Something fishy in Tokyo town

A day later than scheduled I got myself up at 5am and down the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market which is dominated by the Fish Market. First thing in the morning around 5am there's auctions held of the day's catch but when I arrived at the market it was a frenetic hub of activity as stock, all in polystyrene boxes, were being shuttled around and wholesalers' stalls, seemingly going on without end, had the produce on display. Some was live, some even seemed to be cooking away, but much was frozen and no doubt waiting to become part of the Japanese peoples insatiable diet for raw fish. Most impressive as usual were the enormous tuna which were cut until quarters and trimmed right before your eyes! The range of sea food was absolutely staggering and apparently tens-of-thousands of tonnes of fish with species numbering in the hundreds arrive in Tokyo from hauls all over the world. I've never been to Grimsby but I can't imagine it's a patch on this!

As a tourist wandering around you feel very much in the way as buyers, sellers and more alarmingly swiftly moving mini-fork lifts hurtle around the place conducting their important business. It's really not so dangerous as it looks as the drivers of these vehicles seem to be of the same breed as Japanese cyclists in that they can respond to road (or in this case narrow alleys between stalls) in front of them in an instant and with pinpoint accuracy. The energy and pace was almost overwhelming; a fantastic spectacle to experience and it'll definitely be one of my highlights from Tokyo if not the whole trip.

Having witnessed this staggering amount of fresh fish what could I do but to sample some of it myself, so I found a sushi place on the edge of the market and tried out a good variety of sushi, not that I could relate it to any of the whole fish I saw for a second, but it rounded off the whole market experience nicely.

Afterwards I headed to a park by the water's edge (the market itself is also by the water) which contains some very traditional Japanese buildings and features sitting amongst the surrounding high-rise office blocks. Afterwards I took a train very much like the Docklands Light Railway to an island area nearby which is being redeveloped into an entertainment, residential and business area, the idea being to create a new centre to Tokyo. Rather like London Docklands as well it got off to a slow start as it's creation coincided badly with the economic slump of the 90s. Nevertheless it's looking impressive now with everything from a giant ferris wheel and man-made beach (although the weather wasn't quite up for sunbatheing), and unlike London's Docklands the area is very much an active port. All that fish has to arrive somewhere!