
友達と一緒に東京でよく遊んだ日でした。
A friend of mine, who I’ve met online years ago, and her boyfriend invited my girlfriend and I on Saturday, March 20th, to spend a day with them in Tokyo, eating at the famous fish market in Tsukiji and enjoying ourselves at a popular arcade in the coastal Odaiba.
I missed my chance to go to the well-known fish market in Tokyo during my two-week trip to Japan in 2006. The night before I was supposed to wake up at 5AM to accompany my travel partner to the market, I ended up hanging out with other guests of the ryokan and some members of its staff at a nearby karaoke until 3. Obviously, I was too tired to follow my friend the next morning.
This time was our chance, finally, and we even woke up at 4:30 to be sure we won’t miss anything. Luckily, it seems to be customary in Japan to nap on the train, so catching up on some sleep during our 90-minute trip to Tsukiji was not a problem. What was our problem, however, was our empty stomachs, with only a kiwi in each of their bottoms which we quickly ate before heading out, running to catch the early train.
I suppose I’ll never know what I missed four years ago. Most of the market has been closed to the public since last year. When we arrived there with my friends, after they joined us in the Tsukiji subway station at around 7:30 in the morning, we were greeted by large trucks and forklifts, so I can understand their decision to exclude their hungry customers from danger. Extra caution is a must, but it looks like workers there mentally paved a way around the crowds of tourists.

After the long train ride and the short walk, it was finally time to… wait in line for our breakfast, in front of a sushi bar, in a really small room. We talked for half an hour, while sipping the green tea the lady of the shop gave us after thanking us for our patience.
My friend gave us a beautiful present: large balls of bath salt that look like round decorated eggs which quickly dissolve when touching water. The gift was due for Valentine’s Day, but since we couldn’t meet them until that morning, and given the appearance of those balls, it could have also been for Easter, even if the Japanese and I do not celebrate that religious event.
All four of us entered the small room, sat at the bar, and promptly ordered some nigiri. Frankly, I didn’t really care in which form I would get the fish, as long as I eat something soon. Raw fish for morning… I never thought I’d ever get that kind of breakfast, but when the salmon and the rice touched my tongue after I’ve dipped them in the soy sauce, the delicious fresh taste of the fish made us forget the wait we just went through. You know something is really good when everyone stops talking and just focuses on the food. It was so silent at some point, the sushi chef struck a conversation with me and was pleasantly surprised that I was actually living in Japan and not just another tourist. Interesting. Surely, I’m not the only foreigner who decided to stay in Japan, am I?
Enough of that food. Time to pay our bills and leave our seats for some other hungry customers. They were probably staring at us from outside, salivating over the pieces of raw fish between our chopsticks, with the soy sauce dripping.
Following a stroll around a bright yellow flower field and some beautiful old trees in the Hamarikyu gardens, we got on a water bus heading to Odaiba, where we spent the rest of our day.

Odaiba is a large artificial island, initially built as a defence in the 1850s. It has largely expanded since then and is now a leisure district with a futuristic look. Many young couples and families entertain themselves in restaurants, stores, museums, and attractions on that island.
We went to the famous Sega Joypolis arcade, twice. Once before noon and again after we filled ourselves at an Indian buffet in the same building. It has been years since the last time I’ve stepped into an arcade, so I was really excited to go in there. This visit deserves an article on its own.
We finished our day by eating Italian in the Venus Fort shopping centre. The interior of the building is designed to look like you’re outside in Venice, after all. The food was great, but my only regret is not ordering the pizza of the day. My friend ordered it and he got something that looked like a calzone. And I love calzones…
Once our stomachs were full and our bodies were begging for sleep, our friends went on their way just before my girlfriend and I went back on the Rinkai line. Only one train to get back home is quite convenient, and less expensive than the Yurikamome line, but not as fancy-looking. We were too tired to stay awake for the entire ride back home, anyway, so the aesthetics no longer mattered.
It was midnight when we arrived. We were exhausted, but we had so much fun during that long day that it felt like we left for a three-day weekend and just came back, thanks to our dear friends.