Tsukiji Fish Market

...just like the Fulton Fish Market except, umm, its in Japan.

The Kanji characters for the Tsukiji Fish Market are 築地 and there is a rich history and tradition here. Click the Kanji if you want to learn more about it. (Hopefully the link will bring you to the English language page.)

After getting off the train, I passed a McDonalds (!) and headed towards the fish market. After a block, I made my way, slowly, through a vendor area thick with people and thin with asphalt. Vendors were selling all sorts of fish, to be sure, but there were vendors selling Japanese knives, breakfast items, beans (no Beano though!) earthen ware, such as teapots and plenty of vegetables. Making it past the vendors, I found what appeared to be an official Tsukiji building. I think it was official because there was a sign that said 'Official Tsukiji Fish Market'. People were giving out sample size containers of sake. They were selling T-shirts too. (I bought me a blue one!) A short walk beyond that led to another section of vendors selling all sorts of things as well as many sushi restaurants, each one with long lines of people waiting to get in. This at around 11AM.

When I turned to make my way past one of the lines, a vendor selling some sort of green tea gave me a brochure and pointed past an area where many trucks were parked. "Sir," he began in English, "If you go to this area you will find a secret area with many fine fish shops." If he hadn't used the word, secret, I might have gone there straight away. After another half hour of wandering past vendors, I made my way to the secret area. I had gotten there too late! There were, indeed, many fish vendors, packed into a large alcove, but just about everyone was cleaning up, putting equipment away and washing the counters.The cobblestone floor was wet with water and some occaisonal fish blood. I did find one vendor still busy with a couple of tuna. I bought some nice pieces of the tuna at a very reasonable price. While the vendor was packing it in ice, I took out my camera to take a picture of the tuna. He stopped and called his father over, who happened to speak English. He spoke, proudly, about the fish being bigger than most. It must have been a real battle to buy these fish at auction. I think he said the fish were each 70 kg, but I'm too lazy to verify if my recollection is correct. Anyway, he offered to take a picture of me. Here it is:

When I return, I'll be sure to get there early. Oh, and I'll be sure to buy some tuna from number 5131!