Waking up with the fishes

Last Friday I took the overnight bus down to Tokyo with my buddy Aaron for a fun-filled weekend in the city. I've spent very little time in Tokyo since I've been in Japan, and there were a few things I've been wanting to see/do before I leave. High on this list was the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, otherwise known as the Tsukiji fish market. The market is massive, occupying some 56 acres near Ginza--everyday except Sundays, 2300 tons of 400 kinds of seafood are delivered to market from all over the world (this according to "The Rough Guide to Japan"). 2300 tons! If my math is correct, that's over 5 million pounds of seafood, 30,000 times my weight. EVERYDAY. And we wonder why the oceans are emptying!


Anyway, Aaron and I arrived in Tokyo at the ridiculous hour of 4:30a.m. and quickly caught a taxi to the market. Though quite a few people visit everyday, the market is not really set up for tourists. Aaron and I walked in through the main truck entrance, learning quickly to pay attention and stay out of the way of the workers, all extremely busy packing, unpacking, icing, loading, unloading, carrying, and transporting the day's catches on little motorized carts. We strolled about the the narrow alleys of the outer markets for about 20 minutes, gawking at the endless kinds of fish, eels, squid, octopus, sea anemone, and unidentifiable creatures on display, much of which was so fresh it was still flapping and squirming.


Finally we made it to the back of the market, where the famed tuna auctions take place. In a large warehouse room, hundreds of rock-solid frozen tunas of all sizes were laid on the cement floor. The tunas had a number of markings and tags, presumably telling weight, quality, country of origin, etc. There were a great many people moving about, buyers and sellers I presume, inspecting each fish and preparing for the auction. Suddenly, two men rang some shrill hand bells about 5:30 and the first calling began. The caller spoke no Japanese that I recognized, but in a manner much calmer than I had imagined, each fish was bought/sold (for between 600,000-1,000,000 million yen, again according to RG Japan). We watched several rounds of this, snapping the necessary pix, before returning to the outer markets and the not-so-fresh air.

Aaron and I had planned on having a bite at one of the many (and perhaps freshest in the world) sushi shops on the edge of the market, some opening at 5:30a.m. However, the sight of so much seafood, some of it still alive, at an hour reserved in the West strictly for coffee, our stomachs were not quite up to it. So we took one last look and made our way to the front of the market again, side-stepping the many carts and crates. On the way out we passed the styrofoam box recycling (I sure hope they were recycling them) spot--the sheer volume of which was quite shocking.