I woke up at 4am this morning…an improvement! We were out the door by 4:45am catching the 5:05am train to the Tsukiji Market stop on the Oedo Line. Tsukiji is definitely worth the early morning trek. If you’re coming from the US, do it on one of the first few mornings in Japan and you’ll be ok. The amount of seafood at the market was unbelievable. But, I guess the majority of the worlds seafood passes through this market, so it’s understandable.
The place is pretty dangerous, so you have to watch out. There are large push cards being wheeled around, bikes and scooters zooming by, and these mini trucks that drive inches away from pedestrians. Our tour guide told us that her friend was struck and broke some bones recently. These trucks are basically engines that happen to have a flat bed strapped to them.
After buying some assorted dried sundries, we made our way to the food rows next to the outer market. We decided to stand in line at Sushi Dai although Daiwa sushi was suggested by the Lonely Planet Tokyo guidebook. I think we made a good choice. We ordered the Omakase – which technically wasn’t a true Omakase because it listed 11 pieces of fish. True Omakase is when you sit down and the chef just starts serving you sushi. After building a rapport with you over the first few pieces, he would supply you with what he thinks is freshest or what you like. There is usually no set number of pieces. Regardless of this technicality, the sushi was awesome and some of the best I’ve tasted. Of particular note was the uni – which was sweeter and cleaner tasting than the ones found in the states, a slice of some kind of mollusk that was still moving when it was placed in front of us and the standard maguro (tuna) which tasted very different from the gassed versions in the states. To keep red meat (and fish) looking ‘red’ places in the states will ‘gas’ the meat with carbon monoxide. That’s why sometimes you buy beef that’s red on the outside, but brown on the inside.
At the end of our set number of pieces, we asked the chef for a slice of a super large (3 inch diameter) circular piece of mollusk, raw shrimp and a piece of his choice. I wanted him to pick a piece so that we could uphold some semblance of a real Omakase meal. Boy did he deliver. Some cod sperm sac to be exact. We had a good relationship with our chef – a charming, happy faced Japanese male in his mid thirties. His English skills were limited, but we conversed well enough. By observation, he suspected that we were on our honeymoon. Could this have affected his sushi choice for us? See Sandras post for a picture. The premise of the piece of sushi was so shocking, our neighbors all took pictures.
I would be lying if I said I had no mental barrier while eating the cod sperm sac, but it was lower than Sandra’s mental barrier. I had a stronger negative reaction while eating sweet breads (thalamus gland – part of the brain - of cattle). Technically chewing and swallowing food is a mechanical function. The only think that stops you from chewing and swallowing properly is your mind and imagination. Mental barrier occurs when your mouth starts salivating heavily, a lump in your throat develops, and your breathing becomes shallow so that your sense of taste is dulled. I had what I would call a level 1 barrier, which was only a slight reluctance to chew.
Getting past the mental part, I was able to discern a clean sweet creaminess that was very smooth. The other surprising part of this piece of sushi, was that it was served warm. Unlike all the other pieces we ate, which were chilled or at room temperature, this piece was completely warm – even the rice. An experience indeed. After detecting Sandra's reluctance, the Chef said we should feel lucky. Sperm sac is a winter only delicacy as cod don't spawn in the winter. They end up stock piling their supplies.
After the amazing sushi meal, we wandered the outer market some more and bought some random items of food. From Tsukiji market, we made our way up through Ginza and walked around some of the shops. This place is similar to an upscale shop area in New York.
By 12pm, we were pretty tired and needed a respite. On our way to the subway station, we passed by the Mitsukoshi food court. This is a highend food court with fabulous displays and sales people handing out samples hoping that you would buy from their counter. The fourth picture is what we decided upon for dinner.
After lunch, we headed out to explore Shinjuku, we spent a few hours wandering Tokyo Hands - an 8 floor department store, and randomly walked down a few streets. I got to play skill crane! Japanese Skill Crane is crazy expensive, and a lot harder. It uses 
only two prongs, so there's no way you're actually picking up a toy. You use the prongs as tools to poke and prod the toy over the edge. After spending about 25 dollars, I won one! You may think that that's really expensive...but luckily we encountered the stuffed hamster that I won at a toy store, and it was priced at $29.After the skill crane, we looked for an Okonomiyaki place that Sandra found on the internet. Our waiter was really nice and actually showed us how to make the okonmiyaki and yakisoba. Okonomiyaki is super yum. For those who don't know, Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake that is filled with practically anything you like. The 'standard mix', consists of cabbage, pork and shrimp. You stir fry the ingredients for a bit, pour the batter over the ingredients, let it set and then flip it over to finish cooking. It is topped with 'bulldog sauce' (a thickened worcestershire sauce), mayonnaise and bonito flakes. The bad thing was that our clothes was super smoked out after dinner. My jacket smelled like smoke during the whole remainder of the trip.
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