Markets & Gold Medals
- Laura Dawson
- May 9
- 2 min read
Thirteen hours on a plane is a lot easier when you're excited about where you're headed! Tuesday morning I left DFW airport, flew diagonally to the west coast, over the island tail of Alaska, and across the International Dateline to land in Tokyo's Haneda Airport. Due to weather delays and flight cancellations, today was the first day we gathered as a group to begin class. Here are the places we went...
This marketplace was first established under the train tracks of Ueno during World War II. People would come from the surrounding areas to receive their food rations, but soon this evolved into an area full of trade and commerce. Produce, sweets, leather bags, and souvenirs were the main things I observed being sold. We loaded up on matcha to take home, and went to every vending machine looking for our new favorite drink: peach water!
Our next stop was my favorite of the day! The Tsukiji Fish Market is renowned by foodies, locals, and international tourists alike for its hundreds of food stalls serving the freshest of food. I noticed a highly diverse group of shoppers from many different countries. We were not the only travelers who made our way to this area! For the low price of 3,300 Japanese Yin (or 22 U.S. dollars) we dined on Wagyu Beef skewers. We immediately understood why this delicacy is so expensive in the States, because it was probably the most delicious steak any of us had ever eaten! I also tried spicy cod roe and cherry blossom flavored mochi. As an adventurous eater and seafoods lover, I could have stayed here for days.
After finishing at the markets, our group travelled to visit the Japanese Olympic Park and tour the corresponding museum. But when we arrived a guard blocked our entrance! There was a "secret" Olympics press-meeting happening. We could not see who the guest of honor was because the lobby was packed full of reporters and with their notepads and cameras. However, on our walk back to the train station a shiny black car with tinted windows rolled out of the alley. The winded rolled down to reveal none other than the president of the International Olympic Committee! Even though we did not get to see the museum, we still learned about the construction and design of Japan's National Stadium, as well as Japan's first Olympic gold-medalist, Mikio Oda, who won the triple-jump at the 1928 games with a distance of 15.2 meters!
And that was it!
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