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On a crisp autumn Tokyo morning in November, I arose early and made my way to visit the world’s largest fish market, Tsukiji.

The statistics of Tsukiji market are astonishing. With 900 seafood wholesalers under

one huge roof, 2000 tons of raw fish moves through Tsukiji each day.

Walking through the small alleys between the stalls pilled with tuna, squid, crabs & sea monsters, I often questioned if I was taking my life in my hands, trying to dodge the speeding forklifts as they zipped passed covered in fish guts and carrying a load of thousands of dollars of fresh tuna.

To see the icemen drag 2 metre blocks of solid ice, and then to cut it with a saw that would have been at home in a timber mill, was a real sight.  As was sitting amongst buckets full of writhing eels.

Crossing from one alley to another the glistening floor would alter in slipperiness and test my ability to stay on my feet.  One minute I would be sliding through 2cm of blood, the next minute ice, squid ink, brittle frozen fish, smashed styrofoam and huge red sucking octopus tentacles.

Often I saw massive tuna; frozen so solid they became brittle; being cut into segments with industrial bandsaws. Other times the frozen fish being chiseled aggressively, shards of frozen fish flying through the air as the workers chipped off sections of fish.

I finished my morning adventure at Tsukiji with sushi breakfast at one of the stalls just outside the market.  Probably the freshest sushi I’ll ever eat.

You can see some photos from my visit to Tsukiji here

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