Every day the Tsukiji fish market processes 15% of all the fish that is eaten in Japan. Tourists can visit, although it's getting a little tougher. You used to be able to visit the tuna auction (starts at 5 am), although you now need to call ahead for a permit.
Wen and I headed over around 9 am (the market starts at 3am; it's all over by 11am) to see what it was all about.
The first thing you notice is that when you get off the Tsukiji subway station you can smell fish. It permeates the earth around there and hangs in the humid air all day long. If you don't like the smell, do not under any circumstances visit the market.
The market itself is ordered chaos. It's set up as an arc about a central point and all the trucks carrying fish enter/exit through there. It's got its own traffic cop - and it's also where you enter; watch out for the trucks.
From there, a series of long warehouses are where the loading and unloading occur. Carts and specialized trucks are used to ferry the fish to and from the actual market:
The market is arranged as a series of aisles along the arc. Each aisle has a store out front and a utility alley behind it to replenish the stocks:
They have been serving up fish here forever. The floors are actually line with cobblestones:
In the market, you can buy any sort of fish or sea creature imaginable:
The size of the fish cuts are incredible. You can also see how some of them were flash frozen mere hours before in a boat out in the Pacific:
Equally interesting is watching the people who work there:
If you go, be sure to check out the market about two blocks away. There's no hall, rather the streets are just a series of covered shops on the first floor. They sell all sorts of interesting wares and cooked foods:
