On Friday night amidst snow falling in big fluffy flakes, my friend Tiffany and I headed into Tokyo to meet my friend Nahoko. We were all staying at the New Sanno hotel so we would have easy access to the famous Tsuiji Fish Market. We arrived at 7:00ish PM and immediately headed to a delicious Mexican restaurant (the best i have had outside of the US and Mexico... those of you who have lived overseas know that finding good Mexican is nearly impossible). I'm just wondering why I hadn't heard of this restaurant sooner. We ate, drank and were definitely merry .... until the next morning when the wake up call came at 3:30 AM .... yes you heard me right. In order to get into the Tuna Auction you have to show up at 4:30 AM to get a "golden ticket and wait in line. They only allow 2 groups of 70 people to enter the auction (which is a highlight of the market). The Japanese government had to limit foreigners because they were disrupting the auctions. Back to our story... we arrived at 4:30 AM and were numbers 18, 19 ,& 20 for the second group of 70 allowed in. So this meant we waited in line outside in the freezing cold for an hour before being lead into a waiting area to enter the auction. We were given beautiful lime green vests (similar to ones passed out by your high school gym teacher to divide you into teams) and asked to "please don't use flash photography, if that is Ok" (typical Japanese way/always polite). The auction was so interesting to watch. There were big ole tuna fish in rows throughout the room and many men (no women) in hats with name plates moving from tuna to tuna checking a flap that was pre cut and sticking their hook in and sometimes pulling a piece out and holding it in their hands to warm it up and putting a flashlight up to it and sometimes tasting it. A bell started ringing and the bidding began in quick bursts of Japanese and hand gestures including waving, flicking, etc. The tunas went for about Y 300,000ー500,000 ($3600.-$6000.00)
and weighed about 30kg-50kg (66-110 lbs). Taro said they were small that day and the price depends on the weather, weight and/or the origin of the fish.
The market itself is best described as "Controlled Chaos". The streets and alleys are often narrow and there is a constant motion of people and vehicles of all shapes and sizes. But somehow everyone ends up moving in the direction they need to go without any accidents. It is definitely a sight to see.
Lucky for us, Nahoko's boyfriend, Taro, works at the market as a fish buyer and gave us a private tour. He brought us to the stalls of his friends. We watched a soft shell turtle divided into its sellable parts. The turtles' head was cut off but she was still biting and the rest I will not go into detail as it was disturbing yet interesting to watch. Next Taro showed us all the different fish and where they came from including whale meat, which strangely, looks like beef. And lastly we stopped by a stall cutting tuna. Tiffany and I got to cut off a side fin. It was pretty tough to get through. I almost cut the guy's arm off (oops!) but didn't. It was a great experience to have our own personal guides .... Thank you Taro and Nahoko! You two are the best!
A big thank you to Neal too for giving me the whole week-end off. I love you.
