Japan day 4. Sushi

Sushi class

Today, the first activity was learning how to make sushi from the sushi chef. So after breakfast we took the train to the fish market, where the sushi class was supposed to be. The sushi class was inside a chilly building, which was lovely because it was a very hot day, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees. 

SUSHI: 

The chef who was supposed to teach us the art of making sushi only spoke Japanese, so there was a lady who translated into English for us. There was also a young lady who was an assistant, who served drinks and helped us a bit. The chef has worked as a sushi chef for 25 years. Since I'm not that fond of raw fish, I got to sit on the vegetarian table, where there were vegetables and tofu. 

We were allowed to borrow aprons, and there was water we could supply ourselves with. We started by watching the chef make the sushi, then we would repeat what he did. Here the "learning by doing" principle applied. Since most of the cut vegetables and fish were ready, we just needed to roll the rice and put on the vegetables. At the end, we should friedd fish, or tofu if you are a vegetarian. As I like fried fish, I got fish here with terriaki sauce. I, who don't really like sauce, thought that sauce was absolutely fantastic. Also got a good miso soup that the chef had made. Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup with four main elements: Japanese stock (miso), soybeans, vegetables and herbs. But I have to be honest to say that the sushi even if it was only vegetables, was not that good. I think you might have to like sushi itself to think it was good. 

After the sushi class, the group split up again, we looked around at the fish market. Before we went to Shinjuku, which is a district in Tokyo. 

SHINJUKU: 

Here you can see different statues, especially the also popular dog statue Hachiko Statue 

The story of Hachiko

Professor Eizaburo Ueno of Tokyo University adopted Hachiko in Akita prefecture in the early 1920s. The two were inseparable, with Hachiko accompanying his master to Shibuya Station each day when the professor would head off to work at Tokyo's Imperial University. The faithful pup would come back to the station each afternoon at 3pm to greet Ueno upon his return. Unfortunately, the professor died in 1925 while at the university and never returned for a final goodbye with his pet. However, the loyal Hachiko continued to visit the station daily until his own death nearly 10 years later. His own death made headlines, and he was cremated and buried next to his beloved owner. (Hachiko Statue in Shibuya - Shibuya, Tokyo - Japan Travel)

SHOPPING CENTER WITH ROOF TERRACE WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE WORLD-FAMOUS PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

Here we went up several floors of a building close to the most famous pedestrian crossing in Japan. To enter the room where the roof terrace was to look at the famous pedestrian crossing, we had to buy something to drink either with or without alcohol. I bought a regular coke, but it was really sweet, almost like Dr. Pepper. Looked down at the pedestrian crossing called "pedestrian crossing", so when people started to walk, they walked from all directions. At most, 3 million people can cross the street at the same time, as there are many different pedestrian crossings in one place. The building the roof terrace was on was also a huge shopping center with various goods on each floor so we looked around a bit before going out again to meet the group and to the next activity which was the ...

Governor building. 

We were going to look at the view (skyline) of Tokyo, from the Governor Building. The elevator took us up many floors. It was obviously a very popular place because there were many people in the building. But what an incredibly beautiful view! We were lucky enough to be there when it was the transition from day to night, when the light changed. It started with light and we took pictures in the various windows, before it got dark outside and we took new pictures, here I mostly went with Samantha. Made a short trip back to the hotel before the next activity for the day Omoide Yokonea Alley.

OMOIDE YOKONEA ALLEY:

Omoide Yokonea Alley is known as Piss Ally, due to the past lack of toilets in this street. It's a "drinking street", so the name speaks for itself. We started by looking around the street a bit, before splitting into small groups. Me and someone from the group called Helena went to a restaurant that sold Ramen. Ramen is different noodle dishes - the portions were huge, but it was good.

 After we had eaten, we met a few more from the group and agreed to go shopping. We ended up in the "red lite district" (red streets), where we saw a lot of different things. We found a kind of shopping center with several floors. The problem with this store was that if you bought several different things, you had to pay on different floors. This was even though it is the same shop and the things you buy are on the same floor. 

Afterwards we took the train together back to the hotel.

All in all a pleasant and educational day, learned how to make sushi from someone who had worked as a chef for 25 years, we looked at a nice view in Shinjuku, learned a bit about the famous pedestrian zone, looked around the fish market and shopping streets, we got to go shopping, ate food that you would not have tasted otherwise.