Adventures in Tokyo: Tsukiji fish market. Tsukishima and the Owl Café フクロウのみせ

Video! I made a video for you. It's kind of long, and nerdy, and includes just hanging out with my friends, but there you go. More information on the things I did below ^.^

Sorry for the quietness of my blog again. I'm a horrible person.

I'm on a little holiday to Tokyo to see my best friend, Larni. I also met up with my friend Viv, and my friends who've flown over from Canada and England, Erika and Lauren. Our Cosplay group is back together and causing not very much trouble because we aren't those kinda people.

Today we went to Tsukiji Fish Market, around Tsukishima a little, and to an Owl Café. I'll talk a little about each of them (in case you want to visit. Or you want to know. I dunno).

Fish Market!
Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest fish market in the world (according to Viv). We walked around and looked at gross squishy seafood, or seafood to be. I guess it's not seafood yet if it's still alive. We got there at about 9am, but all there was to do was look at squishy fish. Viv says if you get there at like 4am then they have an auction. The fish that is at the market is freshly caught that morning, and most of it was gone by the time we got there, so you have to get there early if you want some! Seafood is one of those things that they say tastes better the fresher it is. I'm not sure, because I hate fish, and seafood. Sorry, Japan.

Tsukishima
Whilst my friends ate something expensive and fish related, Larni and I went off to eat McDonalds (because we are poor). If you eat fresh sushi by the market, its the stuff that was caught that morning, but is likely to cost you 3,000yen upwards. If you wander a bit further from the market, it gets a lot cheaper, but I doubt it's the same stuff that was caught that morning, if you want the whole market experience. Mcdonalds cost us about 450yen which is about £2.50 (according to google right now). Poverty lunch for Larni and I. After that we waited at a park for our friends to finish their food. After getting our reservation for the Owl Café (below), we went and sat by the river and did some wig shaping. Yup.

Owl Café
So the owl café in Tsukishima is super popular, and it's recommended that you get there an hour before the café opens because that's when they start to take reservations for that day. (The café will be fully booked before it opens for the day). Today it opened at 2pm, so we got there at 1pm, and managed to reserve a slot for 3pm. It cost us 2000yen to get in, and we got to choose a (very tiny) drink, and pet and hold the cutest owls for an hour. At the end, we also got a little omiyage (souvenir) to take home with us. It was cute. It was a great experience, worth it, and I recommend it. Top tip: If you don't speak any Japanese, you should probably go with someone that does at least speak a little. They do have little pieces of card with English rules/instructions/etc. written on, but it's handy to be able to have a basic grip of the language (but don't worry if you don't). Once you are inside, drinks cost a further 2,000yen per drink (which is why not many people buy a second drink). You can also buy all kinds of owl related souvenirs. The name of the cafe is フクロウのみせ (Fukurou no mise - [lit.]The Owl Shop), and you can view it's blog in Japanese, here.