Rajeev's World: A Wonderland Called Tsukiji... Part I

Our visit to Tokyo wouldn't have been completed without a visit to Tsukiji, which happens to be the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world...

Not too far from our hotel in Ginza, Tsukiji is right on the banks of Sumida River...

Tsukiji market has its origins in the Edo period, when the market was set up to provide food for Edo castle (nowadays Tokyo). Fishermen from Tsukuda, Osaka were invited to Edo to provide fish for the castle. The catch which was not bought by the castle was sold near the Nihonbashi bridge, at a market called the uogashi (literally meaning fish quay).

In August 1918, following the "rice riots" (or Kome Sōdō), which broke out all over Japan in protest against food shortages hording by wholesalers, the Japanese government was forced to create new institutions for the distribution of foodstuffs, especially in urban areas.

Following the earthquake of September 1, 1923 which devastated much of central Tokyo, including the Nihonbashi fish market. the market was relocated to the Tsukiji district. And the layout and structure of the market was well designed.

The "inner market" (jōnai-shijō) is the licensed wholesale market, where approximately 900 licensed wholesale dealers operate small stalls. This is also where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place.

The "outer market" (jōgai-shijō) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants. Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier.

We began our visit in the jōgai-shijō before we head into the jōnai-shijō...

White strawberries selling alongside the conventional red strawberries...

Cans of whale meat on sale...

...and yes, I picked one!

Blubber...

Dried fish and squids...

Sweets...

A variety of buns...

Fish flakes...

Seaweed...

Visiting the Namiyoke Inari Shrine, a Shinto shrine located within Tsukiji, Chūō. It was built on the Sumida river's edge when this part of Tokyo was created from landfill after the great fire of 1657. The name of the shrine literally means "protection from waves"...

After the Tsukiji fish market was established here, the Namiyoke Inari Shrine became an unofficial guardian shrine for the marketplace and its traders...