Tsukiji

The Tsukiji fish market—or 篔°Ã¥Å“°å¸”šÃ¥Â Â´ for those of you in the know—is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. The market handles hundreds of types of seafood from sardines to 500lb tuna, from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar. I love the place, whether it be for purchasing cheap fish, enjoying a great sushi meal, visiting Honganji, or just enjoying one of Tokyo’s unique parts of town.

Here are some of my pictures from several trips to the fish market. Some of these photos are grotesque, so those with soft stomachs be warned (although I promise you no beating hearts this time!)

Fresh raw tuna for sale.

Piles of octopus.

Cutting up a tuna carcass.

More fish for sale.

I have nooo idea. . .

Octopus legs for sale.

One of many individual stalls that sell to small restaurants.

Mountains of leftover styrophome at the end of the day.

“Gasping fish,” also featured at Nichinichi. A fish that was swimming around just moment before is disemboweled, leaving only the tale, spine, and head. Although the heart is removed and the fish is dead, it still moves and breaths, stopped only by the wooden spike impaled through its body. A gruesome sight. . . but hey, it was very, very good.