Since the Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest fish market in the world, it's not surprising that it needs its own traffic police, complete with rubber boots, to keep the ice- and fish-haulers moving. We arrived there on Monday morning at about 6:45 to give our students one of the most visually stimulating experiences in Tokyo. To even call this a "market" is misleading, as it's a huge district on the waterfront, complete with its own subdistricts: one for restaurant supplies, one for sushi restaurants, one for ice production and sale, one for vehicles, and so on.
Much of it is indoors, with large warehouse avenues full of busy traffic (trucks, handcarts, small lawn-mower-like flatbeds like in the picture above, motorcycles, mopeds, and bicycles). Last year I mostly stayed in the areas where seafood was being prepared, and I did park myself near this butcher (below) who was mostly working on squid and octopus. But I had time to explore some of the other areas, before getting the most amazing and fresh meal of sushi...a huge plate for breakfast, for 1200 yen.
Yesterday, exploring Shimbashi (I will post on this later), I found myself in a highrise overlooking the fish market, which you can see in the curved, concentric warehouses below. Essentially everything in this picture (taken from a 46th floor) is the market.
Since the Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest fish market in the world, it's not surprising that it needs its own traffic police, complete with rubber boots, to keep the ice- and fish-haulers moving. We arrived there on Monday morning at about 6:45 to give our students one of the most visually stimulating experiences in Tokyo. To even call this a "market" is misleading, as it's a huge district on the waterfront, complete with its own subdistricts: one for restaurant supplies, one for sushi restaurants, one for ice production and sale, one for vehicles, and so on.
Much of it is indoors, with large warehouse avenues full of busy traffic (trucks, handcarts, small lawn-mower-like flatbeds like in the picture above, motorcycles, mopeds, and bicycles). Last year I mostly stayed in the areas where seafood was being prepared, and I did park myself near this butcher (below) who was mostly working on squid and octopus. But I had time to explore some of the other areas, before getting the most amazing and fresh meal of sushi...a huge plate for breakfast, for 1200 yen.
Yesterday, exploring Shimbashi (I will post on this later), I found myself in a highrise overlooking the fish market, which you can see in the curved, concentric warehouses below. Essentially everything in this picture (taken from a 46th floor) is the market.
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