The Georges in Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market and Chinese Hot Pot

Hmm...Did I forget about the rest of our trip? No, no I didn't. May just took our family and held it for ransom. I didn't seem to have the time to pay the ransom until now. Hello, June! So nice to see you, I love that you have brought along your friend, Summer. Ahhh, time to breathe.

Sorry for the side-note, but let's go back to the other side of the world for a bit. On Friday of our visit, we decided to check out the Tsukiji Fish Market. Elliott was feeling better, but Christina offered to let the little ones stay and play, because it was suggested that small children do not go. It was a dreary, drizzly day, so we grabbed our rain gear and headed out on our 15 minute walk to the subway.

Once we got to the subway station, we had a bit of trouble knowing where to go. We went in the general direction of the Fish Market and stumbled upon a bunch of side streets selling all kinds of wares. (Most of them had seafood of some sort.) I think we missed the enclosed part of the Fish Market, because what we encountered was all outside and rather interesting. We did some souvenir shopping and decided we were hungry.

Buying and selling seafood

We think there's fish under there...

Picture menu and small little shops and restaurants

Larry, Adam and I are sushi eaters. Spencer is the "American sushi eater" and Jack and Deb preferred not to indulge. So we split up for lunch. There were a bunch of these tiny, narrow eateries that displayed their menus (most had pictures) outside their doors. Adam, Spencer and I went in one that had some good looking sushi and Larry took Deb and Jack to a noodle place. We took Spencer because he really does like some types of sushi, but he was really not thrilled about the type that was on the menu that day. Adam and I, however, were in heaven! We ordered the chef's special (with a little help from a Japanese American who happened to be sitting next to us). Seriously, the chef was cutting and chopping and plopping down amazing sushi piece by piece. Spencer was sulking. It looked as though this sushi still might move.

Outside the SMALL sushi restaurant

After a bit of a communication error we tried exiting through the front where we came in and found a huge line forming to get in! We were lead out the back way and then went and joined the others. Luckily, Jack couldn't eat all of his noodles, so Spencer gladly helped him out. And in a feat of miracles, Larry got Deb to try some of his sashimi and cuttlefish. Apparently, she liked it! We did a bit more browsing around, found some really interesting things and headed back to join Christina and the littles.

LOTS of stuff to see!

I think this is a real stuffed panda.
I was a bit sad.

Spencer at the Tsukiji Fish Market

That evening, we had another double date planned. Reservations at a restaurant named Little Lamb, a Chinese Hot Pot. For those of you who don't know (I didn't) what a hot pot restaurant is, I guess you could say it's a "family style" place where you order all together and cook right at your table. You order different broths and meats and they bring a big pot, pour in the broths (we picked a couple of spicy ones and a mild one)  We added the veggies and meats ourselves and it was delicious! Yum! We also opted for the all you could eat and drink. Yep, true Americans, here!

Hailing a taxi!

Cooking at the Chinese Hot Pot!

After a wonderful dinner, we found a little pub where we had an after-dinner drink and then decided to call it a night. So much fun was had by all!