Another trip to Tsukiji

I've only been to the iconic Tuskiji fish market once before and that was in May when my friend Laura was visiting. It was a lot of fun, but we didn't get there until 10.30am when most of the place was closing down. Apparently the best time is about 5 hours earlier when the auction is in full swing.

Yesterday, I went with my friend Michiko and we turned up at a much more civilised time of 8am. This meant that the market was still in full swing and a hive of activity as the sellers flogged their wares and busied about with the morning chores. It was such an interesting experience and we capped it off with a scrumptious sushi breakfast at a nearby restaurant.

The tunas are lined up ready to be cut up. Each one has several steaming blocks of ice on it to keep it cool. One of the workers uses a long-armed spike to drag the fish over to the saw.

Another man operates the saw, which is like something you'd find in a timber yard. It's a high speed, rather frightening contraption and he has to put quite a bit of force behind the fish to guide it through the blade.
Another man catches the sliced pieces at the other end and removes the remainder of the spine of the fish.
Our reward at the end was a scrumptious breakfast of sushi, eaten sitting at the bar of a little restaurant on the outskirts of the fish market.