Operations
The market opens most mornings (except Sundays, holidays and some Wednesdays) at 3:00 a.m. with the arrival of the products by ship, truck and plane from all over the world. Particularly impressive is the unloading of tons of frozen tuna. The auction houses (wholesalers known in Japanese as oroshi gyōsha) then estimate the value and prepare the incoming products for the auctions. The buyers (licensed to participate in the auctions) also inspect the fish to estimate which fish they would like to bid for and at which price.
The auctions start around 5:20 a.m. Bidding can only be done by licensed participants. These bidders include intermediate wholesalers (nakaoroshi gyōsha) who operate stalls in the marketplace and other licensed buyers who are agents for restaurants, food processing companies, and large retailers.
The auctions usually end around 7:00 a.m. Afterward, the purchased fish is either loaded onto trucks to be shipped to the next destination or on small carts and moved to the many shops inside the market. There the shop owners cut and prepare the products for retail. In case of large fish, for example tuna and swordfish, cutting and preparation is elaborate. Frozen tuna and swordfish are often cut with large band saws, and fresh tuna is carved with extremely long knives (some well over a meter in length) called oroshi-hōchō, maguro-bōchō, or hanchō-hōchō.
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Vendors display the morning's catch at the market at 4 a.m.
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End of the fresh tuna auction at Tsukiji
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A tray of six Takifugu rubripes on ice for sale at Tsukiji
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Tuna auction at Tsukiji
The market is the busiest between 5:30 and 8:00 a.m., and the activity declines significantly afterward. Many shops start to close around 11:00 a.m., and the market closes for cleaning around 1:00 p.m. Tourists may visit the market daily between 5 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. and watch the proceedings from a designated area, except during periods when it is closed to the public.
Because of an increase in sightseers and the associated problems they cause, the market had banned all tourists from the tuna auctions on several occasions, including from 15 December 2008 through 17 January 2009, 10 December 2009 through 23 January 2010, and 8 April 2010 through 10 May 2010. After the latest ban that ended in May 2010, the tuna auctions have been re-opened to the public with a maximum limit of 140 visitors per day on a first-come, first-serve basis. Visitor entry into the interior wholesale markets is prohibited until after 9 AM. Due to the March 2011 earthquakes all tourists were banned from viewing the tuna auctions till 26 July 2011, from which date it was reopened.
Inspectors from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government supervise activities in the market to enforce the Food Hygiene Law.
Read more about this topic: Tsukiji Fish Market
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