Copyright: Aske Munck
It’s only 05 O’clock in the morning, but we’re already late. Late for the tuna auction at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market, the biggest wholesale fish market in the world.
Our taxi dropped us off at the main entrance and we’re scurrying about to find the auction hall as we are well aware that under the new rules visitors are only allowed to attend the auctions between 05-06.15 in the morning.
We jump to avoid the rapidly zigzagging forklifts and finally find a fish cutter, resting on a box of crabs, enjoying a cup of hot soup, to ask for directions. Alas he speaks no English. So we give the classic sushi menu Japanese a go … "erh, maguro?" "Hai", yes, he eagerly replies and points the way.
Copyright: Aske Munck
Within minutes we reach the auction hall where an otherworldly sight awaits. The floor is carpeted with huge frozen tuna, and dozens of wholesalers with number tags on their caps are inspecting the big fish to be auctioned off.
They prod the flesh at a special quality inspection incision in the lower back and use small iron picks to hack off tiny chunks off the fish, where the tail has been chopped off. They scrutinize the colour with flashlights and manipulate the small piece of flesh in their hands and chew it a few times to assess the taste and texture, before spitting it out on the floor, like wine tasters.
Copyright: Aske Munck
Suddenly the auctioneer appears, carrying a small stool a bell and a clipboard. He vigorously shakes the bell, and the wholesalers gather around him. He takes off his cap, and the second he puts it back on, the auction commences. It’s impossible to follow the exact amounts of the bidding, but judging from the austerity of the wholesalers’ faces and the fervour of the small auctioneer’s vehement yelling there’s no doubt we’re talking tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of yen.
The price tag is understandably high when you consider that the buyers come from all over Japan and even Hong Kong to take home the best tuna. In the beginning of January the long standing price record was broken when a 128 kilo tuna was sold for a little over 9.6 million yen (almost a hundred thousand US Dollars).
Photo: Gush Party
In a matter of 45 minutes the auction is over, and the tuna – now emblazoned with the name of the buyer – is quickly packed and shipped or whisked off on speeding forklifts to small shops in other parts of the market, where it is cut and prepared for retail or restaurants.
We stroll along the market stalls, counting ourselves lucky not to have been hit by either speeding vans, forklifts or squirts of fish blood, and enter a small sushi shop to heat our frozen hands on a cup of green tea as we hawk down a small stack of tuna sashimi – not a bad breakfast at all.
TSUKIJI FISH MARKET, 5-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo.
Closed on Sundays, public holidays and some Wednesdays.
