Second Day in Tokyo

We got up at 4:30 to trek over to the famous Tsuigi (pronounced Skee-jee apparently) fish market in Tokyo. The streets were practically deserted as we walked over to our subway station. The key reason to go this early is the Tuna auction. Unfortunately, we had heard that due to a variety of mishaps involving some clueless tourists disrupting the auction, we would not be allowed into the actual auction event itself. We had no clarification as to what those mishaps were specifically – maybe someone decided to grab a 500lb tuna and run, who knows. Aside from that, we had no idea what to expect.

On the ride there, a decal on the subway door puzzled us. As best as we could tell, it suggested that in case of raccoon attack, we should drop flash-bombs and run for it. However, it was to be a raccoon-free commute this morning, lucky for us. The smell of fish guided us in the right direction out of the subway once we arrived. The market is a huge warehouse, with barrel-front motorized platforms careening at high speed down the narrow walk-ways. The endless variety of fish and seafood is stored in rectangular Styrofoam casings.

The scale is mind boggling – from the enormous tuna slabs being hacked open with swords to individual store owners filling wicker baskets of the freshest catch. We were greeted with bemused smiles from some of the shopkeepers, as they weaved around us to plop still flopping flounders into tanks of water for shipping, or stabbed a struggling snapper to fill an order. We saw scallops in their large triangular shells, as well as octopus and squid lined up like sardines. Some of the stalls had tasting samples for serious buyers. The whole thing was a sort of macabre aquarium, with everything you can imagine having been fished out of the ocean present.

Outside of the market, there was a smaller row of shops and eating places. There were several empty Sushi restaurants, as well as one with a 45 minute wait outside. Ardelle suggested that we follow the crowd, and we did. We stumbled upon perhaps the best Sushi bar in the world, “Dai Wa”. My extremely limited Japanese vocabulary gets me nowhere – it is self evident that we need a table for two before I get a chance to say so. However, sinister phase two of the waitress’ dialog was incomprehensible. Fortunately, the Sushi chef spoke English and invited us to enjoy a “set”. The focus seems to be slightly less on presentation than I expected. The Nigiri was set down with no plate on a lacquer counter in front of you. The chef brushed each mouth watering slice with soy sauce before serving. The Uni, sea urchin, was indescribably better than in the States. I commented that the fish we were eating probably had moved in a more or less direct line from boat to plate since it was caught.