Tokyo - from the fish market to the electronics market

News Flash!  I have finally succeeded in my desire to encounter lots of types of Japanese toilets.  I now can claim knowedge of the Japanese traditional squat toilet, the bidet rinse, the shower rinse, the musical accompaniement, the flushing accompaniement, the seat heater, and the seat cleanser.  Still got the deodoriser to go, but I feel I have done well.

Back to the diary:

We had a very boring breakfast in the hotel today, so didn't bother photographing it.

Then, we visited the Wholesale Fish Market , Tsukiji, admittedly not at the crack of dawn to see the bidding, but early enough to be pretty impressed at the range of seafood available,  the noise,  the busy atmosphere as the little mini trucks and the motor-bikes speed down the aisles, with little care for pedestrians, and the enormity of the amount of fish that pass through this market every day.  It is a wonder that there are any fish left in the ocean!

To tell the truth,  I was stunned at how sickened I was at the thought of how much the sea is being ravaged by us consumers of seafood, and how these beautiful creatures are diminished once they are caught.  It is almost enough to make me become a vegetarian!

Buyers could find shellfish

Buyers could buy fish of any size or shape or colour.

Buyers could buy squid and octopus

Buyers could buy roe.

Buyers could buy prepared meals.

We even saw 2 terrapins trussed up for sale.

We escaped the hustle of the seafood market  by dodging through the hand trolleys and motorised machines

and entered the nextdoor fruit and vegetable market.  As Bob said, you can't hear fruit and veggies scream or see their pain.  Some things we saw were particularly Japanese, like the square watermelon:

and the wasabe

the mushrooms

and the chrysanthemum flowers

 But others reminded us of home

like the carrots

the figs

and the grapes (though those are much bigger and much, much more expensive).

Outside the market was the retail section

 

(can you see the stuffed animals in the latter two shots?  We wonder whether they represented what was for sale there).

 

 

 

 

We also saw lots of food stalls and wondered why we hadn't waited for breakfast.

 

 

 

As we were leaving the area, we noticed that petrol stations here use overhead bowsers to save on space.

Our next trip was to Azabujuban, to find Blue and White, which of course was not where Mr. Apple Maps said it was.  I had read about this shop years ago and about its collection of indigo dyed wares and traditional Japanese ceramics.  It was a lot smaller than I had imagined, but the owner was very nice and it was filled with like minded people.  A lot of it was rather too expensive for my pocket, but I got some good ideas there.

Then, we decided to have a little stroll round the neighbourhood towards Roppongi.  The area was filled with French sounding cafes with macaroons and lots of pastries and coffee.  A lot of the shops seemd very nice, but terrible expensive and there were a lot of ladies around who believed in the maxim "You can never be too rich or too thin"!

There also were some rather interesting buildings there.  The further we got into Roppongi, the more we felt like we had entered Malvern, or South Yarra.

We decided to shun the posh  restaurants and eat at a restaurant catering for office workers and had these delicious dishes and iced tea for only $10 Aussie.  Bob's was beef, mushrooms and rice.  Mine was snake beans, beef and rice with chilli.

Then, we were off again, this time to Shinjuku to check out the electrical goods area.  My God!  6 floors of electronic goods!  I have never seen so many phone cases, headphones, ear buds, ipads and other electronic stuff in my life! Even the watch shop had 4 floors of watches!  Amazing.  As usual, the area was full of eateries too.  And those game parlors.  How anyone can stand the noise I do not know!

 

After a day of so much variety, we limped back to the hotel via the train and collapsed, after picking up our luggage from the lobby.  Tokyo is truly exhausting!  We are trying to get the energy to explore the art galleries near our hotel and get some dinner, but don't know whether we will make it.