Fourth Full Day in Japan

This will be our last full day in Tokyo. This evening we take the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto.

This morning we did a group tour of the Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple and the Tsukiji Fish Market.

This is Jim our tour guide. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara forty years ago and immediately moved to Japan. He got a job as a sportswriter for an English language newspaper in Japan covering, among other things, Japanese Major League Baseball.

This is our group. We had people for LA and London and The Three Musketeers on the right hand side of the group picture.

Our first stop was the Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple.

Visitors are required to purify themselves before entering the temple by rinsing their hands and mouth with water.

Dana and Sara at the purification station.

Hydrangeas in full bloom outside the temple.

After we finished our temple tour we walked over to the Tsukiji Fish Market. At one time this was the market where vendors, working in tiny stalls, sold fresh fish to restaurants and households in Tokyo. About twenty years ago a new fish market was built and the old fish market was turned into a bustling food market. We did a food tour of this market, stopping at various stalls to sample their wares.

First stop was a stall that served skewers of Wagyu beef and octopus. The octopus was good and the Wagyu beef was great.

The next stop was grilled scallops. The seafood here is so fresh and the grilled scallops were delicious.

The next stop was sushi. From left to right, shrimp, regular tuna and fatty tuna and salmon. I love sushi.

Finally, dessert. This is a white strawberry mochi.

After the food tour we stopped at a tea parlor and had matcha. Matcha is like a green tea and there is a type of ceremony that you need to go through to properly prepare matcha.