Day 3- Tsukiji Fish Market -4/3/2017
Over the years Tsukiji Market has become a major tourist attractions! In fact, the numbers of visitors have increased so much over recent years, that it became a problem for people working in the market, and the aging market's infrastructure was not meant to serve as a tourist spot. A lot of people are interested in seeing the Tuna auction but you have to get up really early and be at the market by 5:00AM so we decided to skip it and just visit the market.
Hours of Operation
Outer Market: varies by shop, typically 5:00 to 14:00
Wholesale Area: open to visitors after 10:00am
Tuna Auction: open to visitors from 5:25am to 6:15am (restricted to 120 visitors/day)
This is just outside the market. It was around 9:30am and you can see vendors already packed their fish/catch of day and ready to ship them to their customers.
We are now inside the market.
Once inside, you are free to wander amongst the stalls freely but look out for speedy yellow buggies zipping through, as they will keep going, you have to be extremely careful and stay away of their path.
The market is still crowded at this time, so try your best not to get in the way of vendors trying to do their jobs! As a reminder that this is a working market, not a tourist attraction. Remember not to smoke, don't touch anything, do not bring large bags or luggage, or wear inappropriate footwear (the ground is very uneven, wet and dirty). Young children are also not allowed as it is pretty dangerous with all the yellow buggies zipping through.
A variety of seafood on display.
After cleaning their fish, all the heads are thrown in together. I am sure they sell it as you can use it for broth, etc...
Lots of vendors with all kind of fish you can think of.
Salmon
Not sure what it is but it looks like some type of scallops. |
Bright red octopus |
A variety of shrimps.
Fresh crabs. |
Octopus |
Large squids.
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Not sure what type of fish this is but it is definitely a big fish.
Tuna
cutting tuna
Close look the tuna
Tuna cut in sections and probably reserved for their customers.
Tuna shop.. cutting Tuna into smaller portions.
Packing a whole tuna.
And then they put the tuna into a wood container packed with ice.. They probably will ship it out to a customer or a market.
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Tools for cutting fish.
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These yellow buggies are used to transport fish inside the market and they are everywhere.
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We are done with our tour and we are now walking out of the market.
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Next.. Hama Rikyu Gardens