Doyoubi

12-29-07

got up really, really friggin early, all four of us, to go out to the tsukiji fish market right after the fresh stuff gets hauled in. the fish market is about six or eight square blocks of vendors standing under ripped up awnings in floppy rubber boots, in those narrow japanese streets and yelling about whatever they've got lying out front in bins or buckets. we saw bright red octopus tentacles, crabs, squid, huge tuna in a frozen pile, and who knows what the hell else dredged up from the bottom of the sea. wove down most of the streets taking in the smells and sounds, and watching the guys who speed around on little carts and damn near knock everybody over. stopped at one of the many sushi shops in the market and sampled some stuff. the best i had was salmon roe wrapped with some salmon meat and a sprig of something green. good lord. i didn't weep, because i was in public and i have a lion's heart, but i almost lost it after that first piece of sushi.

after the market, we all took a relatively new monorail out to an area called odaiba, across a little corner of tokyo bay on a long suspension bridge called the rainbow bridge. odaiba had some great views of the bay, the buildings on the other side, and the bridge, but it was mostly just a touristy amusement and shopping area without the awesomeness that makes that stuff something to witness in the rest of tokyo. spent a long time there poking around in novelty shops and shambling about. wes went to meet some college friends from america, shannon and chris wanted to come back to the hostal, and i decided to go to ueno park on my own.

ueno park has a reputation of being kind of run down or maybe dangerous, because i think drug dealers hang out at one of the entrances, and there's a homeless camp on the outskirts by the station, but there are also some great shrines, temples, a few museums, a pond, a zoo, a 140 year old warrior cemetary, and a bunch of statues.

i wandered through there until it got dark, then i went to the other side of the station and found the craziest little scuzzy area of tokyo i've seen yet. it's two streets forking out from a triangular building in an area called ameyokocho. on one street, stalls and shops and pachinko parlors are shoved under some elevated train tracks and people stand out front yelling about whatever they're trying to sell; watches, handbags, squid, takoyaki, shoes, everything. there are hundreds of stalls, and they all have people yelling at once, and thousands of people are trying to squish down this street in every direction. at the end where the street forks off, there were about ten police officers with bullhorns, trying somehow to direct people, and one police officer standing 20 feet up in a booth on top of some scaffolding attempting to direct traffic or somesuch thing, it was amazing and crazy and also felt a little bleak after a good dose of that stuff.

parts of ueno were pretty grim, but i'd much rather see stuff like that than the newest abercrombie and fitch store out in the megalopolis, even if it is in damn tokyo. now i will pass the hell out. tomorrow - harajuko da yo! crazy teenagers, weird bands, hopefully we can find a gallery i'm looking for called the design festa house, and i think we will also see meiji shrine and yoyogi park in that area.