Tsukiji Fish Market

Today was quite the sight, let me just say that.

Today we went to the worlds biggest fish market- Tsukiji Fish Market. We saw lots of different fish, shellfish and crustations. The fisherman start their job at about 11:00 at night. They would then bring it to the market and the tuna auctions would start at around 5:00 am, but the lineup to see this famous auction would start at 3:00 am! This market is definitely NOT a market for tourists. It's a really busy market and lots of workers with small shunt trucks zoom around the market, so it can be pretty dangerous! As we were walking around this ginourmas place, we saw tons of buckets with water- where they keep the live fish. Sometimes, they would take the fish out and butcher it right there on the spot. But usually, to keep the fish as fresh as can be, they would let the fish live as long as possible, and then it would die on its own. It was quite amusing (but kind of gross, especially to watch the particularly bloody and gutty fish get butchered), to see the fish being chopped up. Unlike North America, the Japanese use almost every single part of the fish, (including the head, the stomach, the eyes...). 

We saw many interesting fish, such as eel (not electric eel though!), octopi, huge oysters, black sea urchins, HUGE tuna (the size of the height of my dad, or longer!), red fish with gigantic eyes, weird looking yellow eggplant type things, really tiny shrimp, and much, much more! At around 10:00 am, the workers would start closing up their shops and packaging up the fish to send it off to restaurants or warehouses. 

It was really interesting to see all the different species of fish and the workers hard at work. I loved the Tsukiji Fish Market! 

Our Fish Market Vlog: Part 1

Our Fish Market Vlog: Part 2