Tales of Tokyo Weblog

In Tokyo, by the bay, there is a huge fish market, Tsukuji. I went to visit it last saturday, and it was quite interesting. The most famous attraction at the fishmarket is the tuna auctions, which are every morning, and to see them, you have to be there really early, cause it all happens pretty fast! So I came there with the first train in the morning (5.09 from my station) and I was pretty excited about this (the fact that I hadn’t slept all night, came straight from the Melting Pot (local bar) probably helped my enthusiasm). I went with some friends from the guest house I live in. When we came there it was about 5.30, and the sun was rising already. We went to see the  auctions, and I tell you this is a game for the pro’s. It all happens really fast, the auctionist (?) has a small chair that he climbs upon to stand out in the crowd, and starts yelling to rise the prices as much as possible. And not only is it in Japanese, but it’s even in some complicated slang/dialect that even the regular Japanese person have problems comprehending what he’s saying. Fresh Tuna happens first, and it takes about 5-10 minutes before all the fish is sold (those tunas are huge!) and then after a short break the show continues over in the frozen tuna department, where after about 10 minutes most of the fish is labeled.

Then what to do? Well, my Japanese friend had a friend who worked in the fiskmarket, so we went to se his workplace, where he pretty much was slicing fish. Around you is all kinds of fish, and prices are good, and it’s possible to bargain, so if you like cooking fish, and you’re an early bird, the morning fish market in Tokyo is recommended! After buying some whale (yes, Japan and Norway agree on the whale policies) we were off to get the freshest sushi you can get. For about 3500 yen you get a great breakfast, and I’m pretty sure I can say that this was the best sushi I’ve had, and it all get’s made behind the bar while you’re watching, and the fish is caught the very previous night. My recommendations, unless you’re still lagging behind in the “how can they eat raw fish?”-era…

Hello everyone,

I finally took the step of creating my own blog. This site will be a place where you can get regular (hopefully) updates on my Tokyo experience. I will share thoughts, experiences, tales, some pictures and other things that I find worth sharing with the world rthrough my blog. This is my first blog, so I’m sure it will develop and change as time goes by. Hopefully it can be interesting for both the people who know me and people who will get to know me through reading it. For the blog to be available to as many people as possible, I will try to keep it mainly in English. For the same reasons, I urge you to post any comments in English as well, unless you feel uncomfortable with this.

For now, this will be all; but I’ll be back with more shortly!

Ja-nee, (later,)

ToTo (Tales of Tokyo)