Sat Feb 28, 2009 ..TOKYO Tsukiji Fish Market

What a day FULL of sights, sounds, smells, colors, food, seafood, and people it ended up being......we'd say a MUST SEE in TOKYO!!!!
CJ and I woke early, but not early enough to catch the live 7am BIG TUNA auction. We decided since it wasn't raining, so we would venture north and at least check out the area, markets, restaurants.... With the wind howling outside, we dressed in our long underwear, scarves, mittens,boots to hopefully stay warm, and then made our way on the northbound train to Tokyo.
We arrived at what we thought must be the auction, as there were people everywhere, but it was just a very busy outdoor market area.WOW, I wondered just how busy it is when the auction is in full swing? I liked it just how it was right now.
So... we tried to walk quickly through the very crowded and narrow market alleyways in hopes of maybe still catching the tail end of the BIG TUNA live auction,... but we ended up slowly zig zagging our way through the very crowded aisle ways and past many different stalls selling knives & cleavers, packaged dried fish of all sorts, tea leaves,pickled as well as fresh fruits and veggies in many varieties. Seeing that we were not getting very far, very fast, we decided to step out of the maze of people and quickly walked up the wider main street and into what we later found out was the side gate of the very large fish market grounds.
Here we were suddenly thrown into an onslaught of vehicles coming and going every which way. As we tried to make our way across the now emptying parking lot I felt sort of like that silver ball in a pin ball machine....bouncing back and forth dogging cars, trucks, trolleys, bikes, wooden carts, etc,... of which many were stacked with Styrofoam boxes filled with we assumed fresh bought seafood products. It was a transportation hub of movement.
Once we made it through the maze of vehicles and across 4-6 makeshift lanes of traffic coming and going we arrived at what looked to be like the loading docks "temporary custody area", which were at this point pretty well emptied out. Many men dressed in big rubber boats and aprons were rapidly packing the last of their newly purchased,fresh seafood products into ice filled Styrofoam boxes and or clear plastic trays and securing them with a rubber band. Some were sweeping the area with a straw broom and others were hosing down the cement with a blue garden hose. Where is the auction area we wondered??
We then saw a big warehouse like building and so we quickly made our way over there. When we peeked in the door we saw that it was a HUGE building with cases and pallets of vegetable/fruit boxes as far as the eye could see. It was a VERY BIG distribution center. We would come back here later, but we were still hoping to get a glimpse of a BIG TUNA. We then wandered and dogged back across yet more lanes of traffic and past a few people carrying woven straw baskets full of goodies. Here we then began to see lots of fresh seafood. Yea.. we found the fish building but where was "The BIG TUNA"? That doesn't sound quite right? :-)
A little farther down one of the 12 or so aisles of the Intermediate wholesalers area that must have ran in an arch the length of a football field or more, and we finally found our treasure. Not the auction, that was long over and done by this time, but LOTS of men very busy in numerous different stations. First one would drag with his ice pick one VERY BIG frozen tuna after another onto a lift that then rose to a table saw where another guy would slice it in half, mark it with a black marker (top/bottom CJ thought and some numbers?. Next he would slice off the interior middle bone and then turn it to the outside and slice something off that side too. He would slice each half in quarters and then another guy would take it and place it in a wood brace and scrape the skin off. When they got a bunch done they would shovel full loads of frozen scale scraps into big blue plastic baskets and then a guy with a trolley would come by and dump the full blue baskets into some wooden crates on the back of his vehicle. They were so quick and moved like a machine.
We of course stood there for quite some time just watching the fast paced action and very structured process and procedures. FUN! Finally CJ got me to move on after I got each step documented on film and we then had even more fun wandering up and down those 12 different aisles and seeing more seafood displays then I could have ever imagined.WOW!!!
It wasn't very smelly either and that was nice. We saw big white squid, pretty purple octopus,salmon colored fish lungs,men rapidly shucking clams, mussels, huge scallops on the half shell,bright red/orange fish, sea cucumbers, men fishing live eels out of one barrel and tossing them into a net, people cutting, packing and selling seafood fast and furious. You had to be very careful not to get in the way as you made your way down 1 way aisles and then watch for passing trolleys dogging back and forth at the cross intersections.
While the men were out front of their stands either slicing and dicing the fresh thawed tuna into steaks of various thicknesses,or cleaning up and wiping down/sanitizing their individual areas... the women were busy as ever in the back. There they were,all tucked into their tiny sardine can sized wooden makeshift shack offices with heads down and intense concentration as they rapidly did their bookwork and added up the sales of the day.It was a rapid paced, very wet, colorful,loud exciting place to be.We NEVER did see where the actual auction took place, but did see a poster about it(there for sure will be a next time). We did make our way up and down almost 1/2 of the 12 aisles I think and then figured we had better go check out the veggie market building before everything was done there too.
As we left the fish building, we saw more people were gathered and standing in line for something? As we got closer we saw that it was 6 more narrow alley ways with rows of little 10-12 seat er fresh sushi restaurants and more kitchenware, T shirt, pottery shops. The people were all getting their place in line and waiting for the places to open there doors for the lunch hour. As we walked down one aisle and then around the corner and up the next I suddenly realized this was the back side of the restaurants I had just past and I could see into the kitchens. There were like 4-6 people busy working as fast as they could preparing fresh sushi plates, washing dishes...inn what looked like a sardine can. It is good thing, these people are of small stature. Someone like me would take up 1/2 the kitchen space. Now the doors were open and in some places you could watch them cook and clean in the kitchen and see through to the narrow counter area where many folks were busy savoring their fresh cut raw tuna. CJ by passed the lines and said he had enough sushi last night.
We then stopped at a pottery shop and I found some cute chopstick holders which looked like the face masks the lady danced with back in Sankiene Garden a few weeks. CJ got a blue and white Saki flask to match all our blue and white Japanese/Chinese pottery dishes we seem to be accumulating. We also found some cool mugs for our offices which have hand print grooves instead of a handle to fit your fingers in when drinking from them. CJ got one with a samurai on it and mine has a kimono clad geisha girl. Cute!
We then ventured back to the veggie building and that was getting desolate now too as business for the day was wrapping up and most loads were done and headed off to the different stores and or restaurants. We did see a few stands that had flowers and buds,of all sorts packaged for sale as garnishes for food platters. Beautiful purple orchids, mums, cups of a rainbow assortment of pansy like edible flowers. There too, were lots of different vegetables I had no clue what they were. I need to get a Japanese fruit/veggie/fish book and try to figure out what they all are. Lots of large white Dakon radishes,tomatoes,colored peppers, lemons, oranges, asparagus which must be getting in season now as this is the first time I have seen it here. Some mystery prickly tuber type root vegetable to us and of course the pretty lacy looking lotus root vegetable.
We walked passed the inner Shinto shrine, large ice box and dispensing machine building, recycle area for Styrofoam and back out into the streets and the outdoor market area. We stopped for a very quick lunch of ram en once CJ could figure put which dishes were still available when buying the tickets from a vending machine outside the front door. It was a stand up place and oh my how I wish I could have taken a video so you could see and hear the slurping going on as these folks downed at a very fast pace huge bowls of ram en soup,plates of noodles, tempura veggies and rice. I can not believe how fast these people can eat. I am thinking they don't even chew, but swallow their noodles whole. It had me wondering how that is for their digestive processes? They are very different than the Italians I know, who love to eat slowly and have lots of conversation. This stand up counter places are an all out eat as fast as you can and no talking venue, That is for sure!!
We had one of the 4 very small tables in the place and a cute little older couple sat across from us. They never said one word to each other or us while they ate as fast as they could and they too, had there little faces hidden behind their big bowls as they slurped and shoveled their broth, rice, tempura paddies and noodles in one right after the other. There was one tiny little man who barely could see over the counter. He had big Harry Carey type glasses on and would shove a super ball size wad of noodles into his mouth. I tried to take a non flash pic from my purse, but was not able to get the view I wanted. Darn! Oh how I wish there had been a way to get some photos in there without anyone knowing. Great place for people watching need I say more.
So back down and up all the outdoor market alleyways we went and had fun watching more fast paced sales going on of many mystery foods,eggs cakes, pork loins, dumplings of some sort, smoked fish being shaved into Bonito flakes. Watched a master blow fish chef cut with precision, focus and lots of concentration the deadly and expensive delicacy. If it is not cut just right it can be poisonous and one can die within minutes of eating it. The chefs have to be trained and certified to do this delicate job. More folks were busy having a quick bite to eat for lunch at the numerous outdoor sidewalk cafes, sushi bars....
We decided we had seen enough,bought some banana chips and then headed to the Hama-Rikyu Garden and hopefully a river cruise up the Sumida River if time allowed....
more in the next post on that adventure