We successfully made it to the Tsukiji fish market’s tuna auction this morning. We had to be super strategic about it. The hostel rents out bikes for $5 a day and we were able to cut down on travel time to the market. I went to bed at around 1am, woke up at 2am and we were out the door by 2:30. We got to the gate with some difficulty of finding the exact location but arrived at 3:15, just in time to make it for the first shift group. The fish market only allows 120 visitors a day total in a first come first serve basis in 2 groups of 60.

For those who plan on going to the Tsukiji Fish Market to see the tuna auction, the line to wait for it is in the office on the left: Link. I heard that they will be moving the location of the fish market sometime in the next year though.

We were crammed into a waiting room when we arrived at 3:15 and were required to wait until 5:15 when the auction began. The guards then led us through the very busy warehouse area into a building where they stored the frozen tuna. It was pretty cool watching these people work. They apparently knew what they were doing as they poked each of the frozen carcasses, inspected the slice where the tail was, and mushed a small chunk of meat between their fingers.

I can’t help but wonder what the current tuna population is at if this is a daily occurrence. After 15 min of watching, they led us back out of the warehouse building and back out the main gate. One crazy thing is that there was a HUGE pile of discarded styrofoam boxes that were just getting throw away. I have no idea what the pollution implications are since styrofoam doesn’t biodegrade.

Went back to the hostel and took a 2 hour nap. We met two guys from Toronto last night and decided to hang out with them for the rest of the day. We decided to head to Shinjuku to wander around. One of the highlights of the area was checking out the Shinjuku National Guardens. Really cool place to get away from the busy-ness of the city with a rose garden and Japanese garden. (If there’s a Japanese garden in Japan, wouldn’t it just be called a garden?) :p

After 2 hours of wandering the gardens, we grabbed some yakitori at a basement yakitori bar. This is my dream restaurant to open in Minneapolis, I just have to figure out how to make yakitori. It was delicious and just so simple.

Sorry this post is so rushed, people are waiting to grab dinner.