Tokyo is such an amazing city. Less than a ten-minute bicycle ride from fashionable, sophisticated Ginza is the Tsukiji area where fish and seafood are the main attractions. We visited the outer market last Sunday for the first time (the main market (jonai-shijo) that people get up to visit very early in the morning to see the wholesale market operations is adjacent).
Lots of restaurants in the outer market (jogai-shijo) advertised huge platters of sushi but we joined the student crowd and went for donburi-style (rice bowls with toppings). The picture above (bottom left) is negitoro (ground-up tuna). And it was really good. And yes, I could even taste the freshness difference. This fish was still warm (as in, not heavily refrigerated). Very, very delicious and definitely worth making a special trip to experience the taste.
What surprised me the most, because it is a well-developed district, is that Tsukiji is reclaimed land (hence the name). It was reclaimed several centuries ago, which also made me raise my eyebrows. But fire is the reason as it is said that the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu had debris caused by a fire in the seventeenth century shovelled into the marshes on the outskirts of Ginza.
This 2007 video allows you to see some of the nearby market operations without having to get up at the crack of dawn, and it was here that I learned about plans for the market to be relocated before the 2016 Olympics (Japan lost this bid, but were the successful bidders for the following Olympic Games in 2020). The anomaly may not exist much longer which is kind of sad. Even though I will admit as I heartily enjoyed my meal, I did notice the state of the restaurant's building did not quite meet the standard for which Japan is world-renowned. It will be the end of an era.
But it is not a done deal yet, it seems the market has been granted a short reprieve and no action will occur until 2015 (see here ) and I saw the date given as 2016 on a different website. Saburo and I were in Toyosu earlier in the year and saw this construction site below and wondered what it was for. Is this going to be the site for a new fish market?
Before that happens, we will have to make sure we get a few more Tsukiji visits under our belts, so we can bear proper witness for the future.
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