Tsukiji, Muder and No More Tourists

Dec 12, 2008
Tokyo, Japan

I went back to Tsukiji one more time this morning for another round of photography before we depart Japan on the 14th. I keep on wanting to write a blog here to sum up an overall impression of the world's largest fish market. Yet, still, much as I was a bit lost for words two weeks ago during my first visit, I am still unable to find the words to fully describe what Tsukiji is like. I hope that there will be an image or two that I have caught on film that does in some ways describe the feeling of Tsukiji.

Here are some preliminary thoughts, first of all, I might be one of the last foreign tourists allowed to photograph the market for the rest of 2008, or ever maybe. Tsukiji will be closed to foreign tourists from Dec 15, 2008 - Jan 17, 2009. The workers complains that tourists disrupting their work flow, tourists are not aware of their surrounding and the electric flatbed carts that workers drive at top speed to transport the fish. Which are all fair complains, when you think about it, it is a place of work after all and not some sort of static museum made for observation. On top of it, there is a plan to move Tsukiji to a new facility that they are building. Whether the move will actually happen or not is still debate able, but there is an irony in that I photographed Fulton Fish Market (New York City) before it moved to its new shiny home up in the Bronx.

There is a contrast in the worker at the market, the older generation verse the young. The older generation moves at a slower speed, time is different for them. They walk around their stall with their hands folded behind their back, gently inspecting their goods, quietly awaits. While the younger generation drives the flatbed carts at top speed through the market delivering the fish to its next point of processing. The young pushes the froze tuna through the band saw, cutting it into smaller pieces while the older seasoned fisherman takes the meter long Oroshi hocho and meticulous decapitate the tuna into 4 large sections.

I was amazed to watch over half of a warehouse full of tuna be auction off and moved to their next location in less than 25 minutes. Or the careful silence the bidder takes in inspecting each tuna's belly with a flash light or how they cut off a bit of flesh from the tail section and rub it between their fingers to determine the fat content of that tuna. All of my thoughts are still a little scattered and some what random, but it will be intelligible soon, I hope.

We later meet up with a friend, a film editor who is currently working in Tokyo, on a film called "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" which is about an employee of a fish market who also doubles as a contract killer....

I feel all things are starting to converge together....

Karato Ichiba vs Tsukiji

Dec 6, 2008
Shimonoseki, Japan

A 3+ hour train ride down to the very western edge of the Honshu providence of Japan to chase down another supposedly fablouse fish market. Now mind you that I have traveled quiet out of the way for markets before and despite the fear that the market would disappoint, so far I have yet to be disappointed. Well, perhaps because it was a sunday, perhaps no fish markets now would ever be that impressive compared to Tsukiji, but the Karato Ichiba was a bit of a let down.

There just wasn't much going on. There were mostly vendors selling fresh sushi, you are given a plate and tonges to pick your own, prices range any where from 100 Yen - 500 Yen depending on the fish. After sampling a few, despite the cheaper price and the fact that it was made all but minutes ago, I must say that nothing has yet come close to what I sampled after 2.5 hours in line just outside of Tsukiji.

There were a couple of vendors selling fish as it is, but only a couple. It just wasn't what I was hoping for. Maybe a at 4 am on a weekday would be different, for the time being, back to Tsukiji it is.

Tsukiji and First Impressions

Nov 29, 2008
Tokyo, Japan

First full day here in Tokyo and of course the first order of the day is to Tsukiji,the world largest fish market. I have been wanting to see this market ever since "Wok the Dog" became the project that it currently is. So naturally there is a lot of anticipation and a lot of expectation riding on today. After being some what disappointed in the markets that I found in Argentina, I was trying not get my hopes up, trying not to have any expectation.

We got off the subway and I smelled fish! My heart quickened and I was immediately excited by what could be waiting for me. Lets just say that I will be spending every available day shooting at Tsukiji for all the mornings that we will be here in Tokyo. It lived up to any expectation that I might have had.


After about 2 hours at the market, we wondered around for some coffee, shared a bowl of noodles for breakfast number 1 and proceeded to wait in line for a spot at a tiny sushi restaurant just outside of Tsukiji for some of the freshest sushi in the world! We waited 2.5 hours for a seat! Yes, it was amazing! As we waited in line, I had a silly thought, "What if they ran out of fish?"

We are in one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world and yet we have had nothing but tech troubles here. Our blackberries do not work since Japan is on their own cell network, I can't get money out of the ATM because Bank of America is stupid. So I am having a bit of crackberry withdrawl here. It seems rather ironic that I can get money out of the ATM in the boarder town on Laos without needing to inform BofA of my travel plans and yet here in Japan, they wish to hold my money hostage as a means to protect me. Blackberry was happily delivering me emails at the base camp of Mt Everest but not here in Tokyo. Ironies of ironies.

First impression of Tokyo is that its a lot like Taipei, Taiwan. With the only difference being that I can only understand about a third of what is going on and have virtually no ability to converse with anyone. I have wanted to see Japan ever since I was a child, how strange is it to find that it is a lot like HOME?

Well...that is the first impression at any rate. There will be more concert thoughts on Tsukiji and everything else later, after a little recovery from the jet lag and crackberry withdrawal.