Yesterday morning, Jonathan, Tree and Kevin ventured out to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Tsukiji (pronounced tski-ji) is the wholesale fish market where something like 75% of the fish sold and consumed in Tokyo is sold by auction every day.
Tsukiji is quite the experience, I'm told. I have yet to make it to Tsukiji because the auctions start in the wee hours of the morning and end around 6:00am. Traveling with CJ, it's not practical to go out trekking out before dawn. The last time we were here three years ago, CJ was 4 1/2 months old and I was going nowhere that early with an infant!
Jonathan, Tree and Kevin left the hotel around 4:30pm, caught a cab to Tsujiki, then spent 15 minutes looking for the auction area since Tsukiji itself is blocks and blocks of restaurants, food equipment dealers, fish distribution houses, etc.
The auction area is technically closed to tourists, but they are tolerated if you stay out of the way. Imagine 400-500 tuna being auctioned off, in sections, to wholesalers who are distinguished by their blue hats. There's a lot of yelling and gesturing and then it's over. The bidding is intense and when each auction ends, another is starting nearby, while the enormous fish are hauled away for preparation. Jonathan has a video of a guy pulling what appears to be a 400-lb. piece of tuna. He motions to Tree to give it a try; she gives the fish a tug and it doesn't budget an inch.
In April 2007, Washingtonian Magazine published an article about why good tuna is so rare these days in the US. The reason? The good stuff is going to Japan. And no wonder. Japanese consumers are willing to pay top dollar for good tuna. We've had good tuna at several restaurants. But Jonathan, Tree and Kevin report superlative tuna at a sushi restaurant (yup, sushi for breakfast!) in Tsukiji. Here's a link to the Washingtonian article:
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/restaurants/3870.html
To learn more Tsukiji, go to
http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm
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