The journey home

Well, I'm leaving Tokyo this afternoon for an overnight stay in Hong Kong. Of course, I couldn't leave without having a sushi breakfast so I went down to Tsukiji in search of Sushi Say. I was only armed with a business card in Kanji and the knowledge that the last character in the name is the Chinese character for "fresh" or "clear". It wasn't hard to find, although I didn't realize they had two locations on the same street. One was marked with the Chinese character for "new" and was the newer branch, Sinkan, while the original one was the Honten, where I ate.

I splurged on their most expensive omakase set, a selection of sashimi and sushi. At 08:30, there were only a few other businessmen and myself, a much more relaxing atmosphere than the rush of Saturday morning. My sushi chef set to slice and arrange my items on a plate. Highlights from the sashimi included the scallop (so sweet), tuna (meltingly tender) and mackerel (delicious with the grated ginger and scallion). Once I cleared that plate, the chef started making my sushi. They're very generous with the ikura (salmon egg) and uni (sea urchin) pieces. The anago (sea eel) was tasty, but not as good as at Sushi-bun.

To get to the airport, I ended up riding the JR Narita Express again as I was running late. I didn't realize about the slower train on the JR Sobu line, and the Keisei Limited Express, which leaves from Ueno.

You could spend weeks in Tokyo exploring the neighbourhoods and restaurants, it's just so big. A few random things that were on my list I didn't get to see/do, for next time (whenever that is):

• restaurants: izakaya, yakitori, okonomiyaki, Kitchen Shunju, conveyor belt sushi, ...
  
• neighbourhoods: Shinjuku
  
• sights: Hakone Glass Forest, Ghibli Museum
  
• foods: yuzu, more depachika
  

Plus, of course, all the other cities in Japan, easily accessible by Shinkansen.