Day 317: Fantasea!

Tokyo – Mitaka – Tokyo, Japan

From many reviews of things to do in Tokyo, experiencing the tuna action and eating the fresh sushi in Tsukiji market is often one of the tops in the list.

I reluctantly woke up at 4:30am and was on my way at 5am to catch a ride to Tsukiji. Tsukiji market is huge! I first got lost around the vegetable section before making my way into the seafood section and finally got shooed away by the patrolling guards. I had accidentally wandered into the off-limit area. By the time I found the auction-visit registration point at 6am, the admission was closed. Failed!

Next goal was then to find Sushi Dai. Supposedly the best sushi you could have in Tokyo, if not, the world. I had prepaped myself for the 2-3 hours wait to enter the 12-seated small stall. Once in there, I was serves the set menu of 7 sushi pieces, 1 sushi roll, 1 egg and 1 miso soup. All came down to ¥2,500. Rather pricey for a breakfast but well worth the money. The sushi chefs are a happy and polite bunch. Despite the fact that there are tons of people lining outside, never once did they try to rush the customers. They made sure you enjoyed your time and the meal there.

Despite the awesome morning that I had had, my highlight of the day was actually my afternoon visit to Ghibli Museum. A long time studio Ghibli fan, I was psyched to finally be able to experience the museum. To see all the Ghibli characters and settings in the museum was surreal. The whole museum is designed by Hayao Miyazaki himself and it was as whimsical as all his animations. Visitors are encouraged to interact with a lot of the exhibits, many of which break down the essence of animation in a fun way: storyboarding, line sketching, cell shading, background painting, layering, frame works, etc. Too bad, no photography allowed inside the museum