Traveler: Tsukiji

Hello, Tokyo!

Oh yes, I'm back and first order of business? Japanese Food!

What are the perks of having a multiple entry Japanese tourist visa? Well, it's obviously a given fact that you now have an option to go back to Japan as many times as you want. Heck, this trip alone is my 4th in a span of 3 years! Haha. Others claimed that once you have that visa, it's much easier to get another visa from a different country. Hmmm, I think so too!

Maybe some of you are wondering why I'm back in Japan when I was there just last November 2014. This trip wasn't even planned in the first place. It was one of those biglaan moments na.. "Uyyy, may seat sale! Tara, book tayo!" Timing was perfect because travel period for that sale was for March 2015. And kapag sinabi na March, almost spring na. No more snow and best part of it all, cherry blossom season!

Meet my bestfriend Faye and her brother Francis. They went to Japan for a business trip to promote Nathaniel's at Foodex Japan.

For our first pitstop, I invited them to checkout Tsukiji Market which is a wrong move on my part because we arrived past 4:00PM and most shops and restos were already closed that time. Please be reminded that the best time to go to Tsukiji Market is morning 'til noon. ;)

I was too hungry to even have time to take photos of my sushi so I grabbed these from Faye's iphone.

After our super duper late lunch we went to DiverCity Tokyo Plaza to meet up with friends of friends of my friends. Did that make sense? Haha. Anyway, please say hello to my blonde girlfriend Diana Jacinto of Oh Hello Dy. :) She's one of the most artistic person I've ever met (follow her on Instagram!), she loves Pandas, all things Pentel and of course Japan!

Meet my tadhana (LOL) Jay. We celebrated our first night (Wow, first night. Very BF-GF levels. Haha) in Japan with tebasaki (Japanese chicken wings), karaage (Japanese fried chicken) and beers. Kampai!

After almost 18,000 steps, it was time to rest. I survived walking around Tokyo for almost 10 hours in my 4-inch booties! Literal na tiis ganda. Haha. Thanks to Faye and his kuya Francis for accommodating us in their room at Mitsui Garden Hotel Chiba. This is my first time to stay at a hotel in Japan and I'm quite surprised to see that the room was very spacious. ;) Contrary siya to the thought na most properties in Japan medyo tight or masikip due to lack of space.

The next day, it was time to leave Tokyo...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Tsukiji Market

They say you're in the happiest place on earth whenever you visit Disneyland. But in may case, I'm at my happiest when I visited Japan's Tsukiji Market.

Tsukiji Market is best known as one of the world's largest fish markets, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products per day. It is scheduled to move to a new site in Toyosu in November 2016.

Believe it or not this is my first time to visit the market to think this is my 3rd time in Japan. I did not plan on seeing the tuna auction 'coz we're too lazy to be up before 5AM so we went around past 11AM to have brunch at the outer market that consists of small retail shops and restaurants.

I was expecting the market to look, feel and smell fishy but it was the exact opposite of what we saw that day. Everything's in order, very clean and neat talaga ng mga Japanese. :)