Hunting the Elusive

Today’s report covers Tsukiji Markets, Ginza, Roppongi Hills, and Naka-Meguro. One of the longest and most eventful days of the journey, even as our time in Japan drew to a close, it was again unbelievable how many places we managed to fit into the day (and the number of photographs taken in the course of the day). Shooting fast in the harried atmosphere of the Fish Market, shooting wide in the midst of the tall buildings of Ginza, and shooting steady into the glittering lights of Tokyo, my camera once again took the punishment I threw at it.

Our morning began at a JR train station within walking distance of the Tsukiji Markets. Because tourists had so hassled the operators of the famous fish market, outsiders were no longer permitted into the auction sites. Gone, therefore, was the need to wake up at 5am to catch the action.

Tsukiji happens to be near Ginza, making logical sense to be looking at haute couture after the fish.

The outer parts of the market are pretty quiet, although already you can see those little forklift trucks whizzing around.

Everything appears to be all packed up, neatly. One has to walk deeper into the markets to contact any semblance of the real life of the place.

The scene gradually becomes more cluttered as we make our way in, with established stalls selling everything to do with seafood, from derivatives to instruments of dissection.

Through that section, one comes to a fairly busy road with truck and forklift traffic whizzing past. We leave the established shops behind and come to the core of the fish market, the wet market.

Someone preparing their freshly-acquired fish. Actually, on closer look, it appears the fish has some kind of slime or muck on it, that the chef is scraping off.

Inside the wet market, things move at a fast pace, and one has to be on constant lookout for the vehicles which zip along the narrow walkways.

We get an immediate reminder that while the scenes here are not as visceral as a slaughter house, a fish market is still a place where tens of thousands of creatures meet their doom everyday. This is not for the vegetarian or the faint of heart.

In terms of size, activity and the sheer range of produce available, the Tsukiji Fish Market (understandably) eclipses the one at Sydney.

Big chunks of fish (probably tuna) are frozen, and here operated upon with industrial-grade machine saws.

If you have read up on Tsukiji before, you will know that tourists and their gawking ways are not exactly welcome here. The key is to be quick on your feet and on the camera. I used a continuous drive mode, and stopped for short times, firing off three shots at any particular target (most of the time, at least one turns out well), then moved on. Live View allowed me to adjust exposure on the go. I also dispensed with the polariser, as a fast shutter speed is highly recommended inside the wet market.

At Tsukiji Market, you can also see fish vendors doing what they do best in preparing fish for sale. Here, one uses his long blades to divvy up a chunk of tuna.

Slices of fish in the refrigerator, possibly for smoking.

Various things can be found live in the market, including, quite strangely, these cuttlefish.

And more fish-cutting action.

It is only when you go to somewhere like a fish market that you are able to comprehend the work and the raw effort and mess needed to bring those immaculately-sliced sashimi pieces to your kaiseki table.

A last shot of the road ringing the wet market.

Going back to the outer sector of the fish market, you can find various restaurants selling the fruits of the sea. A number of them are ridiculously crowded with long queues outside. These either have a following, or are famous, cheap, or very good (or all of the above). We just piled into a restaurant whose menu looked reasonable to us.

The chef was very friendly, and in no time, our dishes were ready. Eager to try a wide variety of seafood offerings, I ordered the chiraishi bowl.

But one cannot be content coming to Japan, and not having the ultimate in sashimi: ootoro. Just one piece!

Seeing as we were gaijins (and one or two refusing to touch seafood), the chef kindly gave us some free “fish foie gras”. I believe the term is ankimo (monkfish liver). As someone who has never eating foie gras, I actually think this was pretty darn tasty.

Along the periphery of the market, one can find more market stalls. These sell more varied items, such as preserved beans, wasabi roots, and prepared salted fish.

We walk the streets, seeking Ginza.

Another of the second-hand camera shops, which is always an impressive sight.

We reach Ginza just as noon strikes.

Another iconic Apple shop with its rotating signage.

All the big names are here. Unfortunately, I did not do much research on the ”must see” places in Ginza. I am sure we missed quite a bit by sticking to the main road. For example, I could not find the Prada shop.

I was quite impressed by the Tiffany & Co frontage, with its “semi-opened windows”.

Various signage here as well.

I always liked the greenhouse look (there is a garden up on the top floor of the glass building).

Chanel with their revolver heel, DeBeers.

Interestingly, they still use gas lamps in some streets. Also, LOL Moon Phase.

Mikimoto (a big Japanese pearl company) set up a pretty nice Christmas tree. All I wanted was the ornaments.

If you can’t read the sign, it says “Love-inviting-cat in Ginza”. Bloody furries.

HERMES-SAN!

Unfortunately, we got stuck for an extended period of time in the Sony Building because of the number of products to play with. However, it no longer houses the gaming level (previously, visitors could play a Gundam console game in the building).

At this point, I split off with the group because there was more shopping at Akihabara which needed to be done (additional hand carry bags, etc.) I did not take anymore photos of Akihabara, so these are the last photos of Ginza, before skipping Akihabara…

Bam, and suddenly it’s night, and I am looking up at a building. It’s Roppongi Hills area, and the building is Mori Tower.

We visited Roppongi Hills Mori Tower on my first trip to Japan. It has consistently remained one of my favourite places. The atmosphere, and the views are so uplifting, it is worth the rather high entry fee to go in. I highly recommend entry into the tower.

While the outside was decorated for Christmas, the viewing deck level of the Mori Tower also had a Christmas tree. The last time I came here, they had a tower built from Louis Vuitton luggage bags. This time, it’s a tree of lilies.

Some of the stuff you can do in the viewing deck level: look at the exhibits. While I was there, there was a Love experimentation, which involved getting couples to write their thoughts on guestbooks. There was also a Christmas tree of gold.

At the cafe, you can get drinks, but also, if you choose a table with a terminal on it (like a laptop), free internet use. Which I made use of because I needed to find how to get to the next destination. I got the special Xmas drink, which was quite peculiar.

It is also here that I got another two NanoNano telephone hangers. It has become a tradition of mine – whenever I go to Japan, I get a NanoNano. (warning, high res below: will open in a new window)

Protip: if you have limited time, do not spend too long at the observation deck taking pictures. The view is extremely nice, but the glass will hamper your efforts. Of course, you should balance out that tip with the fact that you can use a tripod on the deck, so if you can sufficiently block out the glass reflection, you will get good shots.

All of these are taken from inside the observation deck. Glass reflection is obvious in some, but the beauty of the scene is quite astounding.

Now, someone commented before when I posted up pictures of the scene from the Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, saying that the free observation deck was in their opinion the best in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, I disagree with them. Even on the basis of just the clarity of the Tokyo Tower (which is partially visible, at a long distance, from the Shinjuku deck), the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower is superior. I hear there is another good viewing point from Ikebukuro. However, we did not manage to fit that in, so I cannot say for certain.

BTW, I particularly like the rainbow-lighted bridge, which I have cropped out from a bigger picture (yay high res).

OK, so I went against the protip and took lots of photos inside the observation deck anyway. You can actually go to the top of the building (roof, outside) called the SkyDeck, and take photos from there. In Sydney, you can go out on top of the Centrepoint tower, but you cannot bring your camera. Here, you can. But no tripods. Even my GorillaPod had to be stowed in a locker (which is free: you put in 100 yen to use, but when you take out your stuff, your coin is returned to you).

My first shot turned out disastrous, but I actually quite like the look (because the shake was only in one direction). So it’s here for wallpaper purposes. I swear this is not Photoshopped (looks like something which can be done with a filter).

I was shooting ISO 800 and 400 at first, then I found there were certain places you could just place the camera against for high stability. So I shot ISO 100 for some.

At some point during our sojourn up on the SkyDeck, some starlet girls dressed in Santa costumes came up with the camera crew and some effervescent host of some show and exclaimed over the beauty of the view. I was caught in one of the cameras walking behind lol. However, I didn’t know who they were, so I haven’t done any research.

In any case, the rather expensive ticket can grant access to the art museum as well, if you so wish. We were actually running out of time, so after spending some time in the museum shop (some of the stuff we got there will be scanned later), we left for the next destination.

Dinner was planned ahead for some time already. However, when we got to Naka-Meguro, we stupidly got lost for half an hour. Despite that, we managed to find the restaurant before last orders, and it was still pretty lively.

This mysterious place with its submarine-like decor is Seirinkan (聖林館). This is actually a fairly famous place, said to be the second-best place for pizza in Tokyo. It is located near the Naka-Meguro subway station. I first heard about it in the PingMag article on Kogoro Kurata, and was determined to try out a restaurant with such unique aesthetics.

There is supposedly some story behind this restaurant, which has the chef going to Naples for a year and eating pizza every day, before coming back to Tokyo to open his own pizza restaurant.

They serve only two types of pizza (supposedly fired at high temperatures for a very short time). They have the standard Margarita, and the garlic-and-herbs Marinara. They also have other meal options, but I really came here for the pizza.

The Margarita is recommended for almost everyone. It is outstandingly done, and I don’t think I understate the point when I say Seirinkan’s pizzas are the best I have tasted thus far in my life (even exceeding those found in the Sydney Italian quarters of Leichardt).

The Marinara is for those who are not afraid of adventure. I myself have a loathing for garlic (vampire and all), but with the Marinara, although the garlic flavour is strong, the complexity of the herbs meshed together makes this a masterpiece.

A highly-recommended destination. Naka-Meguro, like Roppongi Hills, is a highly artistic area (though slightly more earthy in tone).

The famous spiral staircase which corkscrews through four floors (if you count the basement, which normal guests cannot enter). Also, a weird table decoration found outside the restaurant.

More photos of Seirinkan will be in the next report post, because we return there for more.

Next report: Studio Ghibli Museum

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