Tsukiji market + Ginza

We were up just after 6 to get ready to visit the famous Tsujiki outer market, which had been blowing up my instagram since we planned to visit. If you wanted to know where all of the Americans converge, this was it lol. We arrived early, before a lot of the lines, which was nice. We tried Wagyu cutlets, grilled king crab, tamago skewers, daifuku mochi, tuna nigiri and butter and soy grilled scallops. I think that the Wagyu and crab were the highlights. The kids got a milk and matcha ice cream which was also pretty yummy. I think we had better food outside of the market to be fair, but it was definitely a crazy experience.

After the market we headed back to Ginza and walked around before our next booking. We stopped in the tourist office for snacks and drinks and while we were in the restroom Tige got an alert that there would be a level 3 earthquake with the epicenter in Chou City (where we were) in zero seconds. Didn’t feel it but not the best warning situation! Next stop was a chopsticks making class at chopsticks studio ginza. It was so fun! We planed them, sanded and oiled them and the kids and I had them laser engraved.

After the class we walked around Ginza, which is a fantastic shopping area. We visited Itoya flagship store, which is a 12 story stationary store and then headed for our SUMOLAND experience. We had initially wanted to visit a sumo tournament, but the only run every 2 months and so we found a place where the feed you a hotpot, mochi and then explain and demo sumo matches. Touristy but the invite the audience up to do sumo training, mochi pounding and wrestle the sumo wrestlers, which was great fun. Gid hit every category and H joined in for the mochi pounding. One of the wrestlers was a former grand champion that weighed like 180kg. Crazy!

Back home to pack and organize- we decided to ship our luggage to Kyoto and just backpack for the day and overnight in Hakone. Had to have the kids strip down to T-shirts and pajama pants and then just the clothes to wear the next day. He and I took 5 carryons and a suitcase down to the shipping place. It was a no English situation and a Japanese address that is hopefully close to where we end up! I don’t know how we would survive without Google Translate!

We headed to bed early (mainly out of exhaustion). We absolutely loved Tokyo- exploring all of the neighborhoods we managed to get to briefly, the beautiful Sakura, the food, the people and the seamless city transportation (see photo of crazy metro station). The people are so kind and helpful, and we always felt safe. I think we have all solidly adapted to bidet culture- even in free public bathrooms you can expect a clean bathroom, warm toilet seat and a clean bum! We will definitely be back someday, but are ready for the next stop, Hakone via Shinkansen 🚄.Read more