Tsukiji Fish Market Time

Tsukiji Fish Market Time

What time is it? 3:45am. We wake in the pursuit of the catch of the day. A huge haul. The freshest of the fresh. A massive market with an array of food from the sea.

It's too early for an appetite. But we have time to work on that. Our taxi drops us at an entrance to the Tsukiji Market, which entrance, we don't know exactly. This place is huge. But we know we're at the right place because it's 4:30am and a crowd has already gathered. 

We're greeted by blarey-eyed tourists like ourselves, and security guards. It's all a little blurry, but it seems no one is going anywhere. This is a wholesale fish market, THE fish market in Tokyo, if not the world, a place of serious business it seems. The word is, this entrance is closed. No place for passing tourists, unless you arrive at 3am or earlier to be granted one of the 120 seats to see the tuna auctions starting at 6am. 

Our tardiness, lack of commitment, means we are just hanging in the dark till the entire market opens to the public at 9am. We are resigned to this fact. Ready to find Teresa, a fellow tuna fan, for a coffee before looking for our next steps. 

As some tourists pace back and forth, other tourists struggle even more with the situation. An American man asks us, "What are they saying?" We relay our understanding of the situation and are met with a curt, "But Lonely Planet said 5am", before he storms off into the darkness. His anger it seems will take him to an even darker place.

After a coffee while strolling the nearby markets of dried goods, vegetables and souvenirs, our appetites kick in and it's time to seek out breakfast. We soon join a long line of fellow tourists, both Japanese and foreign, hungry for sashimi and sushi. A line this long must have great rewards at the end, but soon come to understand the line we've joined is for Sushi Dai. The place to go it seems. So popular but so small, that the price to dine here could be as high as a 5 hour wait. 

Our lack of commitment, our tardiness, quickly sees us move on... next door. The wait — a mere 40 minutes. 

Our menu — 15 pieces of deliciousness, that must have come from Trident himself, the God of the seas. No fork, no words, only chopsticks punctuated by groans of delight. 

We float on, heads held high, past the slow moving current of our Sushi Dai neighbours, who have barely moved and whose moods have been dampened by a passing shower. 

Ding ding ding. It's 9am and we, the public, are finally allowed to enter the wholesale area of the fish markets. We, the public have been circling for hours. Informal groups of us have formed between parked cars and fast moving forklifts. Sharks ready to see the schools of fish. It is Tsujiki time! 

We leave with a belly full, eye full and mind full of catches of the day. Exhausted. Spent. Nothing left, but to nap.

We wake to some advice from a friend, to go to some must-see sights in Tokyo. The timing is perfect, our fellow tourists it seems have been tired out and the lengthy lines have dissipated. We see gorgeous views from the world's tallest tower, Tokyo SkyTree.

After a long elevator down and a short walk across a bridge we arrive at Sensu-Ji. Grounded in history and no less gorgeous, dare we say even more so given the lack of tourists and gift stores. 

Our appetite returns and does our exhaustion, on the way home and we dine at a local yakatori restaurant, Shin One, a reccomendation from our Tokyo Precincts book. Chicken on skewers... easy, delicious, zzzzz. 

Hakone, Robots and Golden Gai

Hakone, Robots and Golden Gai

Shop, Stroll, Meow And Izakaya

Shop, Stroll, Meow And Izakaya