Day 15. The final day of the adventure. Sadly.

Next up, a fun 12-hour flight to Atlanta. At least I got upgraded to Delta Comfort.

I only had a few hours left in Tokyo today, so I headed over to see the Tsukiji fish market near downtown Tokyo. It is the largest fish market in the world, and one of the largest wholesale markets of any kind.

The market handles more than 400 different types of seafood from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar, and from tiny sardines to 300 kg tunaand controversial whale species.^[3] Overall, more than 700,000 metric tons of seafood are handled every year at the three seafood markets in Tokyo, with a total value in excess of 600 billion yen (approximately 5.9 billion US dollars on November 24, 2013). The number of registered employees as of 25 January 2010 varies from 60,000 to 65,000, including wholesalers, accountants, auctioneers, company officials, and distributors.

Credit – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market

The Olympic games are coming to Tokyo in 2020 and there is a good chance the market will be moved to a different location (though that has been delayed indefinitely), so I wanted to see it while it exists in its current form.

I took the train over to Shimbushi station and walked about 15 minutes through downtown’s skyscrapers to the market gate.

Meanwhile, Trump is here in Japan doing his part… fist-bumping prime ministers. Nice.

Entry to the market is free. There are a ton of tourists around. Especially true in the outer market.

I headed back to Shinjuku to meet Nate for lunch before leaving for the airport.

With the end of my bowl of ramen, my adventures in Japan have reached their end. There is so much I learned about Japan and so many great memories I will take away. And there are countless experiences I never got a chance to have…

Next time…

• Ninja restaurant
• Sword school
• Japanese cooking class
• Kareoke
• Hokkaido, perhaps skiing?
• Sakemotto! (more sake)
• Suntory Yamasaki Distillery tour (I should have reserved this)
• And probably much more

Japan felt pretty foreign at the start of the trip, but I think I reached a point where it was very, very comfortable. And very amazing. There is not really any other place quite like it, which is what makes it special.

I will probably write one more post for those thinking about taking a trip to Japan.

Thanks for reading along with me over the past two-ish weeks. I hope you have enjoyed it, and I hope it inspires you to get out and travel to places you had never thought you would go.

Cheers!