Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo
One morning in Tokyo I got up at 5:30am to check out Tsukiji fish market, by far the world’s largest fish market. One sixth of the world’s daily supply of fish passes through this market every morning, 2000 tons worth.
Due to a drunk and noisy roommate at the hostel I only slept about an hour last night; it would have been a good time to use earplugs if I didn’t have to listen for my alarm clock.
But I had heard good things about this fish market, and between that and a can of hot coffee from the vending machines outside the hostel I was good to go. I met a few other guys in the hostel lobby at 6am, and off we went.
The Tsukiji fish market is massive: endless rows of vendors with styrofoam boxes of various fish packed in ice. We arrived a bit too late for the tuna auction which is supposed to be quite impressive, but I heard it was recently closed to tourists anyway.
The vendors were all very tolerant of us wandering around their workplace taking pictures. It was a quite a challenge to stay out of the way, especially the constant stream of guys cruising around on little blue carts. Hours after I left the market I was still checking for them over my shoulder.
Just outside the market were a few rows of small restaurants selling sushi and noodles. We waited in line for an hour to get in to Sushi Dai because it is supposedly one of the best places to go. The place next door was completely empty and probably served stuff of comparable quality, but we wanted to make sure we got the full Tsukiji experience.
I wasn’t really sure I wanted sushi for breakfast, but it was sooo good. I had the most expensive set menu (3650 yen, $36.50 CAD) which included about 12 pieces of sashimi, a few maki and some miso soup. It was served a piece at a time, and it was by far the freshest and best sushi I have ever had.
More photos of Tsukiji fish market…
(posted Dec 11, back-dated for the weblog archive)
[todo: fact check stuff in 1st paragraph]
December 25th, 2006 at 1:10 am UTC
[…] On the way home I happened upon a busy fish market that was just getting started for the day, quite a sight to see. (though nothing compared to Tokyo’s) […]