Please don't lick the tuna

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No touching, or licking, at Tokyo fish market
Posted: Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:42 AM

By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer

TOKYO – "We got up at 4:30 to see this and it was really worth
it," said Tim Roberston, after visiting Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji
Fish Market with two friends from Melbourne. "It was probably
the best sushi I've ever had."

Sections of the Tsukiji Fish Market in central Tokyo reopened to
tourists this week, lifting a month-long ban which according to
market officials was put in place due to the busy year-end
New Year's trade.

But the local Japanese media all characterized the shutout as
the result of increasingly disruptive behavior, or as they call
it "bad manners," mainly by foreign tourists.

Bad behavior prompted closure
The Tsukiji Market is a bustling nexus for fish and fresh produce
traders, the largest of its kind in the world with mini-turret
trucks scurrying through narrow alleys handling more than 2,000
tons of marine products every day.

It's considered the gateway to Tokyo's kitchens, providing the
freshest of fish to wholesalers and restaurants, and its daily
trade is estimated to be worth $20 million.

In recent years, with the help of the growing global popularity
of sushi and appreciation for Japanese cuisine, Tsukiji has become
one of Tokyo's main attractions for visitors from abroad.

But not everyone was pleased with the influx of visitors.

"We never promoted this place as a tourist destination," said
Yoshiaki Takagi, an official from the Tsukiji Market. "It's not
Disneyland. The facilities are 70 years old and dangerous. And
besides, we're trying to provide food for the city."

Some of the complaints from traders include flashes from cameras
which could be disruptive during the fiercely competitive bidding
process, a ritual that requires careful attention to the
auctioneer's subtle hand signals and price calls.

A slip – or a missed sign – could be very costly, especially
if they're handling the much coveted Pacific blue fin tunas
which can command prices of $10,000 a fish.

Other offenses that had wholesalers aghast have been people
touching fish with their bare hands, in some instances riding
them and smoking on the quality-controlled trading floor –
damaging fish that could end up at a five-star sushi restaurant
in Ginza.

And when video surfaced of a visitor licking a prized tuna before
the morning auction – it was seemingly the last straw that prompted
the ban.

Reopening – with rules
The market has reopened on a let's see-basis and with additional
precautionary measures in place such as having two guards standing
by during the 5 a.m. tuna bidding and distributing leaflets to
visitors detailing the market's rules in five languages.

Yet some are more than happy to see the return of the foreign visitors.

At Oedo, a small counter-only restaurant tucked inside the market,
an employee handed a red light pointer to a group of foreign customers
so that they could select their choice of fresh tuna and salmon rice
bowls from a wall covered with pictures of their specialties.

"Ninety percent of our customers this morning were foreigners," said
Izumi Nishimoto, who works at the restaurant. "Last month we took
a bit of a hit."

But despite all the effort, the opportunity to see Tsukiji may not
be around for long.

The city of Tokyo is planning to move the market to Toyosu, a
reclaimed strip of land on Tokyo Bay by the year 2014. The
reason is that much of Tsukiji's equipment, even though it's part
of the charm, is desperately antiquated and the small maneuvering
space has proven to be increasingly dangerous.

It's a plan that's not free of controversy, however. The main
concern, and one that has drawn criticisms from some of the Tsujiki
traders, is that recent tests conducted by the Tokyo metropolitan
government showed high levels of pollutants such as benzene and
cyanogen in the soil at the new location in Toyosu.

As a result, the city has devised a $650 million plan to replace all
the polluted soil by setting up a special soil-cleansing plant, a
painstaking procedure that is expected to take two years.

"At the new site, the city is planning to install proper facilities
to accommodate visitors so that we can confidently welcome them,"
Takagi explained. But as for the Tsukiji market, he said that while
they're not trying to completely shut out tourists, "if people still
want to come and visit, there are risks involved and if they're
willing to take personal responsibility, then ... "

Now a lone station for an automated monorail system stands at the
vacant lot for the new Toyosu site. But the main action and the
bustle is definitely across the bay at Tsukiji. If you come to visit,
just be forewarned that you might be in for a harsh chiding
from one of the Tsukiji fish mongers if you break the rules.


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