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Tuna wholesaler Hicho at Tsukiji Market

There are food meccas throughout the world of which culinary enthusiasts trek and one of the more lauded meccas is TSUKIJI MARKET in Tokyo. Tsukiji is the world’s largest fish market and its been around since 1923 and the wear and tear is evident, but it’s scheduled to relocate to modern facilities soon, so we wanted to see the legendary market before the move in November 2016.

Close to 30,000 people visit Tsukiji every day, but none more distinguished as Tokyo’s premiere sushi chefs like Sukiyabashi Jiro who come to select the freshest fish from 2,000 varieties of seafood. The market opens every morning for the tuna auction and many people line up as early as 4am to witness it, however we chose to tackle Tsukiji with trusted expert YUKARI SAKAMOTO of Food Sake Tokyo.  Yukari is a walking encyclopedia of Tokyo’s food scene and she’s guided chefs and food editors through Tsukiji, so there was no way I’d tour Tsukiji without her. Yukari highlighted the market’s history, showcased the premiere vendors, patiently described everything we saw and answered questions we had about the awe-inspiring varieties of sea creatures on display. Tsukiji was a once-in-a-lifetime experience thanks to Yukari and we look forward to touring the new Tsukiji with her on our next visit to Tokyo.

Walking the outer market

Fish head display

One of many seafood vendors

Super-fresh Salmon Roe
Turtles. Notice the sign telling us to watch our fingers!
Dried Squid
Fresh Squid
Fresh Wasabi
Dried Mushrooms
Fresh Crab
Dried Crab

One of many vegetable vendors