Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Japan is thick with temples, shrines and cultural attractions with a unique and interesting ancient history. But beyond what you can learn about the past, modern Tokyo offers more than a few memorable experiences. Here are five not to miss:
5. Tsukiji Fish Market
Tsukiji is one of the world's largest fish markets and one of Tokyo's bigger tourist attractions -- only it's not really intended for tourists.
I visited early in the morning, on the first subway train arriving about 5:30 a.m. Some Tokyo guidebooks say that if you get there early and are unobtrusive, you can watch the tuna auction, where buyers gather to bid on hundreds of beautiful giant frozen tuna. This is not really true, at least not anymore.
There are very stern security guards/police who will direct you away from the tuna auction and out of the market. So efficient are they that I managed to get kicked out twice before firing off a single frame with my camera.
Since May, the market has restricted the number of visitors who can watch the auction. There are two time periods when visitors are allowed into the area: from 5 to 5:40 a.m. and from 5:40 to 6:15 a.m. Only 70 people are allowed in during each time slot.
Registration starts at 4:30 a.m., according to the market, so get there early if you want to be one of the lucky few to attend the auction.
Tuna auction or no, the rest of the market is interesting, with every manner of fish, mollusk and possibly mammal that can be pulled from the sea, awaiting buyers (that's wholesale buyers, not tourists).
There are many sushi shops ringing the market, offering some of the freshest sushi available. Stop in for breakfast after checking out the market.
4. Karaoke in Roppongi
Japan is of course the home of karaoke, and the Japanese still do it best. The setting varies between the more familiar (to Americans) bar scene to the karaoke room, a small room with a karaoke machine for three or four people, though you certainly can pack more in.
Although performing for an audience is fun, the karaoke room version has a certain appeal in that you are singing only to people you (at least sort of) know. Supposedly, people are known to get a room alone just for the love of singing.
It's also fun to have some Japanese songs thrown in the mix. They often seem to be more natural for the form, but I (a non-Japanese speaker) was way off a couple times when I tried to guess the subject matter from the sound of the music (like one song that was not a Japanese come-on but about a father lamenting his son lost to war.)
Roppongi carries two connotations to Tokyoites: foreigners and partying. It's also the place in Tokyo where you are most likely to get scammed. Beware anyone touting a "regular, totally normal bar" they want to show you; it probably involves nudity.
3. Sumo
Sumo tournaments take place a few times a year in four cities in Japan. If you find yourself in one of them while a competition is on, go. It's a one-of-a-kind experience.
Sumo is a professional sport, but it's thoroughly infused with Shinto religious elements, and there is more ceremony than actual wrestling in a day of competition. The rules of the game are simple: The winner is the one who forces his opponent out of the ring or forces his opponent to touch the ground with anything other than the bottoms of his feet.
When the competitors enter the ring, they go through several false starts for a period that lasts up to three minutes while they mentally prepare (and try to mentally unbalance their opponent) for the match.
They take sips of water from a ceremonial container, throw salt in the ring (a purification ritual) and get wiped down. Then they face off, only to back down and repeat the cycle. After doing this dance a few times, they have the actual battle, which usually lasts less than a minute.
The two giant men, or rikishi, often slam right into each other and struggle for a moment, and then one tosses the other down or pushes the other backward out of the ring.
But the matches that get the biggest cheers are the ones that last a little longer because of a mental battle between the rikishi, in which they move their hands around each other, testing for leverage. The trick is knowing when to make a move and committing to it, because with opponents of this scale, if you lose your momentum, you'll fall and thus lose the match. The best matches feature multiple attempts at throws and recovery.
Sumo has been around hundreds of years, and there is a lot of literature about different moves and techniques, but from a layman's point of view, it looks to be fundamentally a mental contest about timing and anticipating your opponent's moves.
The Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo has several levels, with seats on the upper levels and floor mats for seating on the lower levels (tickets range from around $30 to $150). They have literature in English, but once you start watching the matches, it's pretty self-explanatory.
2. Bullet trains
I'm quite jealous of Japan's rail system. It's thorough, comfortable and, as you may have heard, fast. The Shinkansen train reaches speeds of almost 200 miles per hour. Japan Rail (in Japan it's referred to by the English acronym "JR") covers most of the main islands of Japan, so you can get just about anywhere you want to go by train.
Couple that with an extensive metro in Tokyo and other cities, and you can get from the plane to many of the country's best attractions without ever getting in a cab.
The Shinkansen compares well to flying, getting you from city to city in about the same time. But there are no lines, and delays are very rare. There's no free beverage service, but there are frequent vendors with carts cruising the aisles, selling delicious treats ranging from snacks to bento box meals. The ride is very pleasant and quiet. And if you miss a train, it's usually not long until the next one.
For foreign visitors (and Japanese living overseas), there is a great deal available in the Japan Rail Pass, which allows for unlimitedtravel for a set period. This allows a great deal of flexibility, because most trains have cars without reserved seats, so you can hop on any time.
A bonus: The view of Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen between Yokohama and Kyoto is spectacular.
1. Cuisine
You can't beat Japan for variety and quality of native cuisine. If you find yourself hungry, keep walking; you won't get very far without stumbling over something delicious or odd (and usually -- but not always -- both).
From vending machines and food stalls to traditional and cutting-edge (and stratospherically expensive) restaurants, there is no shortage of options.
(CNN) -- You can't beat Japan for variety and quality of native cuisine. Here are some of my favorite types of restaurants, followed by a few recommended Tokyo spots.
Noodle shops
A little more than an hour off my plane from the U.S., I was starving and had some time to kill, as my ride was going to be late to Shinagawa station. It is a very busy, somewhat bewildering train station. I'm a noodle fanatic, so I naturally homed in on a noodle shop.
For a minute or so, I studied the action: People lined up at little machines, dropped some coins in, got a ticket and entered. I followed suit, punching a button next to a picture of a bowl of udon and a small bowl of rice with some yellowish stuff on it.
Inside, I was greeted and gestured to a standing table. I gave my ticket to a waiter who asked me haltingly, "hot or cold?" I opted for hot. Moments later, my noodles and rice showed up. I still don't really know what the bland topping on the rice was, but I ate it. The udon in dashi (with a few bits of stuff floating around) was one of the best dishes I've ever had.
Maybe you've heard that in Japan, it's not only acceptable but polite to slurp your noodles. In a busy train station noodle shop at rush hour, the slurping is positively deafening.
There are three main warring noodle factions vying for hearts in Japan: udon (fat wheat noodles, and my favorite), soba (spaghetti-sized buckwheat noodles often eaten cold) and ramen (a Chinese import, a sexed-up version of the American college staple).
Yakitori
For my first dinner in Tokyo, I have to say I was a little disappointed when my friend suggested his favorite local yakitori joint. In a country full of unique and risky options, yakitori seemed a safe fallback. I thought it was grilled chicken kebabs, and it is, mostly. But it is all of the chicken, and it's not always grilled.
This spot offered chicken sashimi and a few other semi-cooked versions. For the sashimi, the raw chicken is dipped in a quail egg and soy sauce before eating. I tried it, and that is about all I can say for it.
Chicken is maybe the only meat I can say, unequivocally, that I prefer cooked. And the cooked chicken was great. Even the half-raw chicken with an ume plum sauce was good.
KaisekiYakitori chefs stand in the center of the bar and carefully cook their skewers over a small bed of charcoal. Some interesting chicken parts I was served, which were all on the menu, were hearts (decent), necks (better, and boneless) and um, cartilage. Chicken cartilage is apparently something people enjoy for its "unique crunchiness." I am not one of those people. Still, the other bits of smoky goodness, including regular dark and white meat, made it a great meal.
Kaiseki is the traditional Japanese meal, often served in traditional inns, consisting of many courses -- eight or more -- of small dishes. There is a lot of focus on presentation, with the arrangement of the food and even the choice of plates garnering nearly as much thought as the food itself.
Typically, there is a sashimi course, a tempura course, a rice course and one or more courses of Japanese pickles. It is a very leisurely affair, lasting hours. Many restaurants offer a toned-down version, or casual kaiseki, where you still get many elaborate small dishes, but they all come on one tray.
Bento
Bento are to-go meals in a box, consisting of many tiny dishes divided into little compartments. Most have half a dozen compartments, with at least one filled with Japanese pickles, rice, a protein and a couple of mystery items. There are purveyors of bento in train stations (and on trains), and many restaurants offer a bento that you can buy at a little side counter.
Sushi
Yes, they have sushi. You can pretty much run the gamut in price and atmosphere, including shops where the sushi rattles around on a little conveyor belt and you grab it as it comes by.
Some recommended locations:
Torishige
3-11-12 Azabu-Juban, Minato-Ku. Phone: 03 5445 1589.
The aforementioned yakitori-ya In Azabu-Juban. It's a nice, cozy space with great chicken. The yakitori master has an interesting haircut, which I thought might have something to do with yakitori. It does not.
Udon Kurosawa
Nakagin-Roppongi Manshion 1F, 6-11-16, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Phone: 03-3403-9638.
There is a great noodle restaurant between Azabu-Juban and Roppongi Hills. Udon Kurosawa takes its name from Japan's most famous film director and approaches popular noodle dishes with the same precision. The curry udon is the same genre of curry noodles you could find at thousands of Japanese restaurants, but it is a cut above. The dish tastes like curry, but it is only slightly piquant, in a way that just catches up to you at the end of the bowl. In addition to the curry and a few other noodle bowls, they also offer complex oden (stew) dishes.
Chanko at sumo
In the Ryogoku Kokugikan
If you are attending a sumo match, consider eating at the restaurant at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. They serve large bowls of noodles to sumo and non-sumo alike, and you could end up sitting next to a rikishi, or wrestler, carb-loading for a bout. I had the "chanko," billed as the sumo wrestler's meal. It has a pot of broth over a burner where you cook various meats, vegetables and fungi. This is complemented with pickles, a bowl of cold precooked stuff, rice and an egg. If I ate this on a regular basis, I might bulk up enough to compete.
posted by Wes at 7:57 PM
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