{tsukiji fish market}

Waking up refreshed and ready for the day we headed out early to the Tsukiji fish market. I don’t think I had many expectations of what this fish market would be like, that said, I was pleasantly surprised.

After an initial scare the market might be closed on a Sunday morning we decided to embrace the empty side streets and venture into the market anyhow. We walked by the few stands that were open when we landed in a shop that I only imagine existed in my dreams. As we rounded a corner we saw a few stacks of beautiful dishes that caught our eye. Anything you could imagine from serving dishes, to individual plates and bowls, along with mugs, tea pots, and flower vases. The items displayed on the street caught our eye, but the small shop had even more to offer than I had expected. Stacks upon stacks of traditional, ornately painted blue and white plates and bowls. Earth toned, modern shaped serving dishes. Japanese style tea sets complete with handle-less tea cups and tea pots hanging by their wooden handles. It was somewhat akin to shopping the home goods section of Anthropologie, except this was the real deal for a fraction of the price {!!}.

Having picked out far too many pieces I was happy to have plenty of room in my suitcase for the extra goodies. The local couple who owned the shop were incredibly kind; realizing we would be traveling, they packed our pieces with extreme care, and I’m happy to report everything made it back safely.

Leaving the sweet little dish shop {nearly an hour later}, we expected to be walking back into the same quiet streets of the market. Wrong we were. Turns out in that hour all of the store fronts had opened and the locals seemed to know exactly when that was happening. The streets were bustling with merchants selling everything you could imagine coming from the sea. We spent the next few hours popping in and out of shops, sampling tea, and indulging in delectable seafood; stopping just once to sit down for an early sushi lunch.

Once we were confident we had walked down each street twice we were ready to move onto the next item on our list… harajuku