To fish or to finish? An insider's view of Tsukiji tuna market

At 1:00 a.m. Tsukiji Market is already bustling. Trucks carrying cases of fish from around Japan and all over the world unload their cargo near the front entrance, and wholesalers driving small one-man carts go whizzing by. By 3:00 a.m. the daily shipment of tuna -- averaging around two tons -- is laid out for inspection and potential bidders scrutinize their meter-long, torpedo-shaped bodies, trying to imagine the quality of the flesh beneath the shiny, silver skin.

Tuna auctioneer Natsuho Yoshikawa.

“You’ve got to have experience,” he says. “The color may range from bright red to dark red, depending on where the fish is from, but you should pay attention to the layer of fat encircling the meat of the tail. If there’s a lot of nice-looking fat, it’s good.”

At 5:00 a.m. the auction begins and seven auctioneers take bids from 800 to 1,000 middlemen. This carefully orchestrated chaos continues for the next two hours. By around 7:00 a.m. the last sale of the day is over.

Yoshikawa, 40, has been an auctioneer for 10 years and says that a lot has changed in the last decade. The number of tourists who come to see the auction has been increasing steadily -- so much so that traffic began interfering with the trade. After a month-long ban on visits to the auction earlier this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has limited the number of observers to 140 per day. In order to watch the auction, tourists must apply at the Osakana Fukyu information center at the Kachodoki Gate starting at 4:30 a.m. Only authorized personnel are allowed into the inner market before 9:00 a.m.

The auction, however, faces problems greater than an influx of tourists. The auction system, and Tsukiji market itself, may not be around for much longer. Akiko Ueyama, a spokesperson for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has remarked that the city is considering whether or not to continue the market. Thanks to the global recession, a decrease in domestic fish consumption, and changes in the sales infrastructure of the fish business, smaller fish markets around Japan have started disappearing.

“It’s hard to say what will happen in the future,” says Yoshikawa. “The market system has some really good points, the most important being the face-to-face interaction and development of human relationships.” 

More than the fate of the market, however, Yoshikawa worries about the decline of fish populations. Although his livelihood depends on the sale of tuna, he advocates stricter regulation of the tuna fishing industry.

“Overfishing is a big problem, but so is overpopulation,” he explains. “Balance is absolutely necessary, not only with fish but everything. Of course, if all the fish disappear, we will all be out of business.”

For now, Tsukiji Market is still here, and judging by a recent morning, it looks like it's business as usual.