Last time I had raw fish for breakfast was in Oslo, and the raw herring pickled in vinegar did not go down well. Yesterday's, at Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market, was considerably better. We had mackerel and eel sushi, which were great, but the fatty tuna and the sea egg ones were awesome.
In the actual wholesale market nearby, you could get tubs of sea eggs, though presumably, it would be unwise to pig out on it in front of the telly.
They take their fish seriously, as you'd expect. Here is a buyer carefully studying cross-sections of tuna. A lot of poking, but no microscopes.
Fish, fish, everywhere - as well as soft-shelled crabs...
...octopus...
...and mud eels...
...which we had for lunch.
After two days in Tokyo, I have yet to be accosted by a robot. And my friends Michael and Mariko have even taken me to a park - with trees and stuff! All in all, it's far less Blade Runner than I'd expected it to be, though presumably, that's just because the Replicants running the city want to keep a low profile.
Except in Akihabara, otherwise known as the geek district. Grown from a specialist electronics area, it's turned into a full-blown geek-a-rama, and not really in a good way. One shop summed it all up with its inventory: Electronics equipment out front, semi-ornamental weapons (telescopic batons, ninja stars, semi-ornamental knives) in the middle, and finally, down the back, rubber vaginas. There was a natural synergy between the products.
The area was also famous for the "maid cafes", where all the waitresses are dressed like French maids. That's... um, yeah.
I've always thought that you can't get lost on the subway. I was so very wrong.
The problem isn't that these grids are massive and complex. The problem is that I don't even know which *segment* of the grid this is supposed to represent.
The plan is to travel west in Japan over the next two weeks, then ferry to China, then head west some more. A lot more. Through the length of China, then south, until I go back to India. My natural gravity towards calamity will also draw me towards Nepal during its first election since the prince when nuts and shot the royal family. I hope I'll like the Maoist insurgents as much as I like skinheads.
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