November 5, 2008

Breakfast at Tsukiji

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

There can be good things about jetlag, I have recently discovered. Traveling against time is always more difficult in my opinion and while in Japan I found myself waking up at 4 in the morning no matter when I had gone to sleep, since my inner clock had a hard time adjusting to Tokyo time. I would had have to anyways when going to Tsukiji, though. Tsukiji is a huge wholesale market area which is especially known for its fish market which is the largest in the world. Daily they handle more than 2,000 tons of goodies from the sea but everybody told us that the fun would already be over at around 7am, so we had to leave early. Actually we were there at 5am already and the hectic atmosphere was definitely telling us that all these people had been up for longer than just a while. Everywhere there were men in wellies and blue shirts.. in trucks, on scooters, with trolleys.. busy making the logistics happen. I tell you, never in my life have I seen this many polystyrene boxes before! Once we reached the inner market it was like going to seafood heaven, a complete sensory overload. Stalls offering everything from prawns with turquoise roe, the most beautiful clams, multiple kinds of baby sardines (they looked the same to me, though).. and then there were all those I didn't mention (since I don't know their species, I'm not that much of a seafood expert, my apologies!).. Have a look for yourself though.. Doesn't it look utterly amazing?

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

..However, the main attraction turned out to be the tuna auction. There were hundreds on them in either frozen or fresh condition, lying on the floor and while a man was auctioning them off, they were drawn on with red marker. Do notice how they cut them open by their tail, I guess it's on of the best place to check their quality? In any case, this was highly fascinating to me.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

..and afterwards we enjoyed some of those 200kg-each-tunas in a slightly smaller portion for breakfast!
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Æggeblomme og rå tun til morgenmad :) Det skulle jeg nok lige vænne mig til, hvis det var mig..
Og hold op hvor er sådan nogle tunfisk store!

Anonymous said...

wow those fish!! nature can so surprise you!

pretty said...

YUCK!!!!!!! ;)

danica said...

Wow, I am loving your Japan photos! Welcome back too! It's great to see you back in "blog land."

:)

S. said...

Do tell me.. how does sushi taste down there? I am sure it's sooo much better than what you get up here.. I love sushi.. but those fishes are kind of scary.. haha..

Great photo's thanks for sharing.

Mettch said...

yes, those fishes are kind of scary! i never had imagined they'd be this huge..
@ anne --det kan jeg godt forstå at du synes, men det skulle jo prøves ;) ægget skal forresten i den varme ris, så det koagulerer. tanken om rå æg er heller ikke voldsomt tiltalende for mig.
@ thesearchforchic -the sushi was AMAZING! not so fancy as its usually seen here, like different rolls. the focus is more on good quality ingredients (no mayo in my maki, haha).. very simple but extremely delicious!

S. said...

I am sure it was!! =D Just the thought.. yum. <3