Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Tsukiji
Last Saturday morning I went Tsukiji, the worlds largest fish market. The market opens at 5AM and is about 1.5 hours away from where I live. I really wanted to get there at 5AM because I have heard that is the best time to explore. The problem I ran into was that the trains do not start running until 5 or 5:30AM, so the earliest I could get there from the dorms was around 6:30 or 7. So a few of my friends and I came up with a solution, we decided to go to an Izakaya (Japanese Style Bar) in Ginza late Friday night and eat and drink until about 4:30AM. We would then walk to Tsukiji and get to see the market open.
To say the least, it was a long night... and a long following day, but was completely worth it. Not only did we get to see the hectic market, but we were able to eat the worlds BEST sushi. We went to a sushi resturant named Daiwa, which is known around the world for having the best sushi in Tsukiji. So i figure that if Tsukiji has the best sushi in Japan... and Japan has the best sushi in the world... I at the best sushi in the world. We did have to wait for 1.5 hours in line to get into this tiny place that only seats about 20 people. But it was completely worth it. I cannot even describe how perfect each slice or roll of sashimi (raw fish) was. I did't really get any pictures of the restaurant, but I did post a lot of pictures of the market in the gallery.
Also, here are a few pictures of the huge tuna that we saw at Tsukiji. The pictures start at an auction where the tuna or sold, then buyers taking their tuna to their stores to sell, cutting the tuna, and lastly the final product... slices of semi-fatty fresh tuna for sale.
Unbelievably, each whole tuna can sell for between $10,000-$20,000USD dollars each. I guess that is why a few fresh slices the size of your thumb sells for $5 dollars. Also, watching the auction for the tuna was crazy. It sounded like they were singing. There were also no visible bidding signs, it was hard to see who was biddign and who was not. Here is a shaky video of that:
When we were walking through the market, we found a box of crabs that were still alive, it seems cruel, but I guess that is how you guarantee freshness. Check it out:
Anyway. I have posted many pictures of Tsukiji, check them out. In other news, I have less than 10 days until I could possibly graduate, which is exciting, yet I have still not finished many of the things I need to do before then. We will see what happens. Anyway, time to start writing a 10 page paper that is due today. I will post more news soon.
To say the least, it was a long night... and a long following day, but was completely worth it. Not only did we get to see the hectic market, but we were able to eat the worlds BEST sushi. We went to a sushi resturant named Daiwa, which is known around the world for having the best sushi in Tsukiji. So i figure that if Tsukiji has the best sushi in Japan... and Japan has the best sushi in the world... I at the best sushi in the world. We did have to wait for 1.5 hours in line to get into this tiny place that only seats about 20 people. But it was completely worth it. I cannot even describe how perfect each slice or roll of sashimi (raw fish) was. I did't really get any pictures of the restaurant, but I did post a lot of pictures of the market in the gallery.
Also, here are a few pictures of the huge tuna that we saw at Tsukiji. The pictures start at an auction where the tuna or sold, then buyers taking their tuna to their stores to sell, cutting the tuna, and lastly the final product... slices of semi-fatty fresh tuna for sale.
Unbelievably, each whole tuna can sell for between $10,000-$20,000USD dollars each. I guess that is why a few fresh slices the size of your thumb sells for $5 dollars. Also, watching the auction for the tuna was crazy. It sounded like they were singing. There were also no visible bidding signs, it was hard to see who was biddign and who was not. Here is a shaky video of that:
When we were walking through the market, we found a box of crabs that were still alive, it seems cruel, but I guess that is how you guarantee freshness. Check it out:
Anyway. I have posted many pictures of Tsukiji, check them out. In other news, I have less than 10 days until I could possibly graduate, which is exciting, yet I have still not finished many of the things I need to do before then. We will see what happens. Anyway, time to start writing a 10 page paper that is due today. I will post more news soon.