Tsukiji: Wall Street + Fish Guts

July 23, 2008

Tsukiji: Wall Street + Fish Guts

by tmonkey

We took supreme advantage of our jetlag and got up at 4:30am to go to the Tsukiji fish market.

Here you can see the fish buyers taking core samples of the frozen tuna and inspecting them (sometimes eating the pieces straight) for fat content.

We tried to sneak into the section where they supposedly auction off all manner of strange and exotic (and illegal) sea creatures, but the place was so incredibly labyrinthine that we could only penetrate the outer (approved for tourist) circles where tuna was being auctioned.

This was still quite fascinating (and I’m sure quite well blogged about elsewhere) but I had to preserve on video the wonderful song and dance of the auctioneering, which I’m sure is as ancient as Japan itself.

Also posted in Article 4:34 pm | Tags: Seafood, Tokyo
Posted in Article | 6 Comments »

2 Comments

kayoko

Posted July 24, 2008 at 4:52 am

the video clip is awesome! i had no idea they had a jingle for auctioning.

the hours these guys work just stunts me. my friend’s brother works at Tsukiji and she says that he basically gets up at 2am, is at work by 3am, and doesn’t get home till like 8pm. Totally nuts. But Tsukiji is LIFE for these guys.

my dad took me to his favorite Tsukiji spot for sushi once- it was definitely one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had. EVER.

Gene

Posted July 29, 2008 at 12:36 pm

When I was in Japan back in April, I missed the actual auction, but DID get to see the market. Here's my share of pics > http://www.genelu.com/content/view/111/1/

Thanks again for the video clip

4 Trackbacks

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