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Travel

 
Morning Walk to Tsukiji. Posted on 09/03/2002.

Guidebooks all around implore the Tokyo tourist to visit Tsukiji, specifically the fish market, around 6 am any morning. So, today, I did.

Exiting at the Ginza Station, I headed south on Harumi-dori. Snapped this oddly tranquil pic.

harumi-dori-morning (23k image)

Continuing on, I turned a corner, and came across the first market stalls at Tsukiji.


approaching_tsukiji (67k image)

And then into the belly of the beast. The fish market is a massive place, stalls everywhere, little aisles for walking, and various forms of vehicles: bicycles, cars, trucks, and these weird cargo trucks you see here:


little_cars (38k image)
Excuse the lack of focus...

And, well, all manner of fish can be purchased in the stalls...

tsukiji_stalls (67k image)
Looking down an aisle between stalls

octopus_goodness. (56k image)
Maybe you'd like some tako?

unagi (60k image)
...or some unagi?

big_ass_fish (40k image)
Mmmm... massive fish carcasses

market_small (53k image)
I love the colors in the market

And now, as a special treat, a video to give some sense of the craziness of the motion. There seems to be little rhyme nor reason to how people move in the place, be it on foot, bike, or in a car. And I'm surprised that there seem to be no accidents, at least, no major ones. Somehow, people push right through, creating an amazing emerging flow. BONUS: At the end of the video, there's a near-accident, which, I think, is what prompts my last 5 seconds of shooting of the ground. And yes, I was foolish enough to wear sandals in the watery market.

Tsukiji Video(4808k file) It claims to be an "AVI", but I could only get it to work in QuickTime. Blame my Canon digital camera.

Tsukiji was the first thing I saw in Tokyo that I really enjoyed. I do like open markets, and I like that this all occurs at a very human level. I find the typical Tokyo neighborhood of stores and restaurants piled story-upon-story to be rather offputting.

6 comments so far. Add a comment.

Previous entry: "User Testing in Japan."
Next entry: "Today was a good food day."

Comments:

COMMENT #1
Peter- great photos of Tsukiji! I've been to Japan many times but never to the fish market in the morning. I hope to go sometime myself.
Posted by Gen Kanai @ 09/04/2002 12:27 PM PST [link to this comment]


COMMENT #2
Great photos, especially enjoy the video - an exercise in fixed-point filming until you are nearly run over and then you hastily walk away, filming your flip-flops. Now that digital cameras have video capacity, I'm looking forward to more of this kind of personal short clips from around the world. Nice example.

Like you say, Tsukiji is a great chance to see a bustling market in contrast to some of the modernity of nerdy Tokyo. Here's some other photos, though no video clip - video might be a better way to convey the wild traffic in the place, though I was more obsessed with the immense array of species when I first visited.
Posted by Justin Hall @ 09/05/2002 09:31 AM PST [link to this comment]


COMMENT #3
Mexico cries out for your camera!
Posted by BJMe @ 09/05/2002 10:35 AM PST [link to this comment]


COMMENT #4
Sweat was my favorite transliteration beverage when I was in Japan. Haven't been back in quite a while so it was nice to see it's survived.
Posted by Jeff @ 09/05/2002 10:35 AM PST [link to this comment]


COMMENT #5
My fave part - perhaps fave is the wrong word - was the live flaying of eels - they were nailed to a board, right through the head, and their little mouths would work back and forth in objection, meanwhile, the skinning began, increasing the intensity of their silent mouth contortions. And then it was done, toss 'em into a bucket and grab the next guy.

I was transfixed. It was fairly graphic, in a warehouse filled with dead and to-be-killed sea creatures.

I took a few rolls of black and white film that I'll have to do something with because they made for quite a vivid document.
Posted by Steve Portigal @ 09/27/2002 09:57 AM PST [link to this comment]


COMMENT #6
My fave part - perhaps fave is the wrong word - was the live flaying of eels - they were nailed to a board, right through the head, and their little mouths would work back and forth in objection, meanwhile, the skinning began, increasing the intensity of their silent mouth contortions. And then it was done, toss 'em into a bucket and grab the next guy.

I was transfixed. It was fairly graphic, in a warehouse filled with dead and to-be-killed sea creatures.

I took a few rolls of black and white film that I'll have to do something with because they made for quite a vivid document.
Posted by Steve Portigal @ 09/27/2002 10:05 AM PST [link to this comment]


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