teamEggers

Valentines Day Weekend

I’ve given you a few snapshots of Valentines Day weekend, but I thought I’d talk a bit more about the weekend on a whole. You may be thinking to yourself about now, “what, they don’t do anything during the week anymore? Here it’s a week later and she’s still talking about last sunday? this sucks! I want my money back!”

Yes, dear reader, you’re right. I’m lazy. Some days I don’t even leave the house. But I cook dinner almost every night! You want recipes? That’s about all I can give you. Recipes and pity parties.

To close up the weekend before I start the next one, here’s a quick recap:

Ramen Adventures! Jangara Ramen, recommended by two of the ramen blogs that we follow. Located right off the main drag in Akihabara (the electronics district)

The line is always this long!

Inside (they say not to take photos, so i had to sneak a few covert-like with my iPhone. I’m sure they didnt notice because I blend in really well. … and my iPhone is lime-green)

Then we went to the Edo history museum, where I sat in things:

…and jon stood in front of things (look, sumo!)

. next morning . up before dawn to take in the sights at the tsukiji fish market. Boy, I wish I had some coffee.

We were careful not to get in the way or get hit by one of the speeding fish cars. The market before it wakes up…

…as the vendors are still preparing for their days.

Large semi trucks unload fish to be sold starting at 3am. Most of them come in Styrofoam boxes that are turned into the makings of a mountain.

I love the view here of the city in the background. It looks so… dismal. If you think about it, a lot of fishies gave their lives for this picture. It is dismal.

We ended our day with a sushi breakfast (at 7am!). I was feeling kind of sick, but decided that stomachache or not, I was eating raw tuna that morning!! (it was worth it!)

Ode to a Large Tuna

4:30 and the alarm goes off. I swear I just fell asleep, and what is it again that I’m waking up so early for?

Ah yes. The tuna action at the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, where one fish can sell for as much as $20,000, and travelers brave their way through the maze of highspeed fish mobiles to stand in a warehouse and watch.

For a while, the tuna auction was closed to tourists – a response to some of our more obnoxious brethren prodding and poking where they didn’t belong. These days, they rope off a place for us to stand…

…and quietly insist that we mind our manners.

From 5 to 5:30am, the bluefin tunas are tagged and sorted for auction.

The tips of their tails are cut off, so that the buyers can inspect what they’re getting and make appropriate auction bids

Now’s a good time for some Pablo Neruda, don’t you think? Jon was happy that, despite my best intentions, I didn’t remember to bring the poem with us to read on the auction floor.

Among the market greens,
a bullet
from the ocean
depths,
a swimming
projectile,
I saw you,
dead.

The poem goes on, but I’ll spare you. It’s a fantastic poem though. Let a love-poet write about a dead fish and this is what you get.

As I was saying. By this point, the warehouse is filled with both tuna and tourists. The tuna is being inspected by flashlight and poked with ice picks. This article explains how fat freezes much slower than meat, so if the fish gives a little when you poke it, it is worth much more than one that’s frozen solid. It’s hard to believe that these lumps were living, breathing things just a few hours ago.

While the wholesalers are at work, the tourists are madly taking pictures and wishing they had brushed their hair before leaving the house. Try not to judge – it’s only 5:15am at this point!

A bell rings and the auctioneer stands up on his perch. “How much for this one?”

If you’re like me, you didn’t get to see the auction while it was happening because you’re short and you happened to be standing behind a concrete pole. Luckily, your husband is taller than everyone in the country, so you could watch it on video later.

More bells ring. The tunas unceremoniously await their next fate on the backs of the speedy fish mobiles.

From the Sea

This post is entirely dedicated to photos of the wacky things that live under the sea. A more thoughtful analysis of our trip to Tsukiji Market to come after some sleep.

Fair Warning: this post is probably not for the squeamish.