Tokyo Day 2: Fresh Fish, Japanese Fashion, Baby Boo and the Secrets of Japanese Women

Konbanwa! watashitachi wa tsukaremashita yo :P  はい、とても疲れましたよ！！

today was a very long, but good day. christine and i woke up at 6am to get ready and go to Tsukiji Fish Market,  the largest wholesale fish market in the world.  Although we really didn't leave until like an hour later, because we're slow like that XD  the day started off with us getting onto the wrong subway line on the wrong platform because japanese subways are confusing =/ but we made it somehow.

the fish market was...very fishy lol and extremely busy. trucks and carts were moving in and out of the market, pulling boxes of fresh seafood and fruit :) definitely glad we wore tennis shoes, both to dodge between traffic and avoid stepping in fishy water puddles.  It was kind of crazy to see all the seafood--fish, crabs, shrimp, clams, sea urchins, puffer fish and eels-- still writhing around in their bins.  (Honestly, only the eels were writhing.  The others sort of had a glazed-over, dead seafood look.  Well, because they were pretty dead and ready for sushi-making ;; )  

we missed the tuna auction because we couldn't wake up early enough lol but still managed to see a man lug around a box full of giant fish heads :P  It was super exciting, really.  To make it more commemorative, we got splashed by a flopping green fish, and as I watched, the man holding it unceremoniously tossed it onto the cutting board, raised his sharpened cleaver, and-- (then I turned away in horror).  You should have seen those fish chunks though!  They were like... beef!  Also a note, apparently they use liquid nitrogen or some equivalent to keep things cool, because some of the ice was smoking.

Mm, raw eel, fresh from the bucket.  Still squirming, even.  It kind of reminded me of grass jelly... which sort of makes me rethink drinking grass jelly XD

There was also a vegetable and fruit market in Tsukijishou, where we found miniature pineapples that are only useful for decorations.  We also saw a little stand with cute sweets, run by a nice old lady who even took a picture for us ^w^

after exploring, we found a small sushi shop in the market---wahhh the sushi is really fresh :) and i'm happy that christine was adventurous and tried raw fish lol  Yeah... and ginger.  I feel like I've given up part of my soul.  XP  I ate one piece of magoro (tuna) and one tamago (egg) nigiri sushi, and Tiffy had a roll of magoro sushi and a tako (octopus) nigiri sushi.  I wanted to take a picture of us inside, but the chef man looked not terribly happy about it XD;;... Because we were so confused in ordering and such, he started trying different languages on us -- well, a combination of Japanese, Chinese, and English, which greatly amused me, but Tiffy didn't understand the Mandarin, haha.  I was impressed with his knowledge though.   

This is the shop we visited, in case any of you want to go there when you're in Tokyo:

 

Other shops in the fish market that offer food.

we made our way to harajuku next--home of japan's avant garde lolita and gothic fashion.  we spent a total of  4 hours making our way through takeshita st, taking pictures of all the cool shops and gawking over the cute clothes :D only in japan can a grown woman wear a petticoated dress with a bonnet or dress in dark gothic clothes without being stared at and harajuku is where they buy and showcase all of it! kawaii :D although i do have a slight prejudice against frills, i can't help but want to wear some of those things around just for fun.  for sure, christine, you would look very cute in those clothes :) sweet lolita! haha  if only they weren't so expensive...the good thing about cosplaying? now i think i can sew anything :P

Tiffy was totally in love with this adorable Alice in Wonderland-style lolita dress:

There was also an awesome store/brand called Body Line that had almost all of their items on sale.  They had some gorgeous clothes for very cheap.  Tiffy fell in love with this one black and white wa-lolita outfit that would look really cute on her, and I really liked this pretty black lolita dress with a collar, ruffled neck, and lace waist corset over it.  We also saw some of these really cool outfits in a store called Richards (we don't remember the brand T____T) with a distinct flair for long and pointed pieces to their clothing -- pointed collars, pointed front flaps.  Any idea what brand this could be?
update: we revisited the shop...it's antebellum gothique :D i'm definitely going to make that outfit

By the way, at this one store there was this scary crazy lingerie lady.  In Japan, the shop employees will welcome you when you enter the store by saying "Irasshaimase~"  So we walk in, and then the lady says that, which is fine.  But then she starts saying some kind of advertisement or special or something, I have no idea... but the same phrase over and over.  Every 10 seconds.  Keep in mind that this is a very small store, about the size of a bedroom, and she wasn't even looking at us.  Nor was she looking at anyone else, because we were the only ones in the store.  It was really weird~~

tokyo tower was next.  it's very much like (in physical appearance) the eiffel tower in france, except that it's bright orange lol we planned on watching the sunset over tokyo...instead we watched as the sky got darker behind some gray clouds that were hiding the sun lol kind of a fail XD

however, we did get to a see a free concert in the tower by a japanese boy group (man band? lol) called Baby Boo lol awesome acapella singing and no cute guys--false alarm there christine.  it's definitely the fluffy hair that throws us off =/  Yeah I was so sad to discover how uncute he was, because he was so promising with a nice voice and a his fluffy hair and that quiet, reserved, serious kind of feel.  I totally thought he was going to be a pretty boy in those dark shadows and can't-really-see-him angle... disappointment.

BUT, the group, despite their weird name, are really good singers.  Check them out here.

One other funny thing -- Tiffy totally had an almost anime scene moment as we left the station for Tokyo Tower XD  The exit was up a flight of rather drafty stairs, which made her skirt billow out.  Just as we reach the top of the stairs, a group of school boys come walking but to go down the other side.  If she had been any bit unlucky, her skirt would have flown up just as they came by... but it didn't.  Rest assured, Tiffy was perfectly safe and covered the whole time XP thank goodnessssss lol

As we took the subway home, we made some interesting discoveries, as well as recounted some realizations we had throughout the day:

• Japanese women have the curious and amazing ability to wear a billion layers of fashionable clothing while maintaining a flawless, pale complexion -- and don't look either hot or sweaty.  Ever.  It's like they don't have sweat glands. i'm further convinced that they really don't. they're just flawless.
• Japanese women also have the curious and amazing ability to wear high heels.  All day.  Is this an Asian thing?  I mean, our feet were hurting halfway through the day, and we were wearing sneakers.
• Japanese working clothes are boring-looking.  I don't mean this in a bad way -- just that, well, most of the men are wearing suits (so actually, don't they get hot too??).  But unlike at home, they have this strict-seeming dress code of black pants and a white shirt.  Every shirt was white.  Every shirt.  Oh, there was the occasional excitement of white with STRIPES, but... no blues, pinks, yellows... whatever other weird color of dress shirt there is... red...  Even the Japanese women wore just khaki or black pencil skirts and white shirts.  Very interesting.
• Japanese people have this amazing ability to sleep on the subway while standing.  They don't even fall over.
• Japanese cell phones are all pretty uniform -- large, rectangular, boxy phones, usually flip.  And while we're on the topic of cell phones, on the subway, everyone is either playing with their phone, listening to music, reading, or sleeping.  There isn't a single laptop out, and I only saw one handheld console (white PSP, actually).  They read a lot.  They must be very literate.  And, there are hardly (by hardly, I mean we haven't seen even one) any children, other than the school kids.

well it's the end of the day. the boy count is still at zero and we made it back to the hostel in one piece, sustaining on the large amount of pastries and one roll of sushi that we ate at tsukiji.  we ended up getting bento boxes at a 24 hour fast food place, which were really good. but definitely tomorrow, we'll eat the correct amount of meals.

tomorrow's plans? akihibara, ueno park and Tokyo U :D  Otakus, be ready for us!  Just kidding.  But we probably will see some, as well as hopefully visit a maid cafe and a photobooth, and get some awesome anime stuff.  Please look forward to pictures!