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Originally uploaded by silverlantern

We got up really early the next day to see the famous fish market. Jae, who doesn’t eat raw fish didn’t want to go at first because we were planning to eat there for breakfast. I told him that he could come with us to see the place then back to the hotel for a nap while we ate. Diem who also doesn’t do raw also almost didn’t go because she was sleepy. But moments after she declined, she called me back and said that she was in Japan, and visiting fish markets are what tourists do in Japan, so by golly, she gonna do it.

   So, the 6 of us, braving the slight early morning chill, was soon on the subway bound for the Tsuski fish market.

We weren’t really sure where to go after all it was a working facility and didn’t exactly have any signs to guide curious tourists. We ended up following a guy we spotted in the station wearing rubber boots and carrying a wicker basket, figuring that he was going to buy fish. A little ways down the street he made a turn into a huge work yard filled with trucks and workers. At that point, unsure if we were following some stranger with a basket to a factory where he worked, we followed instead a group of tourists. I figured them to be tourists because one guy was carrying a Crumpler bag, one of those large 7 million dollar home ones.

A block down, it turns out they were kinda lost too, when we came to an intersection we turned into the warehouse section and they started to follow us instead. We looked around for some sort of sidewalk, or path that visitors could take but saw nothing but chaos. We then tried to make our way into the warehouse to take a look but with all the trucks and carts rushing by it was a bit intimidating, as if we were trespassing. Never the less, we made it through the traffic and into the warehouse and soon started seeing a bunch of seafood. We’re at the right place all right.

The place was a madhouse. There were these little golf cart size metal barrel with a steering wheel on top pickups that zipped around the place. Those things move fast between the narrow walkways. Not wanting to interfere with the workers and risk getting hurt, yelled at, or kicked out, we had to really watch were we were going and quickly move out of the way when people or fish came by.

The entire warehouse area consisted of about a dozen huge warehouses was full of seafood. Shrimps of all sizes, clams, octopuses, eels, squids, and the tuna… man were they huge. The men moved the fish around with huge hooks to pick them up. There were many stations where people were hard at work, skillfully cutting up the fish with long samurai looking swords. The care and precision of these men in the treatment of the fish is just amazing.

I was also surprised by the lack of stink. Having gone to outdoor Asian markets in Taiwan before, I thought I’d smell the place before I get there, but the place really didn’t smell at all. In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t recall any flies either.

Right next to the fish market was the produce market. There we saw tons and tons of vegetables of all sort. So green, so fresh! There was a section where we were able to watch the auctions being conducted. We didn’t know exactly what vegetables or how much at a time they were dealing with, but it was fun watching them. One guy would stand on a podium while a group of people gathered below. An assistant reading from the clipboard would tell the auctioneer the next item up. The guy yells it out, and individuals in the group raise their hands. The auctioneer would yell out something (numbers I’d assume) and then point to the next person with his hands raised and yell out again. Eventually he gives a final yell when people stop bidding. The whole process was lightening fast, finishing each item in seconds.