Fresh Fish, Kabuki & a Japanese Garden

Poor fishy...but not as unfortunate as the squirming mass of eels I saw being massacred by a man with a sharp knife. Yikes! And one must keep a close watch on where one walks when in the market, as the workers are constantly dumping buckets of some sort of liquid (or something else entirely!) on the floor. Many of my friends were splashed by it. GROSS!
Those are massive tuna being prepared for auction. Seems odd that they're just laying there on the ground! This isn't the best picture but it was difficult as the public viewing area is incredibly small. It was also difficult to maneuver your way through all of the trucks and carts who speed by you en route to their destination. Small children and the fish market=BAD IDEA! Not only because of gruesome eel beheading, but also the crazy speeding truck drivers! And they let tourists go ANYWHERE! Pretty awesome though that I got to see these tuna right after they were caught...probably on their way to some sushi restaurant. Evidently, having a sushi breakfast is a common activity after going to the Tsujiki Fish Market, but after rising at 4am to go (and I didn't go to sleep until 2am!), I was more than ready to return to my hotel for a short nap before starting my day.
This session presented on kabuki theatre in the hotel was interesting, but obviously not as cool as seeing the real thing. The woman in the kimono was doing a traditional dance, which was accompanied by the seated musicians. There are vocals, which we were luckily given a translation to watch along with the dance. The subject matter was surprisingly humorous!
This 400 year-old Japanese Garden sits on the grounds of my hotel and I have a great view of it from my room. I finally took some time following lunch one day to stroll through it. I came across some beautiful Japanese bridges, a wedding party having photos taken, a short-tailed cat-who obligingly sat for a quick photo (not appearing here!) and many carp, which I could actually see from my hotel room on the 24th floor. They're HUGE!

I'm WAY behind on this blog, but it's been difficult with all of our activities to find a solid chunk of time to maintain it. Still loving every minute of being here in Japan! I am so lucky to be a participant in this program! Many more things to tell you about. Stay tuned!