When I found out I would be moving to Tokyo, one of the things I was most excited about was to visit the fish market. Tsukijishijo is the largest wholesale seafood market in the world! I heard it was very exciting! And then I found out that I would be living on the same subway line as the market, so it would be super easy to get there!But then I got to Tokyo and realized that in order to visit the market at its most interesting, you have to wake up freaking early in the morning and get the first train because it's busiest before, like, 6:30. I am not into getting up for the first train so, although I still wanted to go, I failed to motivate myself to do so until last Monday.
It was very exciting! I was glad for the opportunity to visit, but I honestly don't understand why they allow tourists to just wander around there! IT IS EXTREMELY SCARY. People are rushing about doing their jobs and driving around on these terrifying cart things and the paths are sometimes too small and tourists are just wandering about being in the way and I thought I was going to die a lot of the time. Oh, and I had a really horrible moment where there was a chunk of fish on the ground and I stepped on it and it was the worst squishy feeling ever. But the market was very interesting! And it didn't even smell that bad! I mean, it smelled like seafood, but maybe because it was fresh or maybe because there was lots of fresh air, the seafood smell didn't make me gag! And there was lots to see! There were lots of giant tuna! At one point, we got kind of stuck because of a cart in the way, and then a man came along and was, like, "Gomen ne!" and threw a giant frozen tuna at our feet, blocking our way even more! It was exciting! And there were tons of other delicious kinds of seafood! There were loads of things I could not identify!
We spent a lot of time wandering around and exploring and then headed to the outer part of the market where there are sushi shops that sometimes have very long lines. We had to wait for a bit, but it wasn't too bad. I got two pieces of sushi, ika (squid) and toro (tuna belly), and they were super expensive! Seriously, two bites of food for ¥1200 (¥400 for the ika, ¥800 for the toro)! It was worth it though! Freshest sushi I've ever had! The ika was fantastic, and the toro was pretty much one of the best pieces of food I've ever eaten. DELICIOUS. I would have had more, but I didn't have a chance to go to the ATM before we went to the market, so I couldn't afford it. Maybe someday I will return!
Enjoy a bunch of pictures of seafood and a video of my walk from one end of one of the many paths in the market to the other.
Sounds like a most-exciting place to visit early in the morning! I am curious if you know what in the heck is in that blue bin - whatever it is, it looks kinda icky!!
ReplyDeleteThe freshest sashimi I've had was a yellowfin tuna that was caught off the side of the boat I was in when I was on Pohnpei - we sliced it right there, and ate it. Simply amazing how delicious it was. So I can just imagine how yummy your sushi was!!! *drool!!!*
The video was fun! Definitely demonstrated how busy it was there, and how much of a workday it is for most people there.
I forgot to mention that my favorite part of the video was when you almost got run over by that truck thing! Reminds me of being at Costco when I was little, and afraid of the trucks carrying pallets!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that it was noisy in the video, but not extremely so. Seems like it would be quite loud with all of that activity. Your walk was kinda scary - especially when that cart almost got you!! Also, when you passed the non-Japanese guys, one of them was quite smiley - funny!!
ReplyDeleteI loved all the pics, but especially the one of the place where all the giant fish heads are!! Yikes!! Your sushi looked very tasty. And, WHAT was that in the pic with the clams? Whatever it was looked very disturbing!!