Singapore & Tokyo 2018

As I walked through the Tsukiji subway station, a worker who was cleaning the hand rails stood up, bowed, and greeted me with ohio gosai mas. You just have to love the service culture in Japan.

The Tsukiji Inner Market - which includes the wholesalers and the world famous tuna auction, recently moved to another location at Toyosu, but the Outer Market remained at Tsukiji. I was curious to see how this has impacted the stall holders in the Outer Market. The answer was obvious as soon as I approached on foot: the Outer Market was a shadow of its former self. Many stalls were not open or were only just opening when I arrived at 7.20am, and the formerly dense crowds were thin. Ordinarily, this would have been a perfect time to visit one of the famous sushi restaurants like Sushi Dai or Daiwa Sushi, but they had moved to Toyosu.

Anyway, I walked around, assessed which stalls were open, and then selected one of the Sushi Zanmai branches which I had never eaten at in the past because there was always a long queue to enter. This branch was full of Japanese people, so I felt good about my choice. I opted for a reasonably priced 1,500 yen chirashi bowl, which came piled high with different types of seafood. It was pretty good but not the best I’ve had.

After this, I wandered around for a bit, ate a blowtorched Hokkaido awaebi (abalone) and a boiled snow crab leg from two street vendors. The crab leg was very tasty but priced steeply at 1,500 yen.

I also visited the Namiyoke Inari Shrine at Tsukiji and saw evidence of a temple celebration as there were what I assumed to be offerings scattered all over the shrine as well as a vendor selling the offerings. While there, I witnessed a small group of devotees purchasing offerings and chanting as they proffered their gifts.

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