On Saturday, a co-worker and I made our way to the famous Tokyo fish market, the largest tuna auction in the world. They don’t let tourists into the auction itself (and it starts at 3am, and I am not that hard-core) but they open the public market at 9. We walked the seemingly miles of narrow pathways between buckets of every type of fish, shell fish, octopus and any sea creature you can imagine. The trick is to avoid getting plowed down by the motorized trucks that dodge between tourists and crates of icy-fish with just centimeters to spare (we are on metric when in Japan).
I was surprised at just how efficiently and quickly the fish market opened at 9, sold all of their merchandise, and then faded to a close by 9:30/9:45. Trust the Japanese to be efficiency experts.
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| Shrimp are avaliable in every color |
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| Often we saw 10-foot long solid frozen tuna being cut with band saws into perfect tuna planks. |
I definitely stood out as a tourist, and didn’t think enough about my wardrobe choices when I dressed that morning. Really Katie, canvas Toms and dragging jeans…in the FISH MARKET? The smart ones wear rubber rain boots with pants tucked in. I guess next time I’ll know!
A highlight was enjoying fresh sushi at a little hole-in-the wall restaurant where everyone waits in line to slide up to the long counter. The tuna was fresh, the tea was hot, and it was a great way to wrap up my business trip to Tokyo.
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