Tsukiji market and Sushi Sora
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to visit the one and only Tsukiji market, Tokyo’s legendary wholesale fish market. If you're an ‘itacho’ (the name used to identify the highest level of sushi chef in Japan), you can rock up at 8.30am and still receive the best of the day’s catch, no alarms needed.
This wasn’t entirely planned, Sushi Sora’s itacho Yuji Imaizumi has slept through his alarm on our first morning in Tokyo. But clearly this is not an issue, as he strides into the market in his black suit looking like a boss, myself and Romy from Mandarin Oriental struggling to keep up whilst concentrating on avoiding the silent pallet moving trucks speeding around the busy industrial warehouse scene.
The Tsukiji market is among Tokyo’s most iconic sights with a jaw dropping number of seafood and fish purveyors. It’s the largest wholesale market of its kind, a buzzing metropolis in its own right, much like Paris’s Rungis. You might have already visited it on screen, as it featured in the beautiful Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and more disturbingly for tuna lovers and the eco-conscious, in the poignant documentary, The End of the Line.
At this hour of the day the proceedings have slowed down to a manageable level, allowing us to navigate Chef Yuji Imaizumi’s preferred purveyors. Under the warehouse roof lie alleys of permanent stalls, live eels and prawns wriggling around in crates, octopus eggs bobbing in Styrofoam and cabinets displaying tuna parts like priceless jewellery at Cartier.
We stop at his tuna suppliers ‘boutique’ where the head of a 160kg tuna is laid bare on the crates of ice. A central cabinet displays the day’s tuna; large hunks of various parts of the fish, which are being lovingly dabbed by the stall keeper to keep moisture at bay. The stallholder has one hunk on his chopping board and is slicing slivers with his sword-like knife for his clients to taste test its raw freshness. He slices himself a piece for quality control purposes.
At Yuji’s favourite shrimp man we pause for an iced tea and chitchat. Yuji appears to be a bit of a celebrity here. He's treated to some form of beverage on arrival and rather than perusing the displayed fish or seafood, he's treated to the extra special catch, which is stored away from sight under the counters and revealed only to the itacho himself. The mere tourist stands no chance of walking away with the best stuff. It seems this is how he gets away with the late starts.
Yuji’s restaurant Sushi Sora is housed on the 38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental with vertiginous cityscape views to one side. But the view is by no means the focal point of this countertop eatery. In the classic manner of a top-notch sushi restaurant, the centre stage is occupied by the revered sushi chefs, whose theatrical performance of delicately forming the vinegared rice is Tony award worthy.
The counter seats about a maximum of around 10 people, if not fewer. Yuji is at the helm, keeping his workspace scrupulously immaculate at all times. The calm and cool ceremony as they work is the very antithesis of the raucous pot clanging kitchens we are accustomed to expect from likes of Gordon Ramsey and Anthony Bourdain.
He opens up a wooden box every so often to remove a piece of tuna, bonito or mackerel pike (all of which we watched him select that very morning), and deftly carves it with such unspoken respect for the ingredient. If you want to experience the culture and craft of sushi, this is one of the finest places to do so.
Tsukiji market really has to be seen to be believed, to help bring it life I shot a video while I was there showing the stall holders in action and the sheer scale (get it) of the place. Check out the video on my YouTube channel below:
http://youtu.be/vKpVXC2_gbM
Special thanks to Inside Japan and ANA, without whom this trip wouldn't have been possible. Special thanks to Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, for their out-of-this-world hotel room and spa facilities, as well as Chef Yuji and Romy for the tour of Tsukiji.
This post is sponsored by Inside Japan and ANA, but all views and opinions expressed are my own.
