Archive for October 11th, 2005

Saijo Sake Festival (200510_08-09)

Published
by
eroku
on October 11, 2005
in japan
. 2 Comments

This weekend was the Saijo sake matsuri. In addition, this weekend there was an aikido seminar with Fujita Shihan (8th dan, one of the few surviving uchi deschis of O’sensei) and my aikido sensei coming back from Tokyo for the weekend. So all round busy weekend.

The Sake matsuri is quite amazing. This matsuri is quite famous and has people from all over japan coming to it. There were sakes from all over japan here including okinawa. It’s 1500y to get in and all you can drink. So this means a lot.. A LOT.. of drunk people. As I had an aikido seminar to go to Saturday night and sunday morning, I couldn’t drink TOO much. So L2 and I went on Saturday around 12:30. In order to maximize our enjoyment, we decided to drink only the daiginjyo (大吟醸) grade sake. This is the premium stuff.. the 30 year single malt scotch of japan.

At the matsuri, there were maybe 14 or 15 of these.. maybe about 11 of which were still available when we arrived. We spent about 2 hours drinking our share of sake, enough me to realize that I would have fun training that night. We decided to leave and get some food.. me, chicken on a stick. Absolutely fabulous! :P (Almost all japanese matsuri food is on a stick by the way.)

After that we headed back to the apt so I could rest for 15 minutes before I was picked up for aikido.
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Tokyo Review continued

Published
by
eroku
on October 11, 2005
in japan
. Closed

Tsukiji Fish Market - Tokyo Central Wholesale Market handled 615,409 tons (2,246 tons a day) of marine products, 498 billion yen (1.8 billion yen a day) total in 2003. Some 450 kinds of fish are received; this figure is unparalleled in the world. Marine products sections are set up in three markets: Tsukiji, Ohta and Adachi. Above all Tsukiji Market, handling 89% of the total amount, is one of the biggest markets in the world. Thats alot of fish!

Tsukiji is huge! We were rushing through it and still skipped maybe a 1/3 of the actually facilities. You could easily spend 3 hours walking through the place looking at all they have to offer. Words of advice, do not wear sandals or open toed shoes. In fact, I would recommend boots. They are filleting fish as you walk through, and on more then one occasion you’ll get sprayed by fish juices.

It’s best to go in the morning time, as thats when the main hustle and bustle is going on. We went about 8ish, maybe a little late.. but good enough. Go in the morning and eat breakfast in tsukiji. Nonething like same day fish. There is a little mom and pop sushi shop called Tsukiji Sushi. Good prices and great fish, the owner even speaks a little english. Tell ‘em large marge sent ya.

My favorite:

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20lb hamachi steaks… 60$ mmmmm
Continue reading ‘Tokyo Review continued’

Scroll from the Tokyo Museum

Published
by
eroku
on October 11, 2005
in Uncategorized
. Closed
IMG_3201.JPG

IMG_3201.JPG,
originally uploaded by eroku.

Adam from 3rivers??