Tsukiji Wonderland Page #5

---

It's crucial to keep

the fish fresh.

By memorizing the customers

we save time on interaction.

They bring their own box so we

don't need to weigh it-.

We open at 2 AM.

So from 2 AM to 4, maybe 5

is the busiest.

The customers line up.

I have the numbers on

Tsukiji's visitors IO years ago-.

It includes all the wholesalers.

People transporting products.

People working in

the refrigeration facilities.

Other merchants.

All together 14,000 people worked

in Tsukiji.

Plus the 28,000 shoppers who

came from outside.

There were 42,000 people in Tsukiji

every day.

There were 19,000 vehicles

at the market per day.

Including motorcycles.

The design concept

of the market was

to have the quarter circular shaped

buildings

along the tracks and the

loading platforms.

So the products could be shipped in

by train and out by trucks

in a seamless operation.

But with highways and the

larger freight capacity of trucks

rail transport became obsolete.

Theodore C. Bestor Social Cultural

Anthropologist Harvard University Professor

Ginrin Club"

The library was planned in I961

and opened in I962.

Ginrin Library was built to

house books about the fish industry-.

Ky oko FukucN

Ginrinbunko Librarian

Public relations for the market

are planned here too.

And many academics and

researchers visit us here.

How long are you here?

I'll be in Japan for 2 weeks.

I have IO more days.

Hello.

How have you been?

Good, thanks.

It's been a long time.

You look good.

He's like a family member, a nephew.

It was about 400 years ago, in the time

of the lst Tokugawa shogun.

He brought fishermen from Osaka

to Edo to catch fish for him.

They named their new settlement

after their village in Osaka.

Merchants traded fish in the Nihonbashi

area with the shogun's permission-.

Nihonbashi was the center of

the flourishing culture.

That 8 acres was the best area

in the city.

They blocked off the traffic and

had a market in the streets.

The new market in Great Tokyo

Produce for 5 million Tokyo citizens

will be provided by the new market.

Tsukiji would introduce

a new system of commerce.

They said, "After 300 years of

being in this business"

we'll have a revolution

and change commerce."

So they did. Now distributors

would just distribute.

Same with wholesalers.

It was centralized.

All transactions were systematically

revolutionized.

That's what Tsukiji symbolized.

People here use the word nakama.

Nakama means mates.

It's not used much outside Tsukiji now.

It makes us feel self conscious.

Some Tsukiji guys have worked

here for 60 years.

They've been mates all their lives.

Now they're in their 70s.

They're real Tsukiji mates.

They've made the word nakama

their own by redefining it.

A nakama purchase. 1.65 kg clams.

270,000 yen.

Watch me rip off our mates.

Teruhiko Ito

Intermediate Wholesaler

270,000 is too much!

A nakama purchase is when

you buy from other vendors.

When you're out of stock

you buy from them.

Do you have boiled scallops?

- I think we're out.

- Oh!

How are you doing?

Can I have these boiled scallops?

Any other size?

You want large ones?

Here.

I'll have a pack.

A customer wants boiled ones.

I have raw ones.

At Tsukiji our relationships

go over generations.

When a son is born

he becomes one of us.

We have peers and mentors.

It's like connecting many triangles

It's like connecting many triangles

New Year reception"

There's a joke about homes with

no kitchen knife nowadays.

It's true that not many people

can fillet fish.

Some people, like unmarried people

prefer to eat out.

Some people, like unmarried people

prefer to eat out.

They don't cook.

That's how lifestyles have changed.

One of the reasons

why we trade less fish.

Things are different to when

I first started.

Things are different to when

I first started.

Much less fish.

There used to be about 4,000

fishmongers in metro Tokyo-.

Now there's less than 600.

There's much less fish trade now

which is a concern.

My father started this shop

in I939, before the war.

I've been going to Tsukiji for...

I'm 73 this year so

almost 55 years.

You have some fish to sell me?

Some kids think living fish

look like fillets.

Nobody eats fish now. They just

eat instant noodles or something.

What has become of food culture?

It's good as sashimi, sauteed

or marinated with seaweed.

Fishmongers can tell customers

the best way to eat fish-.

But nobody takes

advantage of that.

The mantle's best as sashimi.

Then fry the tentacles and fins.

Want a big one?

Fish is best in the morning, right?

You like fish?

- I like sashimi.

- Great.

If you like fish, your kid will too.

See, it's a beak, like a bird.

Thank you.

Eat fish!

Tsukiji is a sacred place

for anybody in the fishing trade.

Tsurizao Morita

Fishmonger, Izugin

Maybe it's the awesome energy.

The intermediate wholesalers are

dedicated pros who choose fish for us.

But it's us fishmongers who deal

with consumers.

Our job is to give their message

to the consumers.

You want scallops?

Pick one.

You know how to choose?

Choose one that looks yummy.

Then it will be.

Simple.

Thanks, come again!

We're dealing with something

people consume.

In a few days it becomes

part of your cells.

It's like a sacred ritual.

It's bigger than me

earning a livelihood.

Have this candy.

It's chocolate...

No, it's tuna.

Dried squid is

good for kids' teeth.

They might not like it at first

but they get used to it.

You see...

Healthy people eat well.

Eat well and appreciate the food.

A dental university

did research.

30% of kids failed to

identify all 4 major tastes.

The 4 tastes are sweet, sour,

salty and bitter.

Have children's taste buds changed'?

Nobuko lwamura Japanese Culinary Historian

Over 30% of the children failed

to identify the 4 tastes

in the experiment.

The manufacturing peak's over.

Consumers have to be savvy.

In Japan, instant food was introduced

in I960.

Saving time on food

freed you for other things.

That lifestyle has been

promoted since then.

The children of that time

have their own kids now.

They spend more time playing

than making meals.

That's the lifestyle

post-war Japan promoted.

School lunch ingredients provider"

80% of my clients are

from schools.

We mainly supply seafood

for public school lunches.

Those fish are 2 days old.

Take these ones from yesterday's catch.

These are too large for kids.

They know their fish.

It's a huge relief to

rely on their selection.

Yum !

They're huge!

A whole fish!

They like the taste not the bones.

Many kids have choked on

a fish bone.

They're not used to eating fish.

Hello.

Welcome to our school-.

Before lunch we teach the kids

where the bones are

and how to use chopsticks

to remove meat from the bones.

Imagine where the spine is.

Thank you for the meal.

It's delicious.

Not bad.

It's good.

The 4th graders overcame the challenge!

What an experience.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes