They're Playing Our Tuna

At 4:30 am this morning, Friday, Sue (a computer literacy teacher), Liz (a library media specialist), and I hopped into a taxi headed for the famous Tsujiki Fish Market. Rain was pouring from the pre-dawn skies, and the taxi driver would have thought we were slightly crazy if this destination were not a "must-see" for Tokyo visitors. It was hard to tell just what to do and where to go when the taxi driver shooed us out of the car, pointing off into the night, but we soon found our way into brightly-lit market stalls filled with every kind of fresh fish. Vendors were rushing, motorized carts were whirring in every direction, people were wrapping fish in precise packages, blocks of ice and styrofoam containers were stacked everywhere. We knew that the wholesale fish auctions were to begin at 5:30, though we weren't sure where. We wandered among beautiful seafood displays, trying to identify the goods. Opening a door labeled "Visitors Pass Here" we entered a huge frosty room filled with enormous fish -- tuna, we learned from a courteous local man, from South Africa and the Philippines -- which was to be auctioned off soon. Buyers were inspecting each frozen fish, rubbing small bits of tuna between their fingers to see if it contained the right amount of oil for their tastes. The sky was getting light as we hurried back to our hotel for hot baths and breakfast in order to be in our seminars by 9. Here are pictures to give you the flavor of the market and auction which provide tons and tons of fish to Japanese consumers every day. It was amazing.