January 20: Tokyo Day 1

Both Luke and I slept in a little bit this morning. We woke up about 7 instead of at 6. We didn’t really have plans until about 10, which is when Otousan’s cousin, Kanako, came and picked us up to take us to Tsukiji Market. We tried to feed Luke some pureed corn, but he had one small bite and then started decided he didn’t want anymore.

He's Skeptical

After getting Luke dressed Christal, Luke and I took a short stroll to the convenience store around the corner to pick up some drinks and breakfast. Christal picked a kiwi jello cup and I got a karaage bento and beef croquette. I wish the convenience stores in American had food as good as the stores in Japan…

Convenience Store Food - Japanese Style

When Auntie Kanako arrived at the hotel we all hopped in a taxi and headed to Tsukiji Market. Once we got there we headed straight for Sushi Zanmai. Luckily the line was really short and I barely had time to get pictures of the outside of the restaurant before we went inside.

Christal & Auntie Kanako

We were seated near the entrance at the bar and got to watch as the various chefs would make the sushi or retrieve the fresh fish out of the tanks and prepare it. Auntie Kanako would keep asking if I wanted to try something and I would just nod my head yes and then find out what it was later from Christal and Otousan. I started out with a sampling of maguro that included negitoro (fatty tuna & green onion), aburitoro (broiled fatty tuna with chives), akami maguro (lean tuna), chutoro (medium fatty tuna) and otoro (fatty tuna). Each piece was, to put it lightly, AMAZING!!! The akami maguro had no minerally or bloody flavor that you sometimes can get and it was the most mild lean tuna I’ve ever had. The negitoro had just enough green onion to add flavor, but still let the toro flavor come through. The aburitoro was a new nigiri to me. The quick broiling of the flesh rendered just a little bit of fat and warmed the fish just a little bit so that you could sense more of the aromas of the tuna. Both the chutoro and otoro were more similar in appearance than what we had in Okinawa. The chutoro was still the best in my opinion, but only by the slimmest of margins. The otoro here was well balanced and the fat of the tuna did not completely coat my mouth. Both were extremely tender and succulent.

Tuna Sampler

The next piece of nigiri that came was kanimiso (crab innards).  It was pretty salty with a slight seafood sweetness and then it finished with a musty mineral flavor that I thought was really good.

Kanimiso next to Aburitoro

Kawahagi (threadsail filefish) was the next fish that I was served. It came as a serving of sashimi with its liver sliced on the side and a ponzu dipping sauce, to which I was instructed to add the grated daikon and carrot mixture and some of the chives. The kawahagi had a very light flavor with a firm, almost crunchy texture, yet it was also very tender. The liver had a slightly fluffy texture and the flavor was very mild as well. It didn’t have any fishy flavor to it and tasted like the sea with a little bit of fatty richness mixed in, it was incredible.

Kawahagi w Liver

I had ikura (salmon roe) nigiri next. It was easily the best ikura I’ve ever had because it was super fresh tasting with no bitterness at all. Usually ikura has at least a slight bitterness at the end, but this one had an intense salty-richness when each egg popped and then finished off tasting a little bit sweet and there was no slimy texture at all, which I have experienced before.

Ikura

The saba (mackerel) was unlike any I had experienced before. It is a pretty fatty, rich fish and usually has an unpleasant fishy flavor that can stay in your mouth for a while due to the fat, but this saba had absolutely no unpleasant fishiness at all. It had a very light texture and almost felt like I was eating a rich piece of hamachi.

Saba

Next came the aji (Japanese horse mackerel). It was served as sashimi with the skeleton of the aji serving as a kind of bowl. The presentation alone was impressive. There was some grated ginger and minced green onion on the side that I was told to mix into the soy sauce to dip the aji into. The flesh had a mild flavor, more similar to a snapper sashimi than any mackerel, and a little bit of a springy texture.

Aji

The ebi (cooked shrimp) was served next with the amaebi (raw sweet shrimp) coming shortly after. To me the ebi was probably the least amazing piece of nigiri I had this meal. It was still really good, but it was fairly similar to other good ebi nigiri I have had. The amaebi, on the other hand was the sweetest I have experienced. It had a soft, smooth texture when you bit into it and the sweetness of the flesh was incredible.

Amaebi & Ebi

The uni (sea urchin roe) and kanpachi (amberjack) came out almost at the same time as well. The uni was beyond belief. I almost wished I had saved it to eat last it was so good. The nigiri was packed with tiny tongues of uni that had a more brownish color than I am used to. When I put it in my mouth and started chewing the roe sacs released their rich, sweet flavor. Usually with uni there is a coppery taste that goes along with the richness and sweetness, but this uni had no minerally flavor at all. It was definitely one of the best bites I had this meal. The kanpachi was really good, but it was kind of overshadowed by the uni for me. The kanpachi I have had previously can tend to be too rich and fatty causing it to linger on my tongue longer than it should, but this kanpachi was really well balanced and had a very clean flavor to it that didn’t overpower my tastebuds.

Kanpachi & Uni

The hotate (scallop) nigiri came shortly after the uni and kanpachi. It was a generous portion that had two large scallops on top of the rice. The texture of the hotate was firm and tender, and the flavor had the sweetness of the sea mixed with the pleasant seafood flavor that scallops usually have.

Hotate next to Kanpachi

Anago (saltwater eel) was the final nigiri of the meal. It was quickly grilled over an open flame before being sliced and then brushed lightly with a sauce. 

Broiling Anago

I haven’t had anago very much before so I didn’t have much experience with it, but this preparation may have ruined me. The flesh was soft and tender and the flavor was meaty and sweet with the char adding a little smokiness and the sauce complimenting the meat perfectly. It was a perfect bite to end on.

Anago

Once we finished lunch we headed out and walked around the market a little bit looking for the Masamoto knife store. Once we found it I bought a few knives as gifts to bring back home and I also selected a slicing knife for myself. The gift knives I bought were made out of stainless steel because the stainless steel does not need as much attention. The knife that I bought for myself was made from carbon steel and is softer, but it requires more attention and care to keep it up. Because the carbon steel is softer I was able to have an inscription put into the blade, so we had Otousan write out 'Kota An Qiang' in characters for them to copy. I have to say it turned out pretty sweet looking in my opinion.

Tsukiji Masamoto

They said it would take a while to finish the inscription so we continued walking around the market some more. Since it was around noon by this time most of the seafood vendors had closed up shop and it was mainly restaurants and food stalls open at this time. I ended up buying some more little gifts for people back home and then Christal bought some warabimochi, which is made out of bracken fern instead of rice, and then coated in kinako, which is a dried soybean powder that is slightly sweet.

Warabimochi

After purchasing the warabimochi we went and grabbed a quick drink at some vending machines and rested for a few minutes since the knife wasn't finished yet. When we finished out drinks we headed back to Masamoto and picked up the knives. Otousan was feeling really tired since he hasn't gotten much sleep lately and wanted to head back to the hotel to take a nap so we grabbed a taxi and went back to the hotel to drop him off.

Auntie Kanako led Christal, Luke and I to the metro station, which was at the end of the block and we headed over to the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is the new tower that opened up in 2012 and is 634m high, the tallest structure in Japan and second tallest in the world. From the metro station we had work our way through a maze of escalators, shops and restaurants to find the ticket window for the Sky Tree.

Tokyo Sky Tree

Once we got our tickets to go up the elevator it was less than a five minute wait to get on the elevator. The ride up was really fast and we kept having to pop our ears all the way to the top. Once the elevator doors opened up the view was breathtaking. You could see all of Tokyo and since it was a fairly clear day you could just make out Mt. Fuji peeking over the top of the distant mountain ranges with a few clouds circling its peak.

View From the Top

We spent a little while just taking in the view all the way around the observation deck and then headed down a couple of floors where they had a cafe and then an area with a glass floor. We ended up getting a souvenir picture taken of the three of us standing over the glass floor before we headed back down to the base of the tower.

My New Shoes are Blue

Once we were back on the ground we browsed around most of the shops and food stalls that were in the mall connected to the Sky Tree. We were able to find a few more gifts to take back to people, so it was productive. When we were finished browsing we headed up to the restaurant court to have dinner at Tsukishima Daruma, which specializes in monjayaki. Monjayaki is similar to okonomiyaki, but it is made to be more moist so you can't really flip it. Each person is given mini-spatulas that you use to scrape a serving off of the hot griddle. This was the first time having monjayaki for me and it definitely won't be the last. We ordered three different kinds and all were totally different, but the bulk of them all was cabbage. The first one we ate was the Sky Tree special. It consisted of octopus, squid, scallops, crab, shrimp, pork, small fishes and noodles.

Sky Tree Special Monjayaki

The second monjayaki we had was the mochi, mentaiko and cheese monjayaki. When I initially heard this combination I was skeptical, at best, that it would be good, but it turned out to be my favorite of the night. The saltiness of the mentaiko went really well with the bland, chewy mochi and the creamy cheese and the all melded together into a delicious mass.

Mochi-Mentaiko-Cheese Monjayaki

Our last monjayaki was curry and pork flavored. The curry in Japan has a better flavor than the golden curry in the US in my opinion. It seems like it has a more concentrated flavor and a little bit more spice to it. The best thing about the monjayaki was that it kept getting better the longer it was on the griddle because the bottom would crisp up and get more caramelized and the top would become less moist and everything would be more homogenized.

Curry & Pork Monjayaki

When we finished with dinner Auntie Kanako took us back to the hotel and somehow the metro was completely empty when we left the Sky Tree station even though it was still during rush hour. It was a bit eerie to be honest. The whole way back to the hotel was against traffic so that was a welcome surprise. As we were walking into our hotel Otousan happened to be walking out the front door to take a stroll so we joined him and walked Auntie Kanako to the metro station that she took home.

Eerily Empty at the End of Rush Hour

While we were walking around I decided to look up where Sukiyabashi Jiro was and it was on the same block that we were at so we went to look for it. We went down one of the random escalators into Ginza Station and walked around for a few minutes looking for Jiro's place and then we finally asked information where it was. They told us to go to the C6 exit and on our way up the stairs we would see a sign for it in the Mizuho building and sure enough we went to the C6 exit and when we saw the sign we went through the glass door and there it was to the right. After I took a few pictures there were a few people gathered down the hall and Jiro's eldest son came out and they all followed him as he left the building. We walked around Ginza a little bit more before heading back to the hotel and going to sleep.

For Future Reference - Ginza Station, Exit C6