Day 7 – My Trip to Japan

  Posted on June 11, 2014  by Leslie Blythe  2 comments

Day 7 – My Trip to Japan

Today was really fantastic.  I was taken to the Tsukiji Market.  It was the most fascinating and frenetic place I have ever been. Thank you Reiko for the wonderful tour!!

Tsukiji Market is a large wholesale market for fish, fruits and vegetables in central Tokyo. It is the most famous of over ten wholesale markets that handle the distribution of fish, meat, produce and flowers in metropolitan Tokyo. Tsukiji Market is one of the world’s largest fish markets, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products per day.   Most of the fish has been out of the ocean for only a few hours.

Kappabashi or Kitchen Town, is a street in Tokyo between Ueno and Asakusa which is almost entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant trade. These shops sell everything from knives and other kitchen utensils, mass-produced crockery, restaurant furniture, ovens and decorations, through to esoteric items such as the plastic display food found outside almost every Japanese restaurants.  My head was on a swivel – too many things to look at.

The street’s name is believed to come from either the kappa (raincoats) of nearby residents which were hung out to dry on the bridge, or from a merchant named Kihachi Kappaya who funded the project to build Shinhorikawa River for water management. However, due to the homophone with the popular mythical creature, Kappa, the shops along the street have officially adopted the kappa as their mascot. Images of kappa appear frequently in the area, from merchandise to displays, even web sites about the district.  Here is a scary example of this creature!

Here is another example of the kappa mascot, which is everywhere in this district.

Fresh edamame….

I bought an edamame phone charm at Ganso Sample, a store that sells plastic food of every type to display in the windows of restaurants.

This shrine is to protect the fishermen from rough seas.  They visit here to pray for a safe trip.

This is the first Yoshinoya ever!

  We bought these edamame shrimp fritters at the Mitsukoshi Department Store to have with drinks back at the hotel.  Here is a recipe….

Shrimp, Edamame, Corn Tempura Fritters

Vegetable oil, as needed
4 oz tiny bay shrimp
4 oz edamame or fava beans
4 oz corn kernels
3½ oz tempura flour
2½ fl oz water

Mix the shrimp, edamame, and corn. Heat the oil. Mix up the tempura flour following the package instructions. Add the shrimp, edamame and corn, and deep fry tablespoons of the batter.

Note – Make sure to pat dry the shrimp and corn with paper towels. If they’re wet, the oil will splatter.

We also went out for a drink at a pub and had these delicious crispy, spicy fried noodles!