Catching up is Hard to do (even if its only one day)

I am writing this entry on Tuesday night, but its about Monday. I'm a day behind but it seems like so much more, especially since our wake up call yesterday was 02:30 am. Thats right, we woke up in the middle of the night after having gone to sleep at eleven pm. Why you ask? Well, before yesterday I would have said it was because my husband is crazy (did you catch that? I said "my husband," hehe). Today, I can honestly tell you that his planning is faultless. Ok, back to the why? To get in to see the Tuna auction in action. When planning the trip, it was one of the highlights i wanted to see and didnt want to miss. The deal is that the auction starts at 5:25. They let in two groups of sixty to view it. We were told that people arrive up to an hour prior to the start time (4:25 for those not keeping track). Ori read up on it and found out that 3:30 was better. So there we were at 2:30 getting dressed making breakfast and coffee and hailing a cab at 3 am. We got there just past half past and what do you know - there were already over fourty people ahead of us. I should mention that not soon after, all the spots in the two groups were full (I'd say not much after 4am). People were turned away. I sure would hate to wake up in the middle of the night only to be turned away. So we sat on the floor and waited for the start time.There was even a guy in a Leafs jersey. Sitting in the waiting room for almost two hours, we made friends with the couple ahead of us from San Fransisco. 

Just past 5:00 we were led through the wakening market to a freezing warehouse. There we saw rows upon rows of huge tuna- just laying on the ground. Men in black rubber boots were checking them out, feeling the texture and generally assessing whether this particular fish was worth tens of thousands of dollars. Some get to hundreds! Soon the auction started - multiple auctions at once - different auctioners for different weight groups. and we were in the middle of it all. One particular auctioneer stood out as he was most animated and singsongy. I videotaped him as it was truly a sight to see and hear. I will try to connect to the blog at some time in the next few days. 

We were then ushered out to allow for the next group to come in and see the action. 

We then went to find sushi for breakfast. Our new friends from San Fran went with us. Cause who doesn't want raw fish at 6am? We saw a looooon line up next to the restaurants and my group decided that was the line for Daiwa Sushi. Thats the place that was recommended by the lonely planet guide for Japan. They stood in line along with many others holding the same book we had in many different languages. I was not as patient and went exploring for another place. There were many in the same row of restaurants. On a whim, I asked the woman organizing the long line if hers was the line for Daiwa. She said no and pointed to another line two doors down. It was CONSIDERABLY shorter. I went to the line and make an arrangement with the last guy in the line that he will hold my place while i went to get my friends and we will then hold the place for him while he gets his girlfriend. I went to get Ori and the other couple and laughed at all the others who were actually waiting in the wrong line. But the joke was on us (temporarily) as soon as we got back to the line, the restaurant guy organizing the que basically kicked us out - no, go away. and made pushing motions with his hands. Im not sure whether it was because we were all westerners and his entire lineup was made up of japanese (a good sign for us) or if it was because there was no room to stand outside anymore, but we tended to lean towards to former as later, when we walked back after walking away, we saw more people (japanese) had been added to the end of the line. We basically begged and he relented and pushed us into the row. After another not so short wait, we were let in (separately) to sit at a bar around the chef. He was surprised that we weren't going for the chef's choice, but as neither of us eat shell fish, we decided to ask for specific things - extra fatty tuna sashimi (the really expensive kind) and medium fatty tuna maki rolls. One thing to say about that - melt in your mouth! So good, not only did Ori try, he enjoyed it. 

We then said good bye to our new friends and went walking around the area of the market open to the public. The fish market opened at 9 (it was around 7:30). We bought some great chopsticks which were on the list to bring back home. Then we decided to try our luck and stroll into the fish market ahead of schedule. We were lucky and weren't stopped (at least not immediately). We strolled and smelled the odours an pondered the fates of all these water creatures. 

About twenty minutes into our stroll in the market a cop showed up and ushered us out inviting us to come back after 9am. 

We'd had enough so we got back to the hotel, showered and packed up to get to Hiroshima with enough daylight to see the Hiroshima War Memorial park. How did we do that if Hiroshima is so far? Ahh, well, we took the Shinkansen, the Japanese bullet train - super cool!  

We arrived in Horishima and went straight to the park. It was scary how you feel some of the enormity of the explosion just by standing next to the A-bomb dome. 

Bringing the lond day to a close, we went for dinner for the official Hiroshima Okonomiaki. We walked around not finding it, which is odd as its their local food. Eventually we went into a gift shop and the woman wrote on a pice of paper in Japanese a name. We quickly found it (with the help of some super nice Japanee. It was super delivcious and highly recommended. I'll add the name of the place soon. 

We then went to find our accommodation for the night. Ori had contacted Beit Shalom in Hiroshima and they welcomed us with open arms. Masa and his family are wonderfully warm people who greeted us at the door with הבאנו שלום עלינו - an old Israeli song of welcome and peace. After showing us the huge guest room, we got to know the family a little and sing some more songs. One of their sons even taught us how to fold origami Cranes. The crane is now known as the sign of piece in Hiroshima. You may have seen a photo of colourful origami in the collage from the Peace Memorial Park - those are thousands and thousands of folded cranes. It was started by a girl who was suffering from cancer in the 60s (resulting from the radiation in the town). She thought that if she folded one hundred thousand of these cranes she would be cured and there would be peace. Unfortunately, she passed away before reaching her goal. Her classmates took us the project and met her goal. They never stopped and the origami crane has become a symbol of peace. 

We were treated to Japanese pairs - which are delicious!!! and promptly went to bed. 

Miyajima here we come.