Day 2 - Fish, Sweets, and a Loyal Dog

After eating our continental breakfast in the hotel, we headed out to the Tsukiji Fish Market. For this trip, our goal was to go to both places that my mom and I have enjoyed and places we had never been. The fish market was a new experience for all of us, and it was definitely an experience!


Really, what this sign is trying to say is “Hey silly tourists! Just stay out of our way and don’t get hurt!”

Walking into the market is a sensory overload. We could smell the fish when we got off the metro.


We had to dodge people, trolleys, and many people driving what Huay called the “beer can trucks”.

Argh! Don’t hit me please!

Along the way, there were so many types of sea life that we couldn’t keep up.




And what’s better than one fish head on the ground?


A whole bunch on a trolley!


Rob felt this guy could jump into a Beastie Boys video with his outfit.


The fish market is definitely an interesting place. Everyone enjoyed seeing the chaos and yet incredible organized system of the fish market, but for myself, it’s a place that I don’t have to go to again – the fear of being run over by one of the beer can trucks will haunt me forever!

After the fish market, we headed over to Shibuya. First we hit a department store food floor. Usually the basement of a department store is a cornucopia of several different food stalls.



Between the three of us, we managed to get some lovely sweets for later in the day.

We hit the streets and saw the swarms taking photos at the Hachiko statue. Hachiko is a dog that is legendary in Japan. According to Wikipedia: “During his owner's life, Hachikō saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. Even after Ueno's death in May 1925, Hachikō returned every day to the station to wait for him, and did so for the next 11 years.” So sweet!


And we had to take a photo at the famous crazy busy intersection.


After being seduced by the pleasures of browsing through Japanese stores, we headed to Omotesando so Rob and Huay could debate architecture.


We saw this guy along the way, delivering soba noodles on his bike.


A popular building among architects – the Prada store by Herzog and De Meuron.


Contemplating architecture.

Omotesando is a beautiful tree-lined street with beautiful stores and beautiful people. There are pedestrian bridges to cross the road.


Next – a feast of fish courtesy of my Uncle Mimichan.