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In
Kanazawa the famous fish market was closed
because of a national holiday.
Today
we gave it a try in Tokyo.
It
was well worth the trip. On this picture
you can see a half of tuna in the
background and the freshly cut out pieces
from the other half, nicely presented for
sale.
Tuna
is an essential part of Japanese cuisine
and is served in many different
variations.
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The
salespeople advertised the quality of
their fish shouting and giving samples to
try.
The
assortment was truly huge.
But
the market was much more organized and
clean as we expected from a fish
market.
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Some
stands specialized in crabs, shrimp and
other crustacean.
The
prices for some of them surprised us:
15.000 Yen (appr 150 US-$) per piece (see
top right on the picture).
Imagine
how much you would have to pay in a
restaurant...
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These
pieces are not made from wood or rhino
horns but from fish.
The
dried pieces of Bonito tuna are thinly
sliced (Katsuobushi) and used as a topping
for rice, tofu or other dishes.
It
is very tasty and can be stored for a long
time.These pieces are not made from wood
or rhino horns but from fish.
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Back
in downtown (Shibuya), this building
caught our attention.
Build
on a corner between a street and the
rail-tracks it appeared to be a small
round tower from this point of
view.
But
it actually reached the next block in
depth.
Very
often buildings are only as wide as a
standard container and as high as 6
stacked on top of each other. The
staircases are attached to the outside of
the building and there is one entrance
door for each floor and
apartment.
These
tiny homes are the product of enormous
real-estate prices and high rents in Tokyo
(just as other metropolitan
cities).
We
did not manage to get a good picture of
one of these buildings as we usually saw
them riding in the crowded trains trough
downtown.
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What?
- a German hotel in Tokyo?
But
the sign did appear to be a bit
strange.
'The
room for your love'???
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This
price information solved the riddle: This
hotel differentiates between 'rest' (2
hours) and 'stay' (overnight)
These
so called 'love hotels' supply shelter for
the intimate moments for many Japanese as
they have thicker and heavier insulated
walls than many Japanese homes with paper
thin walls and doors.
For
staying overnight in downtown the price
appears to be rather inexpensive, we
however, rather enjoyed our stay in
traditional Japanese hotels.
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On
our way to the Nagashima family, we
experienced the crowdedness of Tokyo's
trains during rush hour.
At
these times we saw the famous 'pushers'
who ensure the efficiency of the trains by
pushing as many passengers as
possible.
One
big advantage, you can't fall!
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We
were spoiled with great food:
We
were served 'Sukiyaki' - thin slices of
fine Japanese beef with fish broth, Soya
sauce, sugar and lots of
vegetables.
The
dinner was very delicious and we were
absolutely full. When planning our trip we
wondered if a European will get enough to
eat and weather there is any other food
but sushi.
We
are now convinced to have answered those
questions with a definite
`Yes`.
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We
were honored with a barbecue party which
Shigeko and Takahiro hosted in their
garden as our farewell party.
They
invited family, friends and some employees
from their firm.
The
Japanese barbecue does not differ too much
from western style BBQ except for the
amount of seafood and fresh vegetables
involved. This shows that they stick to
their healthy diet on every possible
occasion.
We
managed to communicate with hand and feet
and international gestures, but sometimes
we had to nod even when we did not
understood exactly.
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The
grand finale was celebrated with this
group picture.
We
were invited to carry the Mikoshi next
year again and the children had
handcrafted some 'origami' (Japanese
paper-folding art) flowers for
us.
Saying
'good bye' was very difficult for us. We
loved our time in Japan and all the
friendly and wonderful people we
met.
But
we are certain of meeting again, as it is
currently quite cheap for Japanese to
travel to Europe due to the weak
Euro.
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Our
daily special:
`The
Puzzler` (Are you a Japan
expert?)
New
impressions and curiosities as a daily Q
& A.
10)
What is the object on the photo
?
(Answer:
just click on the photo)
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