Andrew Evans/NGS
Buyer's booths and endless fish stands comprise the separate city that lies inside Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market.

Where’s Andrew: Tsukiji Fish Market

September 01, 2011
6 min read

Where’s Andrew now?  If you guessed Japan, you’re right: our Digital Nomad is currently exploring the Land of the Rising Sun.  And he rose before the sun this week to visit Tokyo’s world-famous Tsukiji Fish Market. Tour the market with him via his tweets below, then hop over to his Digital Nomad blog to see more photos of the bustling market.

Konichi-wa everybody. Wake up! It’s 4:40 a.m. & we’re already up & moving. Thrills start early in #Tokyo. Any guesses where we’re headed?

Yes! Going to Tsukiji to see the fabled giant tuna! RT @TriversJ: Tsukiji fish market?

Sunrise @ 4:50 a.m. Soft blue skies give shape to the pitch black buildings. Step out of a taxi & dodge a cyclist. This town moves.

Tsukiji Fish Market is not officially open to tourists but I’m gonna go watch anyway. This is one of the largest fish markets in the world.

Over 2,000 tons of fish traded at Tsukiji daily. Starts at 5:00 a.m. & finished by 11:00 a.m. Built right on the water.

Learning #Japanese: Maguro まぐろ is tuna & Toro トロ is fatty tuna (the belly of the fish), which is the most expensive.

At Tsukiji fish market, buyers inspect each tuna like a work of art, sniff, touch, grimace: twitpic.com/6dp931

Auctioneer goes nuts, jumping up & down & screaming like a maniac: twitpic.com/6dpbqz

Sold tuna painted w/ bright red characters naming buyer. These two weigh 26 & 29 kilos: twitpic.com/6dpeae

Amazing how these fish come from all over. I point to 3 fish & ask where they’re from. Answer, Tahiti, Indian Ocean & Ireland.

So many giant frozen tuna: twitpic.com/6dph7z Tsukiji fish market, #Tokyo

Smells fishy but a good fishy smell, like the sea & fresh seaweed. Different than any fish market I’ve been to.

Bizarre motorized carts zoom around like space pods, some carrying fish: twitpic.com/6dpmo8 It’s a miracle I haven’t been hit.

They cut the tail to see the quality of the tuna. RT @BennyIrawan: why they cut the tail?

Dozens of small back alley kitchens cook up aromatic meals for visitors and workers at the Tsukiji fish market. (Andrew Evans/NGS)

After the auction, everyone races to the sushi stands for breakfast. Great cooking smells in the back kitchens: twitpic.com/6dpobr

Stepping into Sushi Dai for my 1st Japanese breakfast:twitpic.com/6dpq30 寿司 大

Seated behind a very narrow sushi bar while a chef crafts ngiri #sushi with fast-moving hands: twitpic.com/6dpsev

My 1st real piece of Japanese sushi, in the Tsukiji fish market, toro fatty tuna: twitpic.com/6dpt79 So incredible-tasting!

Packed into a narrow room, 7 ft wide, 15 ft long & 20 people eating sushi. Very communal, strangers chat together & eat.

You can eat it anytime but eating now because it’s fresh. RT @ZAmmi: They have sushi for breakfast??

Talking to my neighbor Kaori who comes here to eat sushi in a.m. twitpic.com/6dpx0h Her husband is vegetarian so this is her escape!

Struggling to keep up w/ the chef who in last 10 minutes has fed me sea bream, sea urchin, cod roe, surf clam & salmon roe. All delicious.

The color, shape & presentation is part of the experience. Just look at this piece of tuna: twitpic.com/6dq01q

I can order one more piece of sushi. What do you want me to try?

Eating a seasonal autumn swordfish 秋刀魚 twitpic.com/6dq4gl

I just ate ama ebi–lots of little baby shrimp! So good. RT @exquisitus: Ama ebi! Or more toro. One can never have enough toro. ;)

Stepping into the Shinto shrine of Tsukiji fish market, built on reclaimed land to appease the water: twitpic.com/6dq88l

Custom at #Shinto shrine is to bow twice, then clap twice. 1st clap to call deity, 2nd clap is for concentrating on heart’s desire.

A bonsai tree stands at the edge of the Shinto shrine in Tsukiji fish market: twitpic.com/6dqaki I love bonsai trees!

Matsutake mushrooms for sale in #Tokyo instagr.am/p/Lt3U6/

Heard of & tasted this fruit but never seen one before, Yuzu! A Japanese citrus: twitpic.com/6dqdcd

Axe man chops a hunk of solud frozen tuna in Tsukiji fish market twitpic.com/6dqp6f

Sardine floats in ice & blood, Tsukiji fish market, #Tokyo instagr.am/p/LuBSG/

Ever wonder what wasabi looks like? A root that grows near water:twitpic.com/6dqub1

Leaving Tsukiji: twitpic.com/6dqw8w An exciting place, so much happening at once. Sensory overload!

Read: Tsukiji in Hipstamatic by Andrew Evans.

Join our Digital Nomad as he travels through Japan. Follow @WheresAndrew to guess where in the country he’s headed next. Plus, read Andrew’s dispatches on the Digital Nomad blog, and get photo clues on Facebook.

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