Romping Round Tokyo: Day Two

On our second full day in Tokyo, we started by making our way to Tsukiji Fish Market. To get there, we walked through Ginza from Yurakucho station, about a twenty-minute walk. Ginza is basically where all the super posh fashion stores live. I didn't get any pictures, but there is a five-floor Giorgio Armani building.

Then, we saw it. Actually, we smelled it first. From about a block away. Not as unpleasant as you might think, but definitely unmistakable.

Tsukiji Fish Market is similar to Pikes Fish Market, only way bigger and better. What I mean is that it's a mish-mash of various companies selling fish and food and goods, and very tourist friendly. We didn't go to the wholesale market (giant refrigerated warehouses of dead fish), but instead stuck to this one-city-block market. There, we had sushi.

One of the many stores. Everything was red!

I especially liked this guy's style.

You want fish heads? We got fish heads!

The squid was soft, sweet, and supple. And only 98 yen. Just like the salmon, actually. The crab had a tiny bit of what's called kani-miso, which is ground up crab guts and some miso paste. Not bad. The sushi was just straight amazing.

Later in the day, we continued North until we got to Akihabara, where the "Electric Town" lives. We made note to come back the next day, to get a fuller experience, and snapped one photo:

Nerding out for MTG!

We mostly passed through Akihabara Electric Town, just to get to B-PUMP bouldering gym. There, we spent a solid few hours climbing. I was able to finish a couple reds, and got a fair way in on a dark-blue problem. So according to B-PUMP, I'm a V-3 climber at best.

The Circuit is known to grade easily, but I feel like I can comfortably say I'm a V-3 climber, at least. But the problems here were harsh and very technique-oriented. Something which I quite liked, but also felt under-prepared for.

Didn't get any glam shots of our climbing (we were embarassingly bad), but here's this:



All in all, a lot of fun! We are definitely sore now. Worth noting how casually the playlist at B-PUMP included hardcore rap you might expect to hear out of a bright purple Cadillac in Little Rock Arkansas. It was excessive.

After that we traveled a bit further from Tokyo to visit Mike, a friend of Ayumi's who's living in the area. He took us to an Izakaya near his work, and were able to catch up with him. Looking forward to the next time our paths cross!