Tsukiji Fish Market

SUSHI FOR BREAKFAST, ANYONE?

One of the MUST-DO things in Tokyo is the Tsukiji Fish Market. For those who view food as the single best cultural indicator of a people, Tsukiji is the embodiment that consolidates the Japanese culture into a pin point experience.

Japanese food is all about fish and Tsukiji is the largest fish market in Japan, if not the world.

I need to define the geography and protocol of Tsukiji. The area is huge and divided into the Inner Market and Outer Market.

You will hear intrusive descriptions of 3:00am wake-ups. This rarefied time is to experience the tuna auction in the Inner Market. While I do not discount the significance of this small part of the Tsukiji experience, I also do not think everyone needs to see the behemoth frozen sale of the day's top catch. Aside from the fact that the area is limited to only forty visitors per day, the thriving beehive of seafood activity is going strong at a more humane 7am or 8am.

To experience the Inner market it is best to come in rubber boots and grungy attire. What visitors are treated to are every sea creature known to man and then some. Octopus, squid, cuttle fish, mackerel, bonita, bream, yellowtail, urchins, eel, bright red fish, black fish, flat fish, blow fish.

If you are squeamish, stay away.

It is a slimy, squirming warehouse of rubber aproned males hacking and sawing.

The dangerous feature are the motorized jitneys which haul palettes of eviscerated fish from cutting table to trucks for delivery. It is the haste with which these jitneys scurry around the warehouse floor that has caused many an accident. The Tsukiji Inner Market is a working thrum of movement and the polite Japanese, as hard as they may try, have had mishaps.

What I recommend is heading to Tsukiji at 7:30am or 8:00am. Take the Oedo subway line to the Tsukiji Shijo station. It is a short 5 minute walk to the Outer Market.   As you pass through the Outer Market you can eyeball the many treats which will engage a more leisurely look once you have peaked at the Inner Market.  You will pass through a gated area to the warehouses which comprise the Inner Market.  Here is the blood and guts of the "fishy" activity.  Though the auction is long over, the real work, the cutting and hacking, the dividing and packaging is taking place. 

Be very vigilant as the sights will distract and the jitneys will get you !

After you have seen the Inner Market and taken 300 fascinating fish photos, return to the relative peace and quiet of the Outer Market.  Head straight for the closest sushi counter for the freshest sushi breakfast on this planet.  Itadakimasu = Japanese for bon appetite!