3:00 a.m. and in Tsukiji Market (Tokyo, JAP) the day begins …
In the largest fish market in the world (there are more than 70,000 employees, including wholesalers, auctioneers, civil servants…) the merchants begin to arrive at the huge enclosure to attend the tuna auction. Most of these will seek to take a copy below € 70 / kl.
At 5:20 am the most famous auction begins. Throughout the year, more than 700,000 kilos of fish pass through there, valued at 6,000 million euros. The undisputed star of this market is, without a doubt, bluefin tuna. At 6:00 am thousands of tunas are already traveling in trucks to their destinations. The rest stay in the more than 500 stalls that are around the enclosure and that are usually run by families of fishermen. Coinciding with sunrise, Tsukiji fills up with hungry tourists wanting to eat breakfast. It’s time for restaurants to bring out their best stocks of sashimis and nigiris. The streets surrounding the market turn into chaos amid shouts of merchants and shoves of tourists and customers. After noon, the day is coming to an end and all the Tsukiji workers collect their things and go home … Tomorrow, again, a hard day at the market awaits them.
