Today is the first official day of the Toyosu Market, the new fish market that is replacing the beloved Tsukiji Fish Market. The opening wasn’t exactly smooth.
In September, I visited the Tsukiji Fish Market one last time.
The Tsukiji Fish Market had loads of charm (and loads of rats!), while the Toyosu Market doesn’t.
First look at new Toyosu Fish Market ???????? #tictocnews pic.twitter.com/E0wewKrprf
— Kurumi Mori (@rumireports) October 10, 2018
Old vs. New ????#Tsukiji tuna auction (left)
???? Oct. 6, 2018 #築地市場#Toyosu tuna auction (right)
???? Oct. 11, 2018 #豊洲市場For visitors, a new viewing area behind glass at Toyosu. Still recommend visiting Tsukiji outer market for munching ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/h0mbFzqxxk
— Kurumi Mori (@rumireports) October 11, 2018
Here’s how it compares to Tsukiji.
Has all the charm of a Costco: New #Tokyo fish market opens in Toyosu https://t.co/Gnb87ESS33 pic.twitter.com/I23fJGcGGR
— Tokyotronic (@robotopia) October 10, 2018
Is that really Toyosu? It looks like a hotel conference ballroom ????
— Vince Vo (@yoyovo) October 11, 2018
Bloomberg’s Yuji Nakamura has this helpful summary:
Stopped by Tokyo’s new fish market in Toyosu:
✨No rats, yet
????Easier to see tuna auction
????Lotta modern restaurants
????Visitors can’t buy fresh fish 🙁
????Access sucks
????Lacks charm (no rats!)
????Opens to public Oct 13Pro tip: Stick to Tsukiji’s outer market which is still open pic.twitter.com/nUXtmbFyEV
— Yuji Nakamura (@ynakamura56) October 11, 2018
That’s right, you cannot buy fresh fish directly from the merchants. (You can follow Nakamura here on Twitter!)
There are some complaints about the new location. For example, visitors will be sectioned off and behind glass.
“Another major gripe surrounds a change in accessibility to visitors: While it was possible to walk among the seafood vendors at Tsukiji Market, visitors to Toyosu Market will instead be restricted to viewing market operations from second-floor obs…” https://t.co/WJlrgtPIdx
— Nipponica (@nippponica) October 10, 2018
It wasn’t exactly a smooth first day but hopefully, that’s just growing pains.
Already fire engines and an ambulance ???? have been called to #Toyosu. Fire and a woman was hit by a turret. https://t.co/GUaKM79rrA
— Food Sake Tokyo ???? (@YukariSakamoto) October 10, 2018
On the first day of trading at Toyosu:
– turret truck on fire
– sewage backs up
– traffic jams
– no smile
– hot, not cool pic.twitter.com/M1hzX16oMX— 猫ぐるま (@neko_guruma01) October 10, 2018
The new #Toyosu site is supposed to be air-conditioned but today it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the market. Other vendors reporting so humid that it will be easy for mold to grow. ???? https://t.co/dyoF8ImChK
— Food Sake Tokyo ???? (@YukariSakamoto) October 11, 2018
Our colleague, formerly an auctioneer at Tsukiji market, is a seafood exporter. He said that Toyosu is a mess. pic.twitter.com/3COfR9fbz6
— Food Sake Tokyo ???? (@YukariSakamoto) October 10, 2018
With fewer roads, access is not good and traffic this morning was a nightmare. For visitors, Toyosu can be accessed by bus or monorail.
Toyosu market just open Today✨????
So many traffic! Now it’s 5:00am.#toyosu #tokyo #japan pic.twitter.com/vdTLj6IMO9— Japan Wonder Travel (@JapanWTravel) October 10, 2018
豊洲市場で入荷トラックの大渋滞。このままでは荷が降ろせなく、延着の可能性が大。帰路の予定も中継の予定も立たなくなってしまう。着陸できない飛行機のように空港の上空をグルグル回り続けるしかないのか。バースでもない露天の荷下ろし場すら早い者勝ちの奪い合いに… pic.twitter.com/TNRPGCT208
— 建築エコノミスト森山 (@mori_arch_econo) October 10, 2018
豊洲市場６街区、４階からのスロープ下は、悲惨なことになっています。 https://t.co/1p7cYM3FsK
— 豊洲市場担当記者@日刊食料新聞 (@nikkan_toyosu) October 10, 2018
今朝の豊洲の渋滞状況
これはひどい、、#豊洲市場 pic.twitter.com/t2EgU64PmS— 山本 理恵 中央区議会議員 (@yamarie0324) October 11, 2018
The closing of the inner Tsukiji Market was a sad affair.
MORE: Not everyone is happy about moving the Tsukiji fish market to Toyosu. While some shop owners have decided to relocate to the new site, others have chosen to close down pic.twitter.com/CZNFQZwS66
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) October 6, 2018
Wider repercussions from the #Tsukiji Market move to Toyosu: our local fishmonger closed its doors on Saturday after bringing fresh fish from Tsukiji to our neighbourhood for decades. Enjoyed a final meal of their famed sashimi with friends on their last day ????#築地 #築地移動 pic.twitter.com/CPdCtjfYUr
— Oona McGee ???????????????????????? (@OonaMcGee) October 8, 2018
Kindof sad to read about the last days of Tsukiji, but it probably couldn’t continue in the same way forever. Hope some of the atmosphere rubs off on the new market (maybe without the fumes from those motorised-barrel-cart things!) https://t.co/FFucwqVCDw pic.twitter.com/kGuJHnn7G9
— Tom Royal (@tomroyal) October 11, 2018
Some Tsukiji inner market shops are not leaving in protest.
Shops that have refused to relocate to Toyosu ar continuing their business as usual at Tsukiji. Fans are shopping around and helping the shops survive the ordeal. https://t.co/H8P4HNw0p4
— 猫ぐるま (@neko_guruma01) October 11, 2018
Prof. Kumamoto protests against Tokyo officials who order shops to stop their buisness at Tsukiji. He says, “Their order is illegal, no need to accept it. The shops have a right to continue business here.” https://t.co/Rin4JB9L4H
— 猫ぐるま (@neko_guruma01) October 11, 2018
Starting this Saturday, Toyosu shops and restaurants will be open to the general public and visitors can watch auctions from Monday.
Tokyo’s new Toyosu fish market opens: Public tours to begin Saturday https://t.co/sy2AtmNvmz#foodies #japanese #food #japan #cuisine #washoku #和食 #ftj #foodtoursjapan #tokyo #東京 pic.twitter.com/KjmmOvAOu1
— Food Tours Japan (@FoodToursJapan) October 11, 2018
But, starting on Monday, Oct. 15th, the #Toyosu #tuna auction can be observed from a higher viewing point. No reservations needed for this area (as of yet)…. pic.twitter.com/qfwJ0kreun
— Food Sake Tokyo ???? (@YukariSakamoto) October 11, 2018
Maybe with time, Toyosu Market will become just as beloved—or more so. The charm, though, is going to take decades.
Comments
44 responses to “Tokyo’s New Fish Market Opens, Things Didn’t Go Well”
Anyone would think you come to Kotaku for gaming related news. Apparently not.
To stay on topic though my local IGA recently shifted bread from the front of the store to the back, things didn’t go well.
Jesus yours too?!
And for some bloody reason the split it into 3 areas, took me a good, i dunno, 3mins to find my corn cob loaf.
Not happy Jan.
Bread in the back of an IGA? that is madness.
Kotaku has covered Japanese culture since it started, the Japanese word ‘otaku’ is literally in the name. Why this is constantly a surprise for people is beyond me.
Every single non-videogame article. The useless mystery that keeps on giving.
It’s almost as is Kotaku brands itself as “Kotaku Australia | the Gamer’s Guide | Computer and video game news and reviews”
But that’s impossible, gamers are dead.
You know they’re not mutually exclusive, right?
Otaku is about Japanese geek/nerd culture, not sure fish markets really qualify…
It’s commonly associated with manga/anime but the term just means obsessive fan, it’s not specific to any particular domain.
Still not seeing the connection. Is there an obsessive fish market fandom out there? If so, I don’t think this is it…
Here’s the about section from this site in case you were wondering;
Nothing about fish there that I can see :/
There’s an obsessive Japanophile market out there. I’m not really sure what you’re looking to get out of this exchange, to be honest.
Just like you provided, this article for me anyway I will not and have not seen anywhere else.
I always like a good bashcraft Japan article
What a strange article. Not the subject matter (I clicked because it seemed interesting), but the style of writing. It’s more a series of tweets with a connecting sentence or two.
You must be new here.
Great article. Thanks for that— had no idea they were moving it.
My visit to the fish market is the central story I still tell from my last visit to Japan, this new location looks like a bit of a drag if you ask me. I’m sure they have good reasons to move it but it’s still a bit of a kick in the teeth to see it go.
Great memories.
I love this video game.
I miss games.on.net
This is a IN REAL LIFE topic, if you look up the top and select PC or consoles then that will be what most look for.
As a counterpoint to all the naysayers, I quite like the article. I lived in Japan when I was a kid and the Tsukiji fish markets were always just there. To hear that they’ve been ripped from the location that they were so indelibly tied to, and splotched somewhere else where they don’t fit, is a complete and utter scandal! This completely ruins my childhood!
Though I must admit, since I was a teenager at the time I lived in Japan, I was really just interested in finding cool arcade games, and not fish markets.
For those saying “this is interesting, don’t read it if you don’t want to.” I just want to say that I’m not arguing it’s *not* interesting, I just don’t see why articles like this are *here*. Articles about Global Warming, American elections and even (god forbid) sports can be interesting too but that doesn’t mean we should be happy to clog up the only (good) Australian gaming website with them – especially when the “article” is just a bunch of tweets (some in Japanese)… Just go to Twitter if you want to read tweets.
Edited my reply and it went into moderation, I’ll just repost.
The point is Kotaku has always been more than just a games site – it’s fine that some topics aren’t of interest to some people, that’s normal. But it’s not cool to come and say ‘this stuff shouldn’t be here’ when A) it’s always been here, and B) there are plenty of people who come here because they do this stuff too. Complaining about that seems like going to a century-old bar and then complaining that they serve gin alongside everything else but you only want whiskey.
There’s an audience for this mix, one they’ve built for over a decade. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that if some of the long-standing content isn’t to your taste, just don’t read it. It seems more amicable than trying to deny it the people who do want it, especially considering how long it’s been here.
I’d be a member of that audience. There’s no way I’d come across a story like this outside of Kotaku and I just wouldn’t go looking for it. For me (because I cannot speak for anyone else) the exposure to things outside of my normal realm of experience helps me be a more balanced human being – which is something that seems to be sadly lacking in this modern era of ‘select your own reality’ news.
just from a financial standpoint Kotaku probably has to diversify it’s content to stay alive so it can still be here doing the games related content.
@scrumptatoes “myriad of demographics” if i look into this thesis am i going to find yet another identity politics driven pie chart separating people based on race, gender or sexual orientation, then condescendingly assign them opinions, viewpoints and perspectives unique to the box they are jammed into.
For example the box we labeled “black people” want more black representation on screen because they cant possibly look up to and relate to batman or ironman the stupid narrative we all watched play out when black panther came out.
Mmm, yes, I see. You haven’t read the thing and you don’t know what the thing is. If you had read the thing we could have skipped past the supposition.
Bait the hook elsewhere.
well i would go and read the thesis you posted and cherry pick some quotes to support my argument but the comment you had with the information i would need to find it has conveniently disappeared…… whose baiting the hook again??
Interesting final comment…perhaps if batman or ironman was handpainted or carved onto a rock wall it might help them relate.
Yes, that’s offensive…just as I found your comment offensive.
don’t bother to tell me how you took offence just assume that i meant to offend you and that it’s obvious, and whatever you do don’t think maybe i misunderstood him and start a dialogue to find out, just call me offensive and be done with it all the while assuming your moral superiority… can’t imagine how everything gets so polarised nowadays.
That’s interesting and all but what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China? Have they slumped because of the change in the fish market?
The price of a dozen eggs in Beijing is currently 18元
But…. do they sell whale?