Life with Lindsay and Joe: Tsukiji Fish Market

Lindsay has been waiting for me to post about Tsukiji Fish Market, the large and famous Tokyo market that sells huge bluefin tuna for around $10,000 and as much as $100,000 each (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28503702/). Lindsay wasn't able to go with me, I went with several fellow dentists at 4:30AM to catch the first train there and make it back before our first session of the day. Lindsay's presentation was that afternoon, and she needed her beauty sleep!

Tsukiji is a frenetically huge operation. Their website (http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm) details a little bit of their history and the very limited terms upon which you can visit. If you think about it, there's a whole lot of reason for these workers to absolutely hate tourists! And believe me, it shows when you go. Time is money at this place with fish so fresh, especially at their high price. If you ever go to Tokyo and want to do this, I would highly recommend it. But be polite! Respect their rules! Don't even think about taking small children! The little tuna-hauling forklift-like things they zip around with inside this massive warehouse almost flattened a fellow dentist's foot, no apologies. Go, but don't nose around the booths if you're not buying, and definitely don't take pictures of the sellers and their wares who are not interested in such theatrics. Stereotypes do exist everywhere - don't reinforce the rude American tourist one! You can YouTube search for clips of rude Tsukiji tourists and see what I mean.

UPDATE: After completing this post, I ran into an article detailing a month-long closure of the visitor observation area for exactly those reasons. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100407p2a00m0na017000c.html

On to the pictures I do have. As you can see from the website above, they allow visitors from 5AM to 6:15AM only in the tuna wholesale area.

Tourists are allowed only within a closely restricted section of the room. Photos are allowed, but only without flash.

The first round of fresh tuna have just been laid out, stored on ice during their boatride in and already gutted.

Prospective buyers are taking stock of the fish before the auction begins.

A small portion of the tail is cut away, allowing inspection of fat content and color. You can see buyers chipping away small fragments, thawing the meat in their hands, and tasting it.

At about 5:30 the auctions begin! I apologize for not having a video editor, I'm not sure how to cut this down. So skip to about 1:30 on this clip, that whole first section is just the auctioneer ringing his bell. When he actually starts in, he's quite entertaining. You can also see the officer walking around with a "NO FLASH" sign.