Amazing Tsukiji Market, and a Guest Blog Appearance

Please tell me that you are still loving the photographs from Japan. Because, while it is becoming a cherished memory further in the depths of my mind, there are some incredible images yet to share. 

While traveling and since I've been back, I have been cooking up a treat for you all with a lovely woman halfway around the world. She is passionate about delicious foods and the photography that captures them so well. Sarka hails from Prague and currently lives in London, and has a penchant for a lot of the things that speak to my own heart (and after this long day, red wine is front and center!). Realizing that we have a lot in common, she invited me to guest blog, and today, one of my most incredible experiences while in Japan is shared here and at her blog, Cook your Dreams. We both hope you enjoy this shared adventure!

Which brings me to the phenomenon that is Tsukiji (pronounced "tskee-jee") Market in Tokyo. I'd taken a trip there before and marveled at the endless stalls of exotic and alien creatures. Many fresh from the kill, and still many others kept alive in filtered temporary quarters boxed in styrofoam, until their ends would come too. I can say in both experiences that walking through the wet, bustling aisles was a fascinating, gruesome, and humbling experience. Oh, and freezing. It escapes me to understand how these men and women survive countless hours in a day (for their lifetimes, mind you) in this wet, chilly stadium-market. One of the many enigmas of this incredible place....

Dried goods were part of an outdoor secondary market encircling the stadium

These were alive and moving...

Fresh clams

Left, the man occasionally placed his hands on that teapot to keep warm. Right, fresh tuna.

Carting away tuna heads

Left, 4-foot lengths of frozen tuna waiting to be carted. Right, discards.

After hours wandering around, I couldn't feel my fingers or toes. Small price to pay to witness the whirring kerosene-powered foot trucks; the careful and expert butchering of mollusks and tuna; the late-morning banter amongst colleagues, a sure sign that their work day was near its end and that the customary communal meal was next. 

J and I were starving, even through the empathy and pity we felt towards these incredible creatures. At one stall, a smiling older gentleman (pictured in the red jacket, well above) offered us advice on where to go for some of the best sushi we would ever have. And though numb and ravenous, we managed to find it and wait in a line that made satisfaction a further forty minute delay... but it was worth it.

Our sushi master preparing omakase - oyshi!!

More at The New York Times - and Daily Candy, too

Yesterday's New York Times dining section included more of my photography here and here.  I am grateful to work for such a prestigious organization, and it just so happens to be a lot of fun. Thanks for that! Some screen shots, below.

Over the weekend, Daily Candy gave a shout-out to Four Tines, a gourmet organic frozen food company I helped launch by doing all the collateral & packaging photography. They are carried in all the Whole Foods markets here in the city, and up and down along the east coast. It's only a matter of time before these healthy, smart, and delicious foods take over the world! :D Two of my favorites from their line:

 
Have a satisfying and flavorful weekend everyone!

View from a Train & Kyoto in Green and Orange

More glimpses of Japan, as I have yet a bounteous number of images to share with you dear readers! We traveled by high-speed shinkansen - otherwise known as the bullet train - to Kyoto to visit temples and shrines in their wintry glory. This first collection is taken from the window of the train (it is always a good time to take pictures): Sloping Mount Fuji with its icy top, and some wonderful industrial landscapes...

Traveling at 185mph, I don't know how I achieved such a perfectly symmetrical image...

Wasting no time, we traveled to Fushimi Inari that evening- a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the god of rice, sake, and prosperity - and walked up the mountain into the darkness.

It felt rather eerie walking along the winding path in the middle of the forest: the insistent sounds of many crows doing their evening callings, and J and I alone together. We sensed the ghostly presence around us in the displays of shrines, statues, and myriad torii. With the hour drawing later and later, we opted to turn around before total darkness set in, letting the crows take the forest for themselves.

Still with a hunger for the forest, our next day brought an adventure to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest on the outskirts of Kyoto. It was quite chilly. Though numb from cold I mustered click after click, drinking in everything and documenting it with the lens to live-again later. Good thing that I did. :)

These incredible trees dotted homes on small streets as we made our way

A small cemetery on the grounds

I hope you can gather the sense of wonderment I felt at exploring these magical places. Even with the chill biting at our limbs, it was an amazing couple of days!