Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness


Tsukiji Sellers
Vendors stationed at their Tsukiji fish market stalls.
Electric Cars
Workers drive electric transport and cargo cars.
fish heads
Young employee at a stand cuts fish heads.
Banking
Vendor behind a lush fish and seafood storefront in Tsukiji market.
fish price
Fish prices prominently displayed on specimens of each species.
Ice Cargo
Employee stocks up on ice.
Cash
Worker responsible for the cashier of a stand.
Buyer
Buyer examines a well-kept fish in a Styrofoam box.
fish & seafood
Showcase of fish and seafood.
transportable cold
Tsukiji market worker prepares to transport large rectangles of ice.
A calm day from Tsukiji
Sellers carry out various tasks after most buyers have left the market.
meticulous packaging
Sellers carefully prepare a fish with great value.
light cargo
Cargo carrier holds a stack of thermo-protective packaging filled with Japanese annotations.
generic store
Workers shop at a non-fish shop in Tsukiji's fish market.
Tsukiji II Sellers
Vendors stationed at their Tsukiji fish market stalls.
VVV
Cashiers at a fish stand pose for the photograph.
In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.

If doubts remained, the attraction exerted on gaijin (foreigners) visiting Tokyo proved the eccentricity of Tsukiji's vast market.

As we ourselves experienced, every day, hundreds of curious souls from the four corners of the world came out of their hotels and guest-houses in the still dark hours of the dawn.

they left us as sleepy as they were excited by the new incursion into the civilizational particularities of the Japanese capital.

The shutdown of the subway system shortly after midnight forced most foreigners to use the city's expensive taxis. But it wasn't long before the extra hundreds of yen and lost hours of sleep were made up for.

The Early Rise Activation of Tsukiji Market

Around three in the morning, around 2300 tons of fish, shellfish and seaweed began arriving at the Tsukiji complex in incessant discharges. Once unloaded, they were prepared for the auction sale that follows.

Workers hauled huge tuna and swordfish, cut and transported blocks of ice in small carts they pulled, or over the back grille of old pastry makers. Boxes and tanks with specimens of fish and molluscs as strange as they were alive were passed from hand to hand.

ice cargo, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Employee stocks up on ice.

felt flow the productive energy that has allowed Tokyo to develop from a mere swamp to the metropolis it has become in just two hundred years..

This same energy feeds and mobilizes the largest city in the world.

The Controversial Incursions of the Gaijin into Tsukiji

From March 11th to July 26th 2011, foreigners' access was banned due to damage to buildings in Tsukiji caused by the great earthquake in Sendai. When we visited the market, it was only possible to enter from five in the morning.

Access to the tuna fish market – one of the most sought after spaces – was only granted to a few dozen lucky people a day.

There appeared, lined up according to type and origin, hundreds of specimens of frozen and smoking tuna, due to the difference in their temperature compared to the environment.

fish sellers, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Vendors stationed at their Tsukiji fish market stalls.

Tuna and Swordfish: Food Treasures Fished from the Seas

From the moment the opening bell rang, they were sold there for exorbitant prices that, depending on the excellence of their meat, could amount to 8.000 euros.

This was the case with certain swordfish and with large bluefin tuna and a otorus (the fattest part of the belly, located below the pectoral fin) irreproachable, the always sought after raw material for the best sushi and sashimi in the nation of emperors.

The families of some vendors and employees worked in the market for over ten generations. Shiro Kamoshita's, 61, had been present for just three years, which did not stop him from establishing himself as a successful intermediary, able like few others to assess the fish that passed his eyes: “A good tuna is like a sumo wrestler .

A sumo wrestler eats a lot but because he exercises a lot he has a lot of muscle and the fat around him is soft. With tuna, it's exactly the same thing.”

Shouted in Japanese more imperceptible than ever, business was carried out in Tsukiji according to a sacred protocol, not always respected by tourists.

From time to time, they couldn't resist touching the pieces on display. They irritated owners, buyers and market authorities, and brought about new restrictions on access.

packing, fish, sellers, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Sellers carefully prepare a fish with great value.

Allowing or Prohibiting Foreign Visits, the Persistent Issue

As we were informed, the rules changed depending on events and pressure from two types of market agents: those who had no advantage in the presence of foreigners. And those of the owners of the restaurants in the complex.

These increased their invoicing whenever the gaijin were attacked by hunger and devoured their meals. When they attend with the superior purpose of tasting the freshest and most genuine sushi and sashimi in Japan, the same sushi and sashimi that is sold in the upscale restaurants of the multi-million dollar Ginza district, more than 12 hours later (part of late dinners), the 400 euros per dose.

storefront, fish, seafood, seller, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Vendor behind a lush fish and seafood storefront in Tsukiji market.

Or they sold a series of other less famous but much more challenging dishes such as fugu, a delicacy made from balloon fish and which can be lethal if the cook in charge does not conveniently remove the organs that concentrate a poison for which there is no antidote, tetrodotoxin.

Tsukiji's Inevitable Risks and Tight Hygiene Criteria

Other accidents were permanently avoided at the Tsukiji fish market: hundreds of small electric cars with a rusty look of “Space 1999” props were driven by workers who kept on alert to bypass us and busy or distracted colleagues.

transport, cargo, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Workers drive electric transport and cargo cars.

Knife-wielding fishmongers cut huge fins into bloody containers. Meanwhile, distinguished employees were preventing avalanches from piles of empty Styrofoam boxes.

Despite the amount of fish and seafood present, the characteristic aroma of these sea creatures was faint in Tsukiji. Such softness to the sense of smell stemmed from the Japanese obsession with hygiene and antisepsis.

The stalls appeared organized without blemish. The products – including some from the controversial Japanese whaling – on generous layers of crushed ice, packed in cellophane and in sophisticated freezers. Or, if still alive, in salt water containers.

Thick cardboard sheets ensured species identification with large, clearly visible characters as well as a price that should not be haggled.

fish-selling-kingdom deposed, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Fish prices prominently displayed on specimens of each species.

The High Consumption of Fish and Seafood. Both Japanese and Portuguese

One of the few sellers who spoke English asked us, Tsukiji, where we were from. He hastened to identify Portugal on a planisphere that he kept affixed to the low ceiling of his bench. "Portugal? Very good fish and seafood! And if I remember my times spent at sea, they eat almost as much as we do.”

The per capita consumption of Japanese fish, like Portuguese, is exemplary, surpassed only by island nations with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants like the Iceland. Or for smaller ones like the Maldives and Kiribati.

Despite the tonnage that was supplied by the Tsukiji market until its closure, since the end of the 10th century, the quantity of tuna sold there – of which Japan consumes about a third of world production – has been around 11%, XNUMX %.

vendors, fish, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Vendors stationed at their Tsukiji fish market stalls.

Tsukiji Market: The Gradual Loss of Freshness and Influence

It was hindered by the option of large stores to buy directly at source, something that was facilitated by the evolution in communications and the consolidation of retail

On the other hand, fish purchased by Kamoshita and colleagues were no longer exclusively caught in the waters off the nearly 7000 Japanese islands. More than half came from vendors as far away as those in Port Lincoln, in the Australia or Gloucester, Massachusetts.

To aggravate the loss of relevance of the Tsukiji market, Japanese women are increasingly working outside the home. As they have less time to buy fresh fish, opt for the convenience of processed fish.

These changes threatened the livelihoods of Japanese fishermen, middlemen and sellers. They also threatened the quality of the fish in general.

fish head, seller, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Young employee at a stand cuts fish heads.

Fishermen and stevedores clipped the tails of tuna exposed at the auction so buyers could examine the fat content and color of the meat. The origin of tuna was written in Japanese on labels placed on the carcasses.

As a rule, when the tuna came from non-Japanese waters, an extra portion was cut. These were fish that spent more time out of water until they reached Tsukiji. As such, sellers granted some extra access to the piece so buyers could conveniently investigate their meat.

The great earthquake in Sendai, the respective tsunamis and the catastrophe in Fukushima led to the loss of fishermen and boats that supplied the capital. In addition, fears of contamination have become nuclear.

Even though the government has banned fishing in the waters off the northeast of Japan, in recent times, transactions in the Tsukiji market and imports of Japanese fish and seafood have decreased mainly as a result of popularization and internationalization of fears.

women sellers, boxes, countertops, fish, deposed kingdom, market, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan

Cashiers at a fish stand pose for the photograph.

After the great earthquake in Sendai, the Tsukiji market, like Japan in general, started to supply the great Japanese capital. Following a long controversy, the Tsukiji market was transferred to Toyosu.

Among the reasons given, there was the excessive antiquity of the buildings. The real reason might have been the real estate value of the relatively central and seaside land occupied by Tsukiji.

Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
World Food

Gastronomy Without Borders or Prejudice

Each people, their recipes and delicacies. In certain cases, the same ones that delight entire nations repel many others. For those who travel the world, the most important ingredient is a very open mind.
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

Tokyo's Meiji Temple was erected to honor the deified spirits of one of the most influential couples in Japanese history. Over time, it specialized in celebrating traditional weddings.
Tokyo, Japan

Japanese Style Passaport-Type Photography

In the late 80s, two Japanese multinationals already saw conventional photo booths as museum pieces. They turned them into revolutionary machines and Japan surrendered to the Purikura phenomenon.
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Tokyo, Japan

The Emperor Without Empire

After the capitulation in World War II, Japan underwent a constitution that ended one of the longest empires in history. The Japanese emperor is, today, the only monarch to reign without empire.
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Safari
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Treasures, Las Vegas, Nevada, City of Sin and Forgiveness
Architecture & Design
Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

Projected from the Mojave Desert like a neon mirage, the North American capital of gaming and entertainment is experienced as a gamble in the dark. Lush and addictive, Vegas neither learns nor regrets.
Full Dog Mushing
Adventure
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.
Dragon Dance, Moon Festival, Chinatown-San Francisco-United States of America
Ceremonies and Festivities
San Francisco, USA

with the head on the moon

September comes and Chinese people around the world celebrate harvests, abundance and unity. San Francisco's enormous Sino-Community gives itself body and soul to California's biggest Moon Festival.
patriot march
Cities
Taiwan

Formosa but Unsafe

Portuguese navigators could not imagine the imbroglio reserved for the Formosa they baptized. Nearly 500 years later, even though it is uncertain of its future, Taiwan still prospers. Somewhere between independence and integration in greater China.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Kiomizudera, Kyoto, a Millennial Japan almost lost
Culture
Kyoto, Japan

An Almost Lost Millennial Japan

Kyoto was on the US atomic bomb target list and it was more than a whim of fate that preserved it. Saved by an American Secretary of War in love with its historical and cultural richness and oriental sumptuousness, the city was replaced at the last minute by Nagasaki in the atrocious sacrifice of the second nuclear cataclysm.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Traveling
Morondava, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar

The Malagasy Way to Dazzle

Out of nowhere, a colony of baobab trees 30 meters high and 800 years old flanks a section of the clayey and ocher road parallel to the Mozambique Channel and the fishing coast of Morondava. The natives consider these colossal trees the mothers of their forest. Travelers venerate them as a kind of initiatory corridor.
small browser
Ethnic
Honiara e Gizo, Solomon Islands

The Profaned Temple of the Solomon Islands

A Spanish navigator baptized them, eager for riches like those of the biblical king. Ravaged by World War II, conflicts and natural disasters, the Solomon Islands are far from prosperity.
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Cape Espichel, Sanctuary of Senhora do Cabo, Sesimbra,
History
Albufeira Lagoon ao Cape Espichel, Sesimbra, Portugal

Pilgrimage to a Cape of Worship

From the top of its 134 meters high, Cabo Espichel reveals an Atlantic coast as dramatic as it is stunning. Departing from Lagoa de Albufeira to the north, golden coast below, we venture through more than 600 years of mystery, mysticism and veneration of its aparecida Nossa Senhora do Cabo.
Mdina, Malta, Silent City, architecture
Islands
Mdina, Malta

The Silent and Remarkable City of Malta

Mdina was Malta's capital until 1530. Even after the Knights Hospitaller demoted it, it was attacked and fortified accordingly. Today, it's the coastal and overlooking Valletta that drives the island's destinies. Mdina has the tranquility of its monumentality.
Northern Lights, Laponia, Rovaniemi, Finland, Fire Fox
Winter White
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

Unique to the heights of the Earth are the northern or southern auroras, light phenomena generated by solar explosions. You Sami natives from Lapland they believed it to be a fiery fox that spread sparkles in the sky. Whatever they are, not even the nearly 30 degrees below zero that were felt in the far north of Finland could deter us from admiring them.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
kings canyon, red centre, heart, australia
Nature
Red Center, Australia

Australia's Broken Heart

The Red Center is home to some of Australia's must-see natural landmarks. We are impressed by the grandeur of the scenarios but also by the renewed incompatibility of its two civilizations.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
travelers contemplate, monte fitz roy, argentina
Natural Parks
El Chalten, Argentina

The Granite Appeal of Patagonia

Two stone mountains have created a border dispute between Argentina and Chile. But these countries are not the only suitors. The Fitz Roy and Torre hills have long attracted die-hard climbers
Matukituki River, New Zealand
UNESCO World Heritage
Wanaka, New Zealand

The Antipodes Great Outdoors

If New Zealand is known for its tranquility and intimacy with Nature, Wanaka exceeds any imagination. Located in an idyllic setting between the homonymous lake and the mystic Mount Aspiring, it became a place of worship. Many kiwis aspire to change their lives there.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Cable car connecting Puerto Plata to the top of PN Isabel de Torres
Beaches
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Home Silver

Puerto Plata resulted from the abandonment of La Isabela, the second attempt at a Hispanic colony in the Americas. Almost half a millennium after Columbus's landing, it inaugurated the nation's inexorable tourist phenomenon. In a lightning passage through the province, we see how the sea, the mountains, the people and the Caribbean sun keep it shining.
Kongobuji Temple
Religion
Mount Koya, Japan

Halfway to Nirvana

According to some doctrines of Buddhism, it takes several lifetimes to attain enlightenment. The shingon branch claims that you can do it in one. From Mount Koya, it can be even easier.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Kente Festival Agotime, Ghana, gold
Society
Kumasi to Kpetoe, Ghana

A Celebration-Trip of the Ghanian Fashion

After some time in the great Ghanaian capital ashanti we crossed the country to the border with Togo. The reasons for this long journey were the kente, a fabric so revered in Ghana that several tribal chiefs dedicate a sumptuous festival to it every year.
the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Rottnest Island, Wadjemup, Australia, Quokkas
Wildlife
Wadjemup, Rottnest Island, Australia

Among Quokkas and other Aboriginal Spirits

In the XNUMXth century, a Dutch captain nicknamed this island surrounded by a turquoise Indian Ocean, “Rottnest, a rat's nest”. The quokkas that eluded him were, however, marsupials, considered sacred by the Whadjuk Noongar aborigines of Western Australia. Like the Edenic island on which the British colonists martyred them.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.