in total) would have a bit of a squeeze. Most of what we would consider in traditional Western architecture, and really life in general would be considered excessive by Asian standards.
After the grand tour, my mom’s youngest brother gave us a ride to Akihabara, or better known as “Electric Town,” as I needed to pickup a memory card for the camera and this was supposedly the best place to find one. Akihabara did not disappoint, although I think this part of Tokyo is probably better known in the US for it’s anime, it also has a plethora of vendors, both large and small, selling all types of things electronic. I was able to find a memory card for about half the price I had seen at a larger vendor earlier that week. Mission accomplished.
We headed back to the train station towards Edogawa where we are staying. We needed to get ready to go to dinner at my aunts house. As I walked in the door, I could tell she went to great lengths to make us feel at home. She had ordered pizza. As large of a city as Tokyo is, I can’t recall ever seeing a pizza shop and appreciated the gesture greatly (well, Misty probably appreciated it more) as I was still enjoying all of the Japanese food I was getting the chance to sample. About halfway through dinner my cousin Mayumi joined us. I was happy we got to spend a little more time with her as we hadn’t seen much of her since the wedding and wouldn’t be seeing her again before we left. Although neither of us spoke the same language and I was a bit unsure of our translator (both my mom and the iPhone (ha!!!), we had a great time! She even managed to understand my affection for adult beverages and had gifted us a bottle of sake to sample during dinner.
Here’s where things go south, both literally and figuratively. Depending on how well you know me….. Let’s be honest, if you’ve been around me for more than 5 minutes, you probably know I seem to have an addiction to things with wheel or wings… you’d probably expect that I’d try to work some type of extracurricular activity having to do with one of these sometime in Tokyo, right. This was it…. There’s a parking area on the highway south of Tokyo that’s a pretty famous car hangout. Unfortunately, it is only accessible by car as it’s three stories up on a highway. My uncle, who is in the car business in Tokyo had spoken to several people at work and he was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be much activity at the parking area, but I was determined to at least see this place as I was sure I’d be kicking myself in the morning if I didn’t at least attempt to go there. Since I won’t take no for an answer, and just have to see for sure for myself, we headed out, yen in hand, in an attempt to hail a taxi to get us there. Without much trouble we were able to flag down a cab and get headed in the right direction. Here’s where things get expensive. The taxi ride to the parking area from where we were should have been somewhere between $35-45 US dollars, however, we managed to find a taxi driver who did not speak English very well, and he also couldn’t read the handwritten note that my uncle had made to attempt to communicate where we wanted to go. After passing the place three times, being called Gaijin (foreigner) at least twice, two conversations with a translation service the taxi company has, and $90 US dollars later, we arrived. I was a bit dejected to have spent now double what I had budgeted for this endeavor, but none the less, we had arrived.
Now, when we asked if our taxi driver could pick us back up in awhile, we were informed that he would be unable as they would not dispatch a taxi to the parking area. Great, now what… We got out of the cab, that is what. I was pleasantly surprised and not so worried about how we would be getting out of this area, as we had been passed by at least two super cars as we were (mis)communicating with the taxi driver. Although I wouldn’t call it busy, there was plenty to see and observe at this parking lot, several super cars, at least a few different styles of modified cars from local manufacturers, and even some vintage fare. By the time we decided to leave I had seen at least one “exit” sign that seemed to have a pedestrian running on it. This would be our way back out to the surface streets to find a cab. This “exit” turned out to be more of an “escape” route. There were several one way locked doors on this path and stairs that more closely resembled a fire escape going between the lanes of the highway. The route then dropped you into a fenced off area that looked like somewhere they would store construction equipment, but luckily this barbed wire fenced in area also had a one way door and we were dumped back on the surface on the far side of Tokyo. We walked about one half mile (mind you, it’s 1:00 am and below freezing outside)from here and luckily picked up another cab back to the place we were staying, $30 this time. We ended the evening a bit disgruntled that we ended up spending so much because of the first taxi driver, but I was happy we took the opportunity to see the famous Tatsumi Parking Area No. 1.
Our last day in Tokyo we made our way to the Tsukiji Fish Market for what Misty didn’t quite understand, would be a culinary challenge for her. Two trains later we popped out on the far side of Ginza and walked the rest of the way to arrive at Tsukiji Fish Market. This market is actually just like many farmers markets, in that they have more than just produce. This market is primarily the working port wholesaler for fish and has the six figure tuna that everyone hears about, but it also has many vendors selling produce, ready to eat foods, knives, and trinkets as well. Our plan was to start around the perimeter and work our way into the market. The main area of the market doesn’t actually open to the public until 10AM because the wholesalers are getting ready and selling to commercial buyers early in the morning, so we would walk around more of the retail area and hopefully get into the interior right around 10AM to see what the wholesalers were doing. We sampled something we’re still not sure what the name of that dish was, but it consisted of a bed of rice with a stewed thinly sliced beef and oinion mixture on top that was very tasty as we walked around the outside. We also saw many of the more retail oriented shops selling fresh seafood, beef, and lots of knife stores. As we arrived at the interior of the market we walked into what looked like a large open sided warehouse with shipping docks running down one side and vendors on the other. We were able to see lots of seafood including the large tuna being butchered, octopus that had been arranged like blossoming flowers, and many fish I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before but would most likely eat. Ha!
Many of the vendors start closing up shop (around 11 AM), so we made our way to one of the several famous sushi vendors near the market, Dai Wa Sushi. There were several lines of people waiting to be seated, now us included, so after waiting at least least an hour to get in, we were ducking under the entrance making our way to our seat at the sushi bar, which incidentally, is the only place you can sit in this “quaint” (read: extremely tiny) establishment serving up some of the freshest sushi in the world. As we sat down, ordered what Misty would like to consider a “brunch Sapporo,” we were informed that they were serving a set menu. Misty’s life started to flash before her eyes and I settled in for the best sushi I’ve ever had the opportunity to eat. About this time, I’m thinking Misty is getting terribly worried, she’s about to have 10 pieces or so of sushi set in front of her at a rather rapid fire pace and will be expected to eat them as they are prepared. I’m starting to to get “the look.” As we start in she makes it through the best piece of tuna I’ve ever eaten and she starts to chew slower and slower getting a more and more worried look on her face. As the sea urchin roll is served, the nausea sets in and she proceeds to inform the chef and myself that she is “getting full.” As the egg sushi is set down in front of her she takes a bite and gives me a, “I should get credit for this” look to which I inform her, she will not, as it’s not even fish or raw for that matter. At this point she starts to unload sushi onto my little wooden serving platform as I’m now finishing my last piece. I make an attempt to help her eat at least a few of the more exotic pieces she’s been served only to leave the squid and a few pieces of the salmon roll on her plate. We tab out, thank the chef and make our way out the door. Heavy breathing from Misty ensues and we find a Coke Zero quickly. Misty managed to make it through the endeavor without any food going the wrong way (barely, I know) and I’ve now had the chance to experience the best sushi I’ve ever had, even if I had to manage to eat a few pieces past my, “I’m full” point. I think this was a great way to end our Japan tour. We head back towards the house to pack up, as we headed towards the airport to leave for our next destination this evening. After a quick sendoff and goodbye from my mom and my newly known extended family, we board the Emirates plane headed for Dubai. After several days of going non-stop, we promptly doze off and awake several hours later, just a few longitudinal lines further west!
