It seems that no photo page about Tokyo can be called
complete without some pictures of Tsukiji
Market. (Say "skee-jee".) It's a visually stunning location,
with more colours of sea life than you could imagine (though blood red
is predominant).
Tsukiji is believed to date back to a riverside fish market in the 16th
century, and I'm guessing that some of these fishes' relatives were eaten
from a sidewalk stall here 400 years back.
"Probably the largest fish market in the world,
the Tsukiji stalls cover approximately the area of a football stadium.
More than 2500 tons of fish (one third of all the fish eaten in Japan)
pass through this market in a few hours each day, coming and going
on 17,000 trucks and countless scooters, bikes and delivery carts." (Japan
Today)
On a personal impressions note, tuna are big (the band saws are big too)
and eels are slimy looking. Half the fun of Tsukiji for us involved gawking
at fish stalls. The other half involved perusing all the other stalls
outside the fish market proper, where anything you might need to run a
restaurant was commercially available (china, cooking utensils, specialty
supplies, spices, vegetables, novelties...). Oh, and snacks were readily
available too.
An easy half day can be spent
here - don't miss it. |
