I left my heart in Tokyo - the longest day part 1

Mon 17 Feb 2014A lifetime feeling 5 months ago we departed the Uk to start this life changing adventure. We've hit 5 countries (we can't really count the ten minutes in Myanmar), been movie stars (or extras), met royalty, bribed police commissioners (accidentally), had life saving surgery, christmasedin the remote Andamans and learnt tones about different cultures, realising that we're still massively ignorant about the world we live in.It's a good job the adventure is continuing, there's just so much more out there.Today is the day we leave Asia and fly to America.We checked out of our hotel early, left our bags with the concierge and headed straight for Tsukiji fish market. This is the worlds biggest wholesale fish and sea food market and is famed for its tuna auctions where a record breaking £1.05 Million squid (pun intended) was bid for a 222kg bluefin on 13 January 2013.The tuna auctions happen daily at 5am (no we didn't see it) but only the ones at the beginning of January fetch big bucks as the New Years catch brings promises of prosperity.Signs at the entrance highlighted a variety of prohibited items including high heels, pets or other animals and suitcases.

We wondered through the wholesale area where rows of stunning sashimi knifes, nori and fresh wasabi was on offer before dodging the pick ups, cars and people (with big, sorry, massive knives) to get into the still very active main market. It was never planned to become such a tourist attraction and being the busiest fish market in the world it's expectedly very big, chaotic and a potential health and safety nightmare (to anyone who cares). They are in fact planning on moving the market to a new site where they can expand it further and include some tourist friendly features, so we're incredibly lucky to be able to visit now.We weaved our way around the fish stalls and the workers, amazed by the giant shellfish on offer. Crabs with legs longer than bread bins and muscles the size of dinner plates.

We wondered through the wholesale area where rows of stunning sashimi knifes, nori and fresh wasabi was on offer before dodging the pick ups, cars and people (with big, sorry, massive knives) to get into the still very active main market">Oysters, giant clams, octopus and unidentifiable sea slugs filled every tray. A few isles down there were the fish. Bright red salmon, perfect fresh fatty tuna that would soon quadruple in value, probably more..

Check out the cheeky poster one of these salty sea dogs had in their office.

We wondered through the wholesale area where rows of stunning sashimi knifes, nori and fresh wasabi was on offer before dodging the pick ups, cars and people (with big, sorry, massive knives) to get into the still very active main market">Sellers were busy slicing and slithering their goods for the late comer sushi merchants.When we'd had out fill of the chaos, we headed back to the wholesale area where I was keen to stick to Tsukiji tradition and have a sushi breakfast. This would be my first ever sushi breakfast and I was very excited to experience it here. The prices were heavily inflated and the queues long so we picked a cheaper place with no queue. It was every bit a classic sushi establishment with two chefs and about 10 stools along the bar where they made and presented the food right in front of you. There were no gimmicky touch screens or magic invisible delivery systems here. Just fish - fresh out of the sea just hours ago and old chefs that have been perfecting their art daily, for centuries.Jamie was definitely not up for a sushi breakfast and felt it was inappropriate to take one of the 10 spots without eating but the waiter said it was ok and waived us both on through and came back with two complimentary green teas.After deliberating between sushi proper and sashimi I chose the bowl of super fresh tuna sashimi.

This spectacular dish was crafted on a bed of sushi rice, topped with thick red tuna, traditional sushi omelette, shredded prawns, slithers of nori and a small white fish nigiri.

Everything mouthful was an explosion of freshness and flavour that I will remember forever.

The clock was ticking and we realised we had to get going if we wanted to make it to the Meiji shrine before catching our train and plane. We really were trying to see every last bit - even at the expense of missing our flight.The park that bridged Yoyogiand Harijuku was covered in snow and looked like a fairy tail. We speed walked through the paths until we reached the stunning, snow topped shrine.

Here hundreds of workers pop in to give worship during lunch breaks. At the main building robed monks were rolling huge mats and returning them to the inner sanction. We followed instructions and showed our respect by offering a donation, bowing twice, clapping twice and bowing again. We found the prayer wall, brought a wooden ornament and wrote our wishes before placing them onto the sea of submissions.

We dodged a traditional wedding (bride in full white hooded kimono) as we dashed out trying and get a train back to our hotel.

It was now 12:30 and our flight was at 4pm, we weren't sure our online check in had worked and the train took two hours!! We picked up our bags and made it to the ticket office. The slow cheap train would take far too long and the express was over double the price. We had no choice. We booked the express.When the train arrived we jumped on and sat back totally relieved until I started I noticed we were going the wrong way! We got off and waited for what felt like a lifetime for the right train going the right way to arrive.I spent the whole journey frantically clock watching, whilst Jamie continued to be spaced out on his painkillers, seemingly not bothered at all by the potential nightmare that would unfold if we missed our flight. This wasn't just any short distance £50 flight, it was our biggest flight since leaving the UK, right across the pacific to America.Thankfully by the time we got to the airport terminal Jamie had come round and was now running up escalators leaving me puffing and panting and hobbling behind.I placed two passports down at the check in counter and stood back to catch my breath. We added our baggage onto the scales and waited for our boarding tickets. The lady at the counter asked why we were rushing. We still had 1.5 hours until the flight left so all this "get there 3 hours before for international flight departure" warnings were rubbish.Inside the terminal we killed some of our excess time with a bit of origami. These very friendly but hugely inept origami teachers sat us down and talked us through the making of the flapping bird, getting it confused with the crane - apparently they both start the same so it's tricky. We folded and refolded then unfolded completely as they realised they'd missed a step. Eventually, with very creased and crinkled paper, we had two flapping birds. With a lots of pulling and tugging they actually flapped. Obviously my pink girly one won :)We took some last minute Asian selfies and hopped aboard our American Airlines flight ready for continent number two.