4 ms·

I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place. The mind-boggling variety of life from the sea, the frenetic energy, an

I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place. The mind-boggling variety of life from the sea, the frenetic energy, and the tuna auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars - it made an indelible impression on me.

bogomipz 9y ago
>"I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place." I am curious how many other fish markets have you been to? Mexico City and New York City have similar scale fish markets with just as many varieties and with just as much commerce. I'm guessing someone like Anthony Bourdain or some other TV food celebrity put Tsukiji on the tourist map and so now people feel compelled to see something special in it. And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood Japanese.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  > And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood Japanese. You know why. Hipsters do it for bragging rights.
  - Larrikin 9y ago
    Or you know it's actually an interesting experience. Have you done it?
    - rootsudo 9y ago
      IT's not really that interesting, and you have to get in line around 2AM for it. Better to go around 11 right after the tourist rush.
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      Yes, I have done it. Not for bragging rights, just because I wanted to see what it was about. Far from being impressed.
      - yomly 9y ago
        I'd have to beg to differ. As someone who is passionate about food, cooking and in particular, japanese cuisine - going to Tsukiji was really an amazing experience. Learning first hand from a wholesaler about the daily process of acquiring stock which they go on to sell was fascinating. It's really astounding that people are going there every morning and inspecting ~1000 tuna for a mere few seconds, inspecting only by colour and occasionally the fattiness of the tissue in their fingers. These split second assessments then lead to them making a ballpark valuation of the stock which they take with them to auction - the decisions affecting their livelihood. If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi. Considering sushi is something like 7 ingredients (rice, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, fish, vinegar, wasabi) the execution of the dish and the quality of the ingredients are absolutely key. Being able to go to the heart of where everything begins is really quite exciting.
        ekianjo 9y ago
        > If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi. I eat sushi often, and I have been to good and bad places alike. But as a sushi amateur, I don't really grasp the passion of Japanese for tuna - it's not even a fish they used to have in the first place in Japan, most of it is not fresh and is just imported from the Mediterranean, and to my tongue tuna (and I tried about every part of it) is nothing I crave for. I enjoy a LOT more the local fishes they have in Japan. Again, it's probably just me, but I find tuna utterly boring in mouth. > the decisions affecting their livelihood. Not really. Plenty of bad sushi joints stay afloat for years and do not lack customers. I have even eaten at famous places near Tsukiji and I have found it to be OK, but nothing at a spectacular level despite their reputation.
        9y ago
  - brazzy 9y ago
    Tsukijo was a tourist hotspot with people doing that before the word "hipster" became a thing.
    - Chris2048 9y ago
      Hipsters existed before there was a word for them?
- jtwald 9y ago
  It's a matter of personal preference whether anyone enjoys a visit to a fish market like Tsukiji. That's entirely separate from its commercial and cultural significance. You mentioned NYC has a similar scale to Tsukiji market - I don't think that's true. Although Fulton Fish Market is the world's second largest and the most important in the US, it handles about 200M pounds of fish annually vs Tsukiji's 1.6B pounds. Tsukiji handles almost an order of magnitude more fish. When you start diving into the diversity and quality of product available, they aren't even comparable. Japan eats about 10% of the world's catch. Tsukiji is the Silicon Valley of seafood. Network effects and supply and demand mean Japan has more access to higher quality product than anywhere else in the world. Whether seeing a dead fish on ice is interesting or not is up to you.
- URSpider94 9y ago
  I went for the last time probably 7-8 years ago, before I had ever seen any TV coverage of it, so my opinion is my own, and not biased by some Food Network star. When I went, there was no line to stand in, in fact you could walk freely among the tuna before the auction started (on my last visit, they were just starting to put procedures in place to keep people from taking selfies with the fish). On my visits, I roamed around for hours, entirely unmolested, just keeping an eye out for the funny little electric carts driving everywhere which threaten to mow down unsuspecting tourists.
ekianjo 9y ago
Most fish markets in Japan are like that. Tsukiji is just bigger. Actually it's dirty there and it's in a poorly maintained area of Tokyo that was never made for that in the first place. The fish market in Sapporo is much, much nicer.
- mattnumbe 9y ago
  The one in Sapporo is a tourist trap.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    Oh so you think Tsukiji with its "authentic" sushi joints operated by Koreans and Chinese is not a tourist trap?
jdietrich 9y ago
>the tuna auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars I'm not sure that the trade in endangered species is anything to get excited about.

bogomipz 9y ago

>"I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place." I am curious how many other fish markets have you been to? Mexico City and New York City have similar scale fish markets with just as many varieties and with just as much commerce. I'm guessing someone like Anthony Bourdain or some other TV food celebrity put Tsukiji on the tourist map and so now people feel compelled to see something special in it. And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood Japanese.

ekianjo 9y ago
> And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood Japanese. You know why. Hipsters do it for bragging rights.
- Larrikin 9y ago
  Or you know it's actually an interesting experience. Have you done it?
  - rootsudo 9y ago
    IT's not really that interesting, and you have to get in line around 2AM for it. Better to go around 11 right after the tourist rush.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    Yes, I have done it. Not for bragging rights, just because I wanted to see what it was about. Far from being impressed.
    - yomly 9y ago
      I'd have to beg to differ. As someone who is passionate about food, cooking and in particular, japanese cuisine - going to Tsukiji was really an amazing experience. Learning first hand from a wholesaler about the daily process of acquiring stock which they go on to sell was fascinating. It's really astounding that people are going there every morning and inspecting ~1000 tuna for a mere few seconds, inspecting only by colour and occasionally the fattiness of the tissue in their fingers. These split second assessments then lead to them making a ballpark valuation of the stock which they take with them to auction - the decisions affecting their livelihood. If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi. Considering sushi is something like 7 ingredients (rice, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, fish, vinegar, wasabi) the execution of the dish and the quality of the ingredients are absolutely key. Being able to go to the heart of where everything begins is really quite exciting.
      - ekianjo 9y ago
        > If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi. I eat sushi often, and I have been to good and bad places alike. But as a sushi amateur, I don't really grasp the passion of Japanese for tuna - it's not even a fish they used to have in the first place in Japan, most of it is not fresh and is just imported from the Mediterranean, and to my tongue tuna (and I tried about every part of it) is nothing I crave for. I enjoy a LOT more the local fishes they have in Japan. Again, it's probably just me, but I find tuna utterly boring in mouth. > the decisions affecting their livelihood. Not really. Plenty of bad sushi joints stay afloat for years and do not lack customers. I have even eaten at famous places near Tsukiji and I have found it to be OK, but nothing at a spectacular level despite their reputation.
        9y ago
- brazzy 9y ago
  Tsukijo was a tourist hotspot with people doing that before the word "hipster" became a thing.
  - Chris2048 9y ago
    Hipsters existed before there was a word for them?
jtwald 9y ago
It's a matter of personal preference whether anyone enjoys a visit to a fish market like Tsukiji. That's entirely separate from its commercial and cultural significance. You mentioned NYC has a similar scale to Tsukiji market - I don't think that's true. Although Fulton Fish Market is the world's second largest and the most important in the US, it handles about 200M pounds of fish annually vs Tsukiji's 1.6B pounds. Tsukiji handles almost an order of magnitude more fish. When you start diving into the diversity and quality of product available, they aren't even comparable. Japan eats about 10% of the world's catch. Tsukiji is the Silicon Valley of seafood. Network effects and supply and demand mean Japan has more access to higher quality product than anywhere else in the world. Whether seeing a dead fish on ice is interesting or not is up to you.
URSpider94 9y ago
I went for the last time probably 7-8 years ago, before I had ever seen any TV coverage of it, so my opinion is my own, and not biased by some Food Network star. When I went, there was no line to stand in, in fact you could walk freely among the tuna before the auction started (on my last visit, they were just starting to put procedures in place to keep people from taking selfies with the fish). On my visits, I roamed around for hours, entirely unmolested, just keeping an eye out for the funny little electric carts driving everywhere which threaten to mow down unsuspecting tourists.

ekianjo 9y ago

Most fish markets in Japan are like that. Tsukiji is just bigger. Actually it's dirty there and it's in a poorly maintained area of Tokyo that was never made for that in the first place. The fish market in Sapporo is much, much nicer.

mattnumbe 9y ago
The one in Sapporo is a tourist trap.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  Oh so you think Tsukiji with its "authentic" sushi joints operated by Koreans and Chinese is not a tourist trap?

jdietrich 9y ago

>the tuna auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars I'm not sure that the trade in endangered species is anything to get excited about.