Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market

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Fish, fish and more fish...We decided to go see what everyone was talking about. Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest seafood market in the world! We were told in order to get in to see the tuna auction we would have to get up at 3:30 to be there by four am. It begins at 5 am sharp and they only let in the first 140 people in line. They let 70 in at 5-5:40 am and the second half of 70 people from 5:40-6:15 am. I was told that they have cut down the amount of people watching the auction because it raises the temperature in the auction hall and that is not good for the tuna.

While this market seemed enormous to me it has been rumoured that it will be moving to a larger area in Toyosu but when we went in Feb 2013 there was no indication that it would be moved in the near future. If you do decide to go, make sure you research if their move is under way. Tsukiji is a wholesale seafood market that opens its doors at 9 am to visitors after the tuna auction is closed. There are hundreds of stalls, each specializing in different types of seafood. It runs the gamut from eels from Taiwan, Thai shrimp, and Tasmanian tuna...to over 400 different kinds of seafood each day.

After perusing the stalls, we moved outside to the small shops at the edge of the market. They sell knives, rice steamers, japanese pottery, kitchen utensils, tea and many bamboo goods. There are also many SUSHI shops. People in Japan go there in the morning to have the freshest sushi in the world. We did and it was oh....so good. The owner of the shope we went to explained to us in broken english that our meal had been swimming that morning. Seriously, the best sushi I've ever eaten!

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Photos

Tsukiji Fish Market
Just a small view into the market

Fishmonger
Slicing up fish into chunks

Fish movers
You can see a man on a machine. This machine doesn't run on gas because they do not want fumes on the fish. The woman in the front has completed her purchase and was leaving

Fishmonger
Slicing scallops out of their shell

fish box transport
This is the machine they use to transport the fish boxes. It does not use gas because they do not want fumes on the fish

Tuna
We saw this tuna lying on the cart. It's tail had been chopped off

Tuna
It really was a large tuna

Aisle between the stalls
You can see the cobblestones are all wet. With all the fish and seafood in this market, if you had blindfolded us we would have never known we were in a fish market. There was no fishy smell

Fish cart
They used this type of cart before the other machine was used. Back-breaking work