The Tembys Take Japan - Day 12

Day 12

Some of us decided on an early start for day 12. Some of us being Caroline, Thomas and myself. One of the things that Caroline had put on the agenda was a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.

Before I get right into that though, here's a shot from the hotel at night:

One of the highlights is apparently the auctions which kick off at about 5:20 in the morning after the market opens at 3am. Now when I say we had a early start, we decided that we didn’t want to have to get there at 4am to line up for a chance at one of the limited spots available to view the auction. I’m pretty sure once you’ve seen one fish auctioned that there wouldn’t be a whole lot of difference in the next thousand or so.

We opted for a much more pleasant version of an early start at 8:30am. We left the other three (staunchly objecting to any suggestion that they go somewhere that had even the possibility of the smell of fish) tucked up in their beds sleeping .We walked down to the subway and when the first train pulled up, we realised what we’d done. 

It was a weekday. It was 8:30am. It was peak hour. We’d gone to the subway in peak hour! There weren’t that many people waiting to get on the train, so it wasn’t immediately apparent that it would be any different to any of the other trips that we’d taken. Then the train pulled in to the station.

There was something about the way that bodies and faces were smooshed up against pretty much every glass surface of the train that suggested that getting on wasn’t going to be a simple exercise. Maybe 6 people got off the train at the door we were waiting to get on at. There were at least 10 ahead of us waiting to replace them. We stood politely and watched, wondering how it was going to work. People stepped onto the train and crushed their way in. Then more people stepped on. And more people. The train was due to leave and the last person that stepped up was really only half way in with no way the door could close. 

That’s when the legendary pushers did their job. The nice polite gentleman in white gloves placed his hands upon the last person and pushed. The doors slowly started to close. He kept pushing. At the last instant he withdrew his hands so that doors could close completely. They were all on. And with what I imagined to be a collective relaxation and exhalation of breath from those on board, they again smooshed up against the glass and the train left the station.

“Right, we know what to do now,” we agreed and stepped up to make sure that we were first in line for the next train. As it pulled in we readied ourselves for the challenge. A couple of people spilled out and we stepped onto the train, forcing our way inwards. More people stepped on behind us. Steps were limited to tiny motions forward as we were crushed against the wall of humanity in front of us. It was quite amazing how far into the carriage we had made it when the doors closed. We were probably close to half way in. Of course, being packed as tight as sardines, there wasn’t actually anyway to reach up to grab hold of the overhead straps dangling there for that purpose. I had worked my way in holding my camera bag in front of me with both hands. The back of those hands were suddenly thrust quite firmly against the buttocks of the woman in front of me. I kind of wanted to move them, but was afraid that if I did it might be misinterpreted as a deliberate act. The train left the station before I over thought it. As the train took off, the mass of humanity lurched toward the rear of the train. There was nowhere to step and nothing to hold onto, but fortunately being stuck in what had become a single mass, there was also no way to fall over! So we lurched with the crowd and the stood straight as we achieved the desired speed. When the train pulled into the next station we all lurched the other way. A few people spilled off and a few more crammed in. 

I did wonder as we lurched back and forth with the train’s comings and goings about the people that were actually seated in the middle of the carriage. Either they must have been due to get off at a point where most people had already disembarked or they must have to start working their way toward the entrance five stops before they were due to get off. Needless to say, I didn't even think to try and get a photo!

Anyway, with that adventure over, we struck out in search of the fish market. The first thing we found out was that tourists aren’t allowed into the central part of the market until after 10am so we commenced with an exploration of the outer market. The outer market was full of food stalls, knife vendors and a range of other market stalls. 

I was pretty keen on picking up a super sharp Japanese knife until I read something on one of the stalls about managing the corrosion due to the high carbon content. Suddenly it sounded like something that was unlikely to be well managed in our house so I opted for not spending the money.

The best thing that we saw in the outer market was an enormous live octopus stuck in a styrofoam crate. 

Come 10am we were able to enter the fish market itself and so headed in, excited about what we might see. We saw a lot of Tuna. The size of some of the cuts were astounding. I think we were both hoping and expecting to see the weird and wonderful that had been extracted from our oceans and while there were certainly some interesting specimens, the variety wasn’t quite what we’d hoped. Having said that we only walked through about 5% of the market because we didn’t feel the need to devote the entire day to the exercise, especially as we had the other three back in the hotel.

We sampled a couple of things, though we didn’t get over;y adventurous. I would have liked to have had some sashimi, but the price tags scared me off. One thing we did observe was that considering we’d just been through such an extensive fish market, we hadn’t particularly noticed the smell. Possibly going there in the cold of January was a good idea.

When your fish doesn't quite fit the box

A photo of a photo of the market ... back in the day

In the end it was time to return to the hotel and get the rest of the family moving. Given so long as passed since we were actually there, I'm not exactly sure what we spent the rest of the day doing. There is a fair chance that shopping was involved though. I'm pretty sure that given it was our last night in the hotel that it was the night that Michael, Thomas, Caroline and I went up to the 21st floor of the hotel for a cocktail (or soda water for Thomas). It would have been much nicer had it not been filled with cigarette smoke!