Ameyoko - The Land of Dried Scallops

Saturday morning and it was off to the Ameyoko shopping district in Ueno. This was the first rainy day of our trip. Up until this point we had been blessed with truly outstanding weather so we really couldn't complain about one day of rain. Here's a picture of Timmy and Rae standing to the right of the Ameyoko sign. We caught the train here again and proceeded to do some shopping for omiyage or gifts to bring home to friend and families. While Ameyoko offered a variety of items for sale, we were here to look for cuttlefish and dried scallops.

One of the things that Ameyoko is known for are the stalls that sell dried seafood products such as cuttlefish and scallops. If it came out of the ocean and could be salted and dried, there was a good chance you would find it here for sale. You can see Dean in the above picture haggling with the stall owner's wife for a better price on our purchases. In hindsight we should have bought a lot more than we did. Given as omiyage when we returned to Hawaii, all of us have shared stories of how our friends and families devoured these tasty gifts and immediately demanded more. Unfortunately we underestimated how much everyone who enjoy these treats, especially the dried scallops and clams. When we go back to Japan in October 2007, Ameyoko is definitely on the agenda.

I call this picture "Ameyoko in the Springtime". Actually I really call it "My Friend Richard Standing out in the Rain"! Richard tells me that he does not like umbrellas and prefers to wear a jacket to keep out the rain. The funny thing is the jacket he wore that day in Ameyoko wasn't waterproof, but instead seemed to be made of a sponge-like fabric that could absorb and retain twice it's original mass in rain water. On this dark and rainy day, my soggy friend also chose to wear his ultra bright cornea burning white shoes, which didn't stay white for long. But did any of this get my friend Richard down? Not on your life! On this day Richard refused to be beaten by the bad weather, and instead chose to defy it head on by standing out in the rain by himself, with no umbrella and wearing a sponge-like jacket . . . Bravo Rich Dogg, you go boy!