After a full week in Tokyo, we work up at 3:00 am Thursday to check one last thing off our list: a visit to the Tsukiji Market, also known as the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market.  Pronounced “tskii-jii”, this is the largest fish market in the world, doing some US$28 million of business each day.

The guidebooks all say that that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has placed restrictions on what tourists can access at the market, after crowds caused concerns about sanitation and got in the way of the market workers.  That, combined with my perception that a wholesale fish market isn’t a place I want to be wandering around on my own, aimlessly, prompted me to search out guided tour options.

Several reviews on the web sang the praises of Naoto Nakamura, a former market middleman who now gives tours three mornings a week.  While pricey at 7500 yen per person (about US$75), he limits his groups to no more than six and adjusts his tours each time based on the conditions of each day.

This, I was certain, would be a good way to learn about the market from someone with first-hand experience.

My certainty was well-founded as the tour turned out to be every bit as insightful and informative as I could have hoped for.  Nakamura-san’s English was excellent and his sense of humor very dry.  We met our other two tour members, a pair of women (one who was half-Thai) visiting from the US.

The underlying subtext for the morning was a cat-and-mouse game.  Outsiders (non-employees) are not allowed in many areas of the market, especially on the auction floors around the seafood.  White-booted Tokyo Municipal Government inspectors were about and the captain of the market, Nakamura-san’s nemesis, kept appearing around corners and down hallways, so we would climb stairs, duck out side doors and do everything we could to avoid a confrontation.

We started our tour in the fresh fish area, observing an auction and taking a look at the huge variety (more than 400 types!) of seafood for sale at Tsukiji.  The fish arrives between about 6pm and midnight and is arranged by the vendors for inspection.  By 3 am the middlemen start poking around, looking at the seafood and evaluating it.  These days a lot of the sales are pre-negotiated, so auctions play a smaller role.

We then went to the fresh tuna warehouse, where these 70 kg (150 lbs) fish lay in neat rows, being inspected by middlemen, notches in the side allowing a clear view of the quality – and fattiness – of their flesh.

This is the key area that visitors are no longer allowed.  So this picture was actually taken crouching down looking under a rolling door that was open about two feet high.  The things I’ll do to get my shot.

We attended the auctions for fresh fish, live fish and sea urchins, marching away through the busy market, dodging electric carts that would silently creep up on you.

It was obvious that the market workers don’t really enjoy having tourists in their way, so it took a lot of concentration to keep out of trouble.  I was amazed when, later in the morning, I saw tourists on their own, dragging children as young as about five around.  Dangerous and inconsiderate of the people working here.

The frozen tuna auction is by far the most interesting, at least visually.  These frosted fish look surreal, lined up with frozen mist rising around them like smoke.  We had just a few minutes at the rolling door before it was closed on us, so we headed to the live fish auction.

Nakamura-san was able to get us up close for the live fish auction, above.  This moves very fast as there are two auctions going on at the same time.  Nearby, we saw workers pulling live fish from tanks based on the auction results, bashing them on the head with a knife, slitting their tail so the blood would drain out, then ramming a steel rod through their mouth and down their spinal nerve, killing them.  Not quite so gruesome as it sounds, but definitely gives you an appreciation for the food you eat.

At the live tuna auction, the market’s captain caught up with us and gave Nakamura-san a lecture.  Afterwards, he said, “At least he’s calling me ‘Nakamura-san’ now instead of the nasty names he used to use.”

The auctions run from about 4:30-5:30, one after another.  Even before the last fish is sold, middlemen start carrying their purchases off to their stalls, where they prepare the fish for sale.  This is the last step in the transformation from whole fish to retail-ready cuts.

Recognize this fish? It is whale meat.  The two rows on the right are from smaller whales but the back row is from whatever large-size whales Greenpeace tries to intervene in the hunt of.

Nakamura-san provided some perspective on why the Japanese are resistant to international pressure to end whaling.  After World War II, the whaling industry we re-established in Japan to help with severe food shortages.  For many baby boomers, whale meat was one of their main sources of protein during their childhood years.  To this day, it has strong resonance with the population even if its consumption has sharply declined.

According to statistics, almost 50% of the total animal protein consumption in 1947 in Japan was whale meat.  (Source: http://luna.pos.to/whale/jwa_trad.html)

Watching the middlemen do their work was fascinating.  Knife skills are a beautiful art and this balding man in the picture below really was an artist.  Using a knife longer than a samurai’s sword, it took four men to carefully quarter a large fresh tuna.

The middlemen who bought frozen tuna had an easier time of it, using band saws to cut through the flesh.

By 5:45 or so, many tourists had shown up, most guiding themselves and trying to edge in on our tour for free.  While they did get a peek at the tuna auction, I can’t imagine that they walked away with much of an understanding of the whole market.  For that reason, I’m glad we did the tour.

By shortly after 6:00, Nakamura-san had shown us all we needed to see.  He pointed out a few good sushi restaurants, took our money and thanked us.  Since we were already there and we knew the sushi would be fresh, Tawn and I queued up to eat the best sushi we’ve ever had.

There are two restaurants in alley 6 of the “auxiliary market” (where the vendors that serve the needs of the market workers are located), both of which get quite a queue out their front doors.  These are are the two most highly recommended sushi bars.

Here’s what we ate.  Sorry that I can’t identify what everything was.

Something very fatty (toro?) and squid

Ebi (Shrimp) and Maguro (Blue Fin tuna)

Uni – sea urchin with scrambled egg

Tuna and Ikura (Salmon Roe) Nigiri (seaweed-wrapped sushi); and I think Grilled Saba (Mackerel) and Hamachi (Yellow Tail tuna).  But I’m not certain.

Total cost for the set including rice, soup and tea: 3500 yen, about US$35.  Pricey, but really good.  This is one of the few times I was willing to really splurge.

Again, I can’t say enough good things about the tour.  If you’re going to Tokyo and are interested in the tour of the market, you can find Nakamura-san’s website here.

Here’s a video of our trip to the market:

After “breakfast” we returned to the hotel for a few more hours of sleep, then packed our bags and headed to Narita Airport for the flight home.  And with that, eight days in Japan came to an end.

After a night in Hakone Yumoto we headed back to Tokyo on a misty and overcast Tuesday morning for two final days in Japan.  Switching hotels from our comfy little place in Ueno, we went upper end and stayed at the swanky Park Hotel in Shiodome. 

This hotel, which I initially confused with the Park Hyatt Hotel of “Lost in Translation” fame, is still very nice and a very good value.  Located on the 25th-33rd floors of the Shiodome Media Tower (with the lobby on the 25th floor!) this new hotel is centrally located to four subway/rail lines.  Rooms are modern and well-equipped and the staff is exceptionally attentive.

Best of all, the view from the room (the same one as from the reception counter in the lobby), is stunning:

The upside/downside of this hotel’s location is that Shiodome is kind of like Century City in Los Angeles: largely a complex of business towers, a glass and steel wasteland that is deserted at night.  It is at once well connected to the city and cut off from it. 

An example of the stunning modern architecture across from our hotel, along with the kitschy faux tori gate set up in front of it:

Not far from this concrete netherland we did find signs of nature: the landscaped grounds of what is considered one of the world’s finest daily newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun.

Along our way we found more of the ubiquitous vending machines.  Water, water all around and not a drop to drink… if you don’t have a 100-yen coin.

One of our stops was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government complex in Shinjuku West.  The pair of buildings at the center of the complex house two free observation decks: one of each tower’s 45th floor.  The view is wonderful and Tokyo stretches as far as the eye can see.  They say that on exceptionally clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji.  Today, though, all we could see is this funny egg-shaped building.

It took me a while to find out what building this is, but the internet is a wonderful tool.  Thanks to Emporis.com, an international commercial real estate database that is accessible to the public, I located the so-called “Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower”.  This 50-story educational building houses three different vocational schools and was selected by Emporis as the 2008 Skyscraper of the Year.  More info here.

On the ground floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government towers is an excellent tourism office that provides all sorts of useful, free information about greater Tokyo.  One thing they offer (for which you are well-advised to sign up for in advance) is free tours in English.  Something I will do differently on my next trip to Tokyo: stop here on day one.

There is also an office providing information about the other prefectures of Japan.  Although much of the information is in Japanese, some English language materials are available.  There are some fantastic three-dimensional wall displays showing the highlights of various regions.  They looked like the hats from Beach Blanket Babylon.

For lunch, we tracked down Funabashiya, a famous tempura restaurant in East Shinjuku recommended by a friend, Masakazu.  Dinners run around $50 here but like most restaurants in Tokyo, lunch is a much better deal.

This restaurant is about only one thing, tempura, and they do it incredibly well.  They’ve been around for years and their lunch special – about $10 – was a set of two batches of tempura with rice, soup and pickles.  The second batch of tempura was a surprise.  After receiving a generous serving of light, crispy vegetables and shrimp fresh from the wok, we were already satisfied.  Then the waitress returned a few minutes later with a second serving!

It is hard to describe how perfectly cooked this tempura was.  Very light batter and not a bit of grease.  There were three types of sea salt to sprinkle on the tempura, including a red salt with lots of minerals and a pepper-salt mixture.

After lunch we did a little more shopping in Shinjuku, including a stop at Tokyu Hands, an eight-story crafts/hardware/home improvement/DIY store in which you can definitely find at least one thing you never knew you needed.

On the way back to the rail station we passed something surprising: a large Krispy Kreme donuts outlet.  Fellow Xangan Tony took a picture of this on a recent trip to Tokyo but I was surprised to see it in person, and even more surprised by the number of people queued outside at 3:30 in the afternoon!

Nearing rush hour, we hopped on a train, connected at Shibuya and traveled two stops further to a hidden gem that isn’t on the tourist guidebooks’ radar screen, yet: Naka-Meguro.

Everyone wants to find that little hidden corner of a city, one they enjoy because it is hip and cool but not yet discovered.  Of course, by the time you find out about it, the secret is already out and Naka-Meguro is no exception.  Recently dubbed “the coolest corner of Tokyo” and profiled in the NY Times travel section, Naka-Meguro is a collection of cafes, boutiques and bookstores that runs along an idyllic, tree-lined river.

Sure, gentrification is quickly happening and this area, which has never been inexpensive, is getting pricier by the week.  But it is still a cool and relatively quiet area and, given that it is just two stops from Shibuya – home of the intersection that sees two million people a day pass through it – it is amazing that it exists at all.  I’d definitely recommend you spend a few hours in the afternoon here, spilling into dinnertime if at all possible.

Left to right: clothing and other fun items recalling Blackploitation and the 70s; Tawn in front of something a hair hipper than a Goodwill Store; a uber-modern Japanese sweets shop.

Left: Another clothing store with a vaguely “rust belt” look; a stock pot cools on the windowsill of a restaurant specializing in squid.

Sadly, evening was falling fast, Tawn was feeling a bit exhausted from all our running around, and we had a 3:45 am appointment the next day, so we excused ourselves from Taro, Mark and HP’s company and headed back to Shiodome, stopping at a tiny hole-in-the-wall tonkatsu place at the JR Shimbashi station and unwittingly finding the best tonkatsu we had in Tokyo!

This tiny place was full of salarymen – the typical Japanese office workers – and there was nothing in English except for the Asahi beer bottle label.  We pointed to one thing on the menu (after all, everything there was a form of tonkatsu so how wrong could we get?) and ordered two plates of it.

What arrived was beautiful in its simplicity.  The chef cooked and drained cutlets of pork loin, each with a small strip of fat along one side and served with shredded cabbage, rice, pickled daikon radish, and miso soup with baby clams.  The setting was pretty plain and the plating was that of a blue plate special, but the tonkatsu was divine: moist and flavorful interior with a crisp, dry exterior.  Perfection.

We were in bed by 10:00, trying to catch a few winks before a very early morning on our final day in Tokyo.