When I think of Dr Seuss’s One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish book, I am convinced he spent a day at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. Tsukiji is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, located in the Tsukiji section of Tokyo between the Sumida River and the Ginza shopping district. The market has two sections, the Inner and the Outer markets. The Inner is where the licensed wholesale dealers operate stalls and where auctions are held. The coveted Blue Fin tuna auctions are the biggest. The Outer Market was the section for the general public. The market was a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors. It opened in 1935 and closed in 2018, moving two miles away to the new and twice-as-large Toyusu Market.

My daughter Tisha and I took a day out of our Japan trip to spend several hours in the market. It’s easily accessible from any part of Tokyo. We took the Toei Oedo subway line to the Tsukijishijo Station. From there it was a short five-minute walk to the market. Once you approach the market from any given direction, you immediately get a sense of its massiveness (more than 23 hectares). The first thing you notice as you walk into the market is the lack of a fishy smell. If you’ve ever been to any fish or seafood market, you know the smell I’m talking about. At Tsukiji, none of that was present. It was clean and practically odorless. And you know how most fish markets have wet, mucky and slippery floors? None of that at Tsukiji. As a matter of fact, I was wearing flip flops on this visit, and my feet stayed dry. What on earth was I thinking??!! Thank goodness it worked in my favor.

The rows upon rows of stalls and bins were staggering. Seafood of all kinds were represented. The market handles 480 different kinds of seafood; seaweed, caviar, sardines, tuna and even controversial whale species were available and on display. Roughly 1,600 tons of seafood, valued at 1.6 billion yen ($14 million), are sold every day.

We arrived at the market early that morning and witnessed all the blue fin tuna buyers carting away their purchases. Many were heading to the various stalls to be cut with a band saw. The blue fins were flown in frozen from all parts of the world, all being caught the day prior or day of the flight. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. The auctions start at 5:20 a.m. every morning and last only a few hours. The band saw is the only way to cut the frozen tuna quickly, efficiently and effectively. Once the necessary pieces are cut, it is immediately delivered to the restaurants of Tokyo and beyond. The blue fin tuna is highly coveted, and many of these slabs sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction.

It’s a shame we couldn’t buy anything at the market because there were various species of fish and seafood I have never seen before. Our heads were spinning with the variety. But we did end our visit by stopping in one of the many sushi and sashimi stalls surrounding the market. It was a perfect way to end our fish adventure. For Tisha and I, it was sushi heaven! It was one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish here and black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish there. Dr. Seuss would have been proud!

— Bill Lodzinski, director of sales