Saturday October 6, 2018
It is 3:00 am and I am at the Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market. The activity is frenzied because fish of every conceivable shape and hue is arriving from around the globe. In a couple of hours the world-famous tuna auction begins.
Every day five million pounds of seafood worth $14 million is sold at Tsukiji, (pronounced skee-jee). During these pre-dawn hours the market’s narrow wet passageways are jammed with motorized trucks, forklifts and bicycles delivering their cargo. They are piled precipitously high with boxes and torpedo-shaped frozen tuna as they hurtle about.
“Be careful” my guide says, as a cart narrowly misses me, “There are over 300 accidents a year here!”
Duly warned I step aside as another forklift scuttles past.
Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market is On The Move
This frenetic activity has been the standard morning scene here for 83 years. However it is all coming to an end – today. This the last day the market will operate here,
and it is the last day for the famous tuna auctions at Tsukiji.
The Tokyo Fishmarket is relocating to Toyosu Market, about 1.4 miles away to make way for the 2020 Olympics.
Last Tsuikji Tuna Auction
When I heard the market would close, during my stay in Tokyo, I was determined to witness this end of an era.
I was not the only one. There are international news crews and, like me, journalists with camera and notebook firmly in hand. Who knew Tuna would make global headlines?
A wholesaler explained to me how the Tuna Auction works. Tuna from Tasmania to Boston arrive daily by cargo jet. Each man-sized fish, weighing from 200 – 1,000 lbs is then trucked to market, laid out, weighed and tagged.
At 4:00 a.m. buyers from wholesalers inspect the fish, cutting minute pieces from the tail to check texture, color and oil content.
Going, Going, Gone
As the room fills excitement mounts. Auctioneers appear wearing their auction caps. On cue around 5:00 am handbells are energetically rung signaling the start.
Watching this scene I was riveted. This is the antithesis of an elegant British-style fine art auction. This is one of kind.
The first auctioneer begins with a rthymical chant waving his arms, jumping up and down and yelling at the top of his voice. The handbells keep ringing. Then the next auctioneer with his own inimitable style. I am exhausted just watching them.
I do not know the highest price reached at this last Tsuijki auction, but the New Years Auction of 2013 a 488 lb. bluefin tuna sold for $1.7 million securing a spot in the Guiness Book of Records.
The New Toyosu Fish Market
As I walked through the stalls after the auction the pre-auction frenzy had changed into packing and loading. In two weeks the new market is due to open.
Emotions were mixed. Some smaller and older vendors will not make the move and have chosen to close. Sadly the Shinto Shrine will not move. It was built 350 years ago to appease the gods when a Shogun reclaimed the land from the sea.
Here they had annual festivals with prayers for the fish who have died here. In the garden of the temple is a rock placed by the Association of Sushi Suppliers, inscribed:
“We have pleased many humans with fine sushi but we must also stop to console the souls of the fish.”
From now on I shall regard sushi, artfully displayed on my plate for my pleasure, with new respect
If You Go
Toyosu Market is open see details in this link. The Auction Viewing Gallery will open to the public on January 16, 2019
