04.26.05
Tsukiji: Sushi for Breakfast
Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest fish market in the world. Fish from all over the world are sent here to be auctioned off and sent elsewhere. The market is bigger than three American football fields and tightly packed with fish vendors. The fish here is very fresh, so it makes sense that the best sushi in town can be found nearby. Angvara, a foreign student from Thailand, and I set out early and had a great but exhausting experience.
Tsukiji opens at 5 a.m. and begins with fish auctions, followed by vegetable auctions starting at 7. Normally, we’re not allowed out of the dorm before 7:15 a.m., but we can leave early for official events if we get special permission at 6:15 a.m. Technically this wasn’t a official event, so a normal student would have been turned down. But because Ang and I are part of this three month program, we were allowed to go. Boy it’s early. The other women of the program didn’t want to go for various reasons, primarily because they value their sleep. But it’s their loss – after all, how many opportunities do you get to visit the biggest fish market in the world?
I had gotten the idea to go from a guide book I bought at Nichi Bei Bussan in San Jose called Little Adventures in Tokyo, by Rick Kennedy. This ten year old book has a variety of proposed activities that are off the beaten path. I had lent it to Ang, because I figured she might be interested in some of them, and she liked this adventure the best. Some of the adventures can be pricey, so this one wasn’t too bad – subway fare plus breakfast. Tsukiji is mentioned by many other guide books, such as Lonely Planet, but Kennedy adds a personal touch that’s very appealing.
The first thing we saw after we exited the subway was the Tsukiji Buddhist Honganji, which has a distinctly Indian appearance. Apparently the original one was in Yokohama, but it was relocated to here after the fire of 1657. Tsukiji means “built land.” Here are some photos.
I was a little nervous as we approached as buyers joined us and they all wore waterproof wellington-style boots. Ang was wearing socks with sandals. When we got there, it seemed a madhouse. Small forklifts, trucks, people on bicycles, people with hand trucks all rushing around like mad. There were motorized tiny trucks I had never seen before with only one front wheel. They could turn on a dime. And they had to, once we got inside the giant warehouse that houses the market. The aisles were narrow, with periodic slightly wider aisles where two of the small trucks could pass each other at intersections. There were fish everywhere. We walked a narrow aisle for the length of the warehouse until we reached the place where vendors waited at a giant bandsaw to cut apart the huge frozen tuna like lumber. Then we walked the depth of it, looking for the auction area.
1-The crazy outside of the warehouse. We tried not to get killed. 2-Ang walks down one of the wider aisles. Look how deep it goes! 3-Aisle upon aisle of densely packed fish and seafood!
1-Ang overlooks the queue waiting for the bandsaw. 2-120 and 118 kilogram fish! 3-A vendor hauls his tuna to his stall.
1-Colorful stacks of fish. 2 & 3-Tentacles that look like neon, or post-modern flowers.
Fish I’ve never seen before. The vendor for #2 insisted I take his fish’s picture after I took one of #1. #3 is supposedly from Guam, so maybe Andrew can name it for me. #4 was alive, I wish I’d remembered to get a movie of it swimming. Strange!
Sadly, even with our early start, we missed all of the fish auctions. By the time we navigated the cavernous warehouses to the vegetable area across the street, they were well into the vegetable auctions. We could see the even bigger auction venue for the fish auction, though. Here’s some footage of vendors bidding on a root vegetable/herb.
Vegetables were brightly colored and varied, but after all the fish, we were hungry for breakfast. We went to a fish vendor to ask for a recommendation. He gave us directions to a place I couldn’t read the name of, but we knew it was the right place because there was a line. There were eight people ahead of us in line, and we waited over half an hour to be seated because it was so small. When we left, there was an even longer line waiting to get in! I ordered the top-of-the-line chef’s special (Tencho Omakase Set), because I figured it’s Tsukiji, so it would be worth the $36.
Waiting in line.
I was right. Hands down it was the best sushi I have EVER eaten, and sadly probably will ever eat. The store owner and master chef (tencho) decided what to give us, and handed us nigiri sushi piece by piece, with instructions like “No soy sauce!” I don’t remember the names of most of them, but I know I ate o-toro (the best part of the tuna), uni (sea urchin roe), which had only a whisper of the earthy flavor that develops as it gets less fresh, tekka maki (surprisingly bitter and my least favorite), and anago (see eel), lightly grilled with sauce. Many of the pieces were already finished with a sauce or marinade, which soy would have masked. We were given no wasabi, unlike the couple next to us, who ordered more esoteric sushi by the piece and went through 3 tall bottles of beer.
I have yet to eat real wasabi. What we’re served in the US is a preparation of horseradish and food coloring that approximates the flavor of the real thing. Each piece was placed on a shelf in front of us, and the counter area held things like the soy, tea, and soup.
At the end, we were allowed to order one piece of whichever one was our favorite. I was tempted to go for the light and sweet anago, but I went for the very expensive o-toro instead. It was fabulous. All together it wasn’t so many pieces of sushi. At home I could probably eaten more, but the timing was perfect, and we were full by the time we were done. Ang didn’t even have room for the last piece.
Sadly, no room for these fish-themed (but not flavored) manju confections.
Afterwards, we went back to the dorm and crashed. We had gotten up early and walked over 4 miles in only a few hours. That was too much for someone as out of shape as me (although I am improving slowly as time goes on). I ached all over, but felt as good as new after a 4 hour nap.
This is definitely something every visitor to Tokyo should do, unless you really hate fish. But definitely get up for the fish auctions, which start at 5 a.m. I’m sure they’re very impressive. Lonely Planet suggests that arrival jet lag will have you up then anyway.