Saturday morning - day 2 in Tokyo. We set off early for the Tsujiki Fish Market. Despite our reading up that it is mind blowing, must see, amazing, we both were skeptical. How good could it be? The Sydney Fish Markets are pretty impressive right? 2 subway train rides at lightening speed brought us out in the dock area. Tokyo seems to be either major modern first world polished or raw, asian, market type earthiness. Both equally appealing in measured doses. The "market" part of the market only reserves 120 spaces (2 groups of 60) for tourists and you have to arrive by 5am - then it locks its doors until 9am. We arrived around 8am and lined up at one of the 50 nearby sushi restaurant that had the shortest queue. Some queues went for 50m, ours was only about 10m. At about 830 am we secured a very teeny weeny space in a restaurant that had about 12 spaces.
We had made friends with Angela and Don from Michigan so it was nice to have a chat and enjoy this sensationally fresh Sushi. It was served with Green Tea and Miso which was also very tasty. Quite expensive by our standards - plate, tea and miso = AUD25. Mind blowingly tasty and melt in the mouth fresh.
By 9am, the "market" part re-opens to the public, so with a tummy full of fresh raw fish, we headed through to the wholesale area. We were amazed. I am surprised that there are any fish left in the sea - I think they are all in this market - and this happens 6 days a week (closed Wednesdays). Corridor, beside corridor of buckets, boxes, vats, fridges, tins, eskies, cabinets all overflowing with crabs, molluscs, enormous blood red tunas in various states of dissection, flouro orange snappers, white bait, abalone the list in endless. M I N D B L O W I N G!!! Incredibly visceral and every sense is on overdrive. Wear sturdy waterproof footware.
The areas around the markets are also alleys crammed with little hole-in-the-wall-shops selling ceramics, knick-knacks, restaurants, fresh vegetables and everything in between.
We left the market headed for Ginza (2 stops on the Hibiya Line). The high end fashion, chain and department store precinct, clean and polished.
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