Anne in Korea: Tokyo Part 1

Happy Chuseok everyone! Chuseok, as you may recall, is an autumnal harvest festival, similar to Thanksgiving but minus the genocide of a continent!

I can now officially say "Last year, for Chuseok..." Weird eh? Last year was my first trip to Seoul. This year, Adri, Samantha, and I went to Tokyo! Flying from Busan, it only takes 2 hours. Not. Bad.

Our trip was lovely! Could not have had nicer weather. It was beautiful. Very interesting to note the differences between Korean and Japan. Here are some thoughts:

Japan is much cleaner and prettier building-wise. Despite also lacking public garbage cans, the streets held less litter. Architecture of apartments was also much more pleasing. Because Korea had to move from third world to Samsung Galaxy future-land in such a short period of time, the architecture here is mostly just fast and efficient. Aka horribly beige rectangles. It was nice to see it's possible to have crammed buildings look much prettier.

The Seoul subway is 10000000000000000000 times nicer than Tokyo's. For some insane reason, Tokyo has two separate subway companies with some overlap. Transferring at a station can take up to 15 minutes of walking, and much longer if you get lost. Add to that being unable to read Japanese, and you have one cranky Anne on the subway! The one bonus for Tokyo subway: no pushing and shoving, which is common practice in Korea.

Overall, I felt Japan had a much more Western feel. Of course, this is likely due to being in Tokyo, the worlds biggest country, versus being in little ol Gyeongju, the world's awesomest Shilla Capitol.

Conclusion: Very cool, modern city. But Korea is the best.

So what did we do?

Day 1. Asakusa and SUMO!

We were staying in a neighbourhood called Asakusa. Temples and such. In the morning of our first day, we went to buy same-day-tickets for sumo. Same day tickets are about $21 and are for the very back row. We went in the morning to ensure we got tickets, but then we were told not to enter yet. The tournament starts with trainees and slowly works it way up to the champions. So we went back to our hostel's area, Asakusa, and looked at temples before coming back to the tournament.

The sumo was awesome. I'm so happy we went. It's very easy to understand what is going on, and there's enough ceremony between fights to allow you to chit chat with your friends, sip your lovely light Japanese beer, and get your camera all zoomed in and ready before the action begins.

We saw the end of the penultimate level of fighters. Then we say the highest level begin. They all walked up on stage in very ornate aprons and the classic sumo thong (good lord do those look uncomfortable). We quickly realized many were not Japanese! It was easy to spot them from afar for 3 reasons: 1. pink complexion, 2. body hair, 3. cellulite. Ever realize Japanese sumo wrestlers have no cellulite? I hadn't, until I saw them next to men who did! See if you can spot the non-Japanese wrestlers!

The best fight was near the end. One huge guy vs a smaller guy. Huge guy seemed to have body hair: must not be Japanese. Normally, the fights lasted a little while. The huge men would paw at the ground for a while before throwing their bodies at each other, and smacking each others' faces for a while. Eventually one would fall or get pushed out, and that was that. BUT in this fight, the big guy almost instantly took the smaller one and threw him away. It was incredibly fast. The crowd went wild. People began throwing pillows at the arena! I later learnt the smaller was was the (now ex?) grand champion! He was defeated so easily! The pillows were the sumo version of a hat trick. It was so exciting.

Classy

Sumo tournament banners

The wrestlers offered to pose for pictures,
but being a photographed human myself
these days, I didn't want to bother him.

Tickets bought, off to Asakusa for a while.

Black sesame ice cream, yumm,

People were wafting the smoke into themselves.
I think it must be blessed incense or something. Neat.

Adorable mailbox

Phenomenal hand cut home made noodle soup.

Noodles-to-be!

The parent and child sign made me laugh. So wobbly?

We could use THIS back in Korea.

Ok time for sumo!

See the stadium! See the last seats? Those are where we're
sitting, at the top. Our seats cost 2100 yen. Literally
one row ahead (same section) costs 4000 yen,
and two rows ahead (still same section!) was
over 5000 yen. Silly.

When there was confusion over the winner, these
wizard-like judges would convene.

These are the highest ranked wrestlers. Check. them. out.
Also, there are 2 non Japanese. Find them.

Bums.

Who do you think will win?

BAM. Little guy showing how it's DONE.

The final fight was so amazingly fast, I missed it! Here is the
huge new champion having pillows thrown at him.

Big guy.

We spent the evening in some big downtown area, but were too tired to stay out much later than dinner.

Ugh.

My first sashimi. The chopped up mush ended
up being my favourite. It was amazing.

Asakusa at night!

Day 2. Tsukiji Fish Market and Harajuku

The fish market was another big goal of mine to see. Firstly, please note: tuna is not sustainable. Even the ones not on the brim of extinction are on their way there. Please think carefully about your fish choices.

That being said: I ate tuna this weekend, and do occasionally. In Korea I eat whatever is given to me to be polite, and in Japan eating the world's freshest tuna sashimi is a once in a lifetime experience I decided to have. When I return home and have the luxury of grocery stores and farmer's markets, I hope to return to my previous more environmentally friendly eating. However, I am traveling the world and I want to experience as much as I can! (Minus eating dog and whale.... cruelty factors)

The fish market opens very early, around 5am, where tourists can see tuna auctions. However, only 150 tourists can make it in via an auction. We heard some tourists from our hostel went at 4am (meaning you must pay for a taxi) and were not successful. So we made the decision to go later. We left around 7 45, and got there around 8 45 (yes and hour.. I'm telling you it's the evil subway transfers) Turns out we had perfect timing. Tourists are only allowed in to the market part at 9am! Those who make it to the auctions are told to just wait until 9. The market was amazingly cool, and the fishmongers seemed very relaxed. The atmosphere was definitely chill, it felt like everyong was winding down. It was nice because we didn't feel intrusive, and some even joked around with us. We ended our morning with a bowl of the freshest sashimi I think I'll ever eat!

Scallops before...

And after!

Fugu - poisonous blow fish!

Giant mantis shrimp

Tiny little lobsters?

Some cuts were so big they looked like beef

Wooo vegetarian option!

I knew what this was right away. Dark, bloody, and hey,
a baleen. Yup, it's whale! The vendor was very personable,
but we declined his offer of samples.

I find this photo is a good representation of
humans' relationship with the sea.

I love this fish. Why is he cut like this? Why do his
insides resemble apple sauce? All I know is,
this is
art.

And the freshest sashimi everrrrr. Included: shrimp (raw!),
scallop, octopus, white fish, salmon, tuna, crab, and roe!

Next up was shopping in the exciting streets and alleys of Harajuku. The absolute highlight for me was stumbling into a retro toyshop filled with my little pony's and Polly Pockets!