April 9th, 2009

So I woke up at 5:45 this morning only a little less than three hours sleep but I was excited and ready to see this fish market.  Abby was also awake and she said that we would be meeting Jessica and Amanda downstairs at 6:15.  Dylan, Courtney and Anna decided they needed a little extra sleep and maybe we would meet up with them later.  Jessica and Amanda also decided they needed a little more sleep and so it was Abby and I for the day.  We made plans to meet with the girls back on the ship in Yokohama later in the afternoon before the baseball game.  While I was waiting for Abby to talk to Jess and Amanda in the lobby I met an Australian man who too was going to the fish market.  He said he didn’t have anyone to go with and asked if I minded if he came along.  Of course I said yes, this is what I love about hostels.  The people you meet along the way are some of the best parts.

 

 It took a few different subways to get us to the fish market and when we arrived we were slightly loss and it was 7:30.  I had heard that the best time to be in the market was before 8 so we wanted to find it soon.  We asked a few people and headed down a street where trucks and little scooters were flying by.  It was really fast passed and you had to be careful to not get hit because they weren’t stopping for anything.  We walked back to where we thought it might be and didn’t find much, the Australian man gave up and said he was going to go find some park he had been told was spectacular.  So we separated our ways and Abby and I still walked around.  We were in a very interesting area that looked like a market but we knew this wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to be seeing.  We finally asked some Americans we came across and they headed us in the right direction.  When we got there we felt so bad the Australian man had left because when we were lost earlier were only about another minute away from the fish market. 

 

When we found it I was shocked.  There were dead fish and people everywhere.  The market went forever and I am not sure I can even describe what it was like.  The smell wasn’t terrible but there were buyers and sellers everywhere.  I also was excited because the sushi we had last night was hand picked fresh every morning from the very fish market I was standing in.  This is where most of the restaurants come to get there sushi.  I now understood why you should be there before 8 because that is when all the people come to get their sushi for their restaurants that day.  We walked up and down so many aisles seeing huge fish, octopus, squid, live crab, eel, and so many more I wasn’t even sure what some of it was.  While we were walking down one of the aisles a man who was eating octopus stopped me, cut me a piece off the octopus in front of him and handed it to me.  I was nervous but watched him eat it and thought why not.  I bit into it and it was really good! Perhaps not the best breakfast food but it was really good.  It all happened so fast I wasn’t really sure what I had just done.  Don’t worry though I have all of it on video and walking through the market so you can feel like you were there too. 

 

We finally decided we had experienced the fish market in full and wanted to go grab some real breakfast.  We stopped at a stand to buy a shirt from the fish market but the woman only had one in our size to Abby bought that one and we were going to go look for one for me after  breakfast.  We weren’t sure where to go but headed down the street hoping something would come up.  We walked a few blocks and came across a café where we both had a cinnamon role and something to drink.  It was only 9 o’clock and we weren’t planning on leaving Tokyo until around 12.  We still had a few more hours to site see.  Abby and I decided to walk back through the market and try and find a shirt before getting back on the subway to our next destination.  We never did find a shirt and decided to just get on the subway and keep going. 

 

Next we went to the Tokyo Tower, so we could overlook the city.  We again took a few subway lines and on our way up from the subway to the street the people in front of us made a comment “I hear English”.  So we started talking to them and they were also headed to the Tokyo Tower.  We both only knew what stop to get off at but weren’t really sure where to head once we were on the street.  Abby and I didn’t have a map of streets only a map of the subway with the stops we should get off at for our destinations.  As I got to the street I walked a little ways up the street looked around the next corner and saw the tower! The couple we were walking with to the tower were from Hawaii and were here on vacation.  They were really nice and gave us advice on what beach to go to in Hawaii.  We took each other pictures at the bottom of the tower and then wish each other luck in their travels.  Today was becoming really fun for me because I felt as though I was really backpacking taking my stuff everywhere we went and doing as many things as possible during the day.  We walked around the tower and went to buy our ticket to take us to the top.  There were two stops you could take just like in the Eiffel tower a half way point and then one all the way to the top.  We decided if were going to do it we had to go all the way.  We bought our ticket and first went the midway point.  I hadn’t realized how big the city was until I was looking at all of it.  We then made our way to the top which was amazing.  At the top we actually ran into Wyn, Brittany and Whitney (all on my synchronize swimming team for sea Olympics).  It was really pretty to see the cherry blossoms all over the city.  We had been so lucky to be there when they were in bloom as they only stay like that for a week or two at most.  After enjoying the view of the city Abby and I had one more stop before heading to Yokohama. 

 

Next we headed to Harajuku street, which is famous to its shopping and also now due to Gwen Stefani’s songs.  Again when we got off the subway we went sure we were in the right place, and asked a woman. We asked where Harajuku Street was and she replied we were standing on it.  We felt dumb but were glad we found it easily like everything else that day.  We did a little shopping and even saw a couple Harajuku girls who were dressed in some very interesting outfits. 

 

It was around noon and we had done so much already so we headed back to Yokohama hoping to make it back to the ship for lunch.  We made it back with ten minutes left and ate lunch quickly on the ship.  After taking a quick nap and getting ready for the baseball game I met up with the girls at 3:30 for the baseball game.  The game didn’t start until 6 but we were told to meet at 4 to get our tickets.  We then walked to the stadium which was only a 5 minute walk from the ship.  We slowly started to get annoyed because it seemed semester at sea had ripped us off.  I am usually able to justify the cost of the trips but this one seemed wrong.  Our tickets were 22 dollars but we had paid them 52$.  We did have an English speaking tour guide which I never saw and we did get free pens, but this did not seem to add up to the 52$ we had each paid.  Okay enough complaining about money.

 

We had arrived at the stadium so early we didn’t want to head in just yet.  So we wandered around the outside where we saw some of the most beautiful tulips I have ever seen.  We then went to find some snacks and drinks at a 7 eleven to take in with us to the game.  We also tried to find t-shirts supporting the local time but couldn’t find them in time and went inside to enjoy the game.  It started out like any other game with the players warming up and not much happening.  The fans slowly started to file in and this is what I was excited for.  The game started and it was Yokohama Bay Stars the team I was rooting for (but didn’t know better) against another team called the Giants I am not sure where they were from.  The game started with a small performance by some cheerleaders that reminded me somewhat of the Dallas cowboy cheerleaders but Japanese if that’s makes sense.  Then the fans started in! They had chants and cheers for everything.  Its hard to describe but again I have videos to help you understand.  The game was really fun and we all joined in the chants but the Baystars weren’t the best team and I can’t remember the score but I do remember it wasn’t pretty.  At the game I did get to buy a shirt and eat a hot dog and French fries just like at a normal game.  Although they did also sell some type of deep fried fish, or noodles. 

 

I was pretty exhausted from the lack of sleep and left the game with everyone a few innings early and headed back to the ship for my first full nights rest in a long time.  Although it wouldn’t be that long because Abby and I are waking up at 6:30 to try and get on the SAS Mt. Fuji trip.