Urban Hiking: Kichijoji to Tsukiji Fish Market

Lars and I decided to make a spontaneous hike from Lucky House (which Lars moved into in March) in 吉祥寺 to the fish market in 築地. Basically this means we walked across a vast stretch of the Western suburbs of Tokyo, and through the city to its eastern side, not far from Ginza. It was a great adventure. We left at 23:30 and arrived at the fish market at 5, when it was in full swing (it might have been a little better to arrive a tad earlier). About 10 minutes after our departure, a light drizzle turned into a massive downpour and about half an hour later we found ourself hiking through a massive night time storm. It was fantastic! Ok, we got a little soaked. Below are some pictures of us taken with my cellphone at 2:42 in the morning, somewhere between Nakano and Shinjuku stations:

    

Before we even got that far, we had some fun in Asagaya around 12:30. There we passed by a “snack” (a kind of bar) called “元気” or “fine” which was labeled “members only” I dared Lars to go in and order a drink, which he promptly did for the price of a gin and tonic. When he didn’t come back out, I got sick of standing like an idiot in the rain and walked back to a coffee shop we passed and enjoyed a coffee before finally going back to drag him out. I found him inside chatting up a storm with the bartender and the only other customer. He was yapping on about the right wing in Japan (his research topic) and having a ball of a time. I think they were stunned at his Japanese, and possibly the fact that this foreigner suddenly appeared out of nowhere at their “members only” bar passed midnight on a weekday, only to instruct them on all the intricacies of this darker side of Japan’s society.

We pulled into the northern side of Shinjuku at exactly 3 am. After a bit of hunting around we found a very nice internet/manga cafe open and stopped for tea and an email check before continuing on our way at about 3:40. The rest of the trip took us through Yotsuya, around the southern side of the Imperial Palace grounds, and through Ginza. We caught the first light of dawn as we pulled into the famous market at five.

The building for the wholesale market seems to stretch forever. Inside there are hundreds of little stores selling fish packed in styrofoam. Blood mixed with rain on the ground and the thick smell of fish mixed with the equally thick smell of smoke as fishermen push passed two slow walking foreign tourists. The market is filled with the sounds of vehicles backing up and the constant background squeaking of styrofoam rubbing up against styrofoam. Little moving vehicles reminiscent of those used to transport goods and passengers around the X-wing launching area of Star Wars were zooming by constantly. Fishermen wield massive sharp swords (no, they aren’t knives, they can only be described as swords) and slice gargantuan fish. Buckets of bloody unidentified animals from the sea are everywhere.

For every store there was a little booth in which there usually sat a woman (there were a few fisherwomen as well, but most of the women we saw were in the booths). She could be stamping something on paper, counting money, or shuffling various papers there. This appears to be the important key to the transactions taking place here as I saw few price tags or customers in the aisles (our timing may have had something to do with this).

I put up a few, mostly out of focus, pictures of the Tsukiji Fish Market here. This was a trip to be remembered. You know, Tokyo, it really isn’t all that big…