There’s not too many things I’ll wake up before 5am for, so you know I had high expectations for this morning. At five am, Yumi, Joylani, and I took a cab to the Tsukiji Fish Market. By 5:30, we had met up with Yumi’s friend, Keiko, and were heading into an area of the market closed to the public. Luckily for us, Keiko had a friend who worked inside the market and got us visitor passes. Inside the complex were dozens of warehouses and inside the first we entered were hundreds of fresh tunas lined up on pallets. Huge ones ranging from 75 to 200 kilos- that’s like almost 500 pounds! Buyers were finishing up taking notes and completing their “homework” as we arrived. Soon enough, a bell rang which signaled the start of the auction. The process went quickly, with each fish being sold within just a few seconds. The auctioneer spoke so fast, almost dancing to the rhythm of  his own words.  It sounded like singing more than talking or yelling, and reminded Joylani of watching an animated pastor preach. Hands shot up from the mass of men intermittently, as bids increased. As they were sold, workers stuck paper tags on the damp scales of the tunas to identify the new owner, and the tunas were dragged away by men wielding sharp pole-hook-thingies. It was a dangerous place to be, with hooks swinging about, giant tunas sliding across the floor, and motorized carts zipping around to transport the fish.

mmmm….tasty…that’s also what a few hundred thousand dollars of tuna looks like…

auctioning the tuna

you gotta move the tuna once you buy it

After the fresh auction had ended, we headed to another warehouse where frozen tunas were being auctioned. The frozen ones had come from greater distances, anywhere from the far-reaches of Japan, the South Pacific, and even the Atlantic. The auction process seemed to be the same, but the buyers seemed to do a lot more research. Perhaps because they were frozen or perhaps because they were bigger. Keiko’s friend told us even fish of the same size could fetch wildly different prices, depending on the quality. (Apparently the best tuna tends to be fished from off the coast of Japan.) And when the fish are selling for tens of thousands of dollars, it pays to do your homework. The bidders would cut a tiny bit of meat from the tail, pop it in their mouth to thaw it, and then rub in their hands to feel the texture and see the color. They also used flashlights and look at the meat at different angles. It was all to try to estimate the fat content of the fish, which determined the price. After watching that auction, we walked back through a warehouse of stalls where the wholesalers sold their new purchases to buyers. It was cool to see so many different kinds of seafood in various stages of preparation. We stopped by Keiko’s friend’s stall and watched an 80-kg tuna get turned into four huge steaks, using what looked like a sword and then a saw.

tunas from Asia, America, and even Africa

bidders doing their due diligence

unbelievably big tunas

cut off the head, the tail, and then cut twice lengthwise and you got four huge tuna steaks

After the market, we ducked into one of the small sushi shops within the market. It was just a small single-counter place, but photos and signs indicated it had been open for over a hundred years. The sushi was awesome, probably the best I’ve ever had. Yumi and Keiko kindly guided us through the assortment of goodies coming our way as part of the sushi-set. The usual sashimi and nigiri was the most tender I had ever had. Then we had a lot of unique things like eel, sea urchin, and other live shellfish. It was fresh and unbelievable good. It was definitely worth waking up before 5am.

It sounds like the fun ends here, but it didn’t. Much to my delight our hosts led us out of the main market area, and we headed to another area full of all kinds of wonderful things from cooking utensils and hardware, dried goods, and fresh veggies. Note: this is the point where Matt’s [food] market abilities poop out and he is, and I quote, “going to die.” (Yes, even in Japan where the groceries are incredible. After he finishes with the seafood section and a quick pass through the cereal isle, he’s a goner.) However, today Matt was outnumbered 3-1 and I contentedly followed Yumi and Keiko through the market without a little voice outside my head reminding me of his imminent demise. Apparently this was also Yumi’s first time in this part of the market, but Keiko was pretty familiar with the place, and led us around to some of her favorite stalls.  We sampled pickles, and tried some tasty dried beans that somehow reminded me of raisins in their sweetness (thought the texture was much different).  We learned about the seasonal mushrooms, and i saw what wasabi (horseradish) looks like before it is served on your plate. The worst part about walking around this market was knowing that we have nothing even close as great at home.

pickle time!