Tsukiji and Gordon Ramsey

Tsujiki and other places in Tokyo

On the Saturday that my friends visited, we met my Japanese friend Miho and her friend Kirigaya san at Tsukiji fish market. The place is amazing and like nowhere else I'd ever been. There were 'tare' everywhere - small motorised vehicles that all the staff there got about on. We almost got run over more than once. There were lots of different varieties of fish there. It was fascinating to see how large tuna are - the head alone is about the size of a car tyre! The eyes are the size of a fist. On meeting Kirigaya san, we tried a raw prawn each and a strange piece of seaweed. He then gave us a tour of the market. We saw the main fish stalls, equipment stalls, restaurants, loading bay, as well as trying Japanese sweets and green tea. It was fascinating. Thank you Kirigaya san!

Afterwards we took a variety of seafood to Jason's (a badminton club friend) barbeque. Due to the lack of gardens in Tokyo, this was done in Tokyo style, with the barbeque on the balcony. It was a really nice afternoon and I got to practice my Japanese a lot.

We then went to Asakusa to see the Sumidagawa fireworks. I have never watched a display that lasted so long - tonnes of fireworks constantly for over an hour! We were a little concerned at first as we couldn't see any of the fireworks from the area cordoned off for sitting. However, fortunately after 1/4 hour they moved.

On Sunday we went to eat Sunday lunch at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant in Shidome. It was fantastic. The 6 courses were all delicious, even the squid on my sea trout. We then walked off the large amounts of food at the Meji shrine in Harajuku.

On Monday we finshed off the week by going to Odaiba by boat and visiting the very bizarre shopping centre Venusfort.

Thank you Bridget, Claire and Elizabeth for visiting me! I really enjoyed it.