Back in 2019, I was fortunate enough to spend about a week in Japan. We stayed at Rey’s grandparents house, affectionately called “Bachan’s” after his Grandmother (Bachan). It’s within walking distance of the Nagareyama-Otakanomori train station, and the short walk gives you a wonderful feel of the neighborhood and suburban life in Japan. With that we also walked by Rey’s old elementary school everyday to the trains from when he lived in Mita with Bachan. The first thing we did once settled in with a quick bit of sleep, was go to the Toyosu (Fish) Market.
The trains were insanely cheap for the trip, the route from Otakanomori to Toyosu was only 940¥ and there was a 13 minute walk to the fish market itself. It was super early in the morning like 6:30AM, by the time we reached the sale viewing deck, so the morning air was crisp and nice. (It would not remain that lovely for the rest of the day or trip, but that’s okay.) There is no fee to enter the market, but you do have to wear a lanyard/badge that says you’re a visitor the whole time. Below is a photo of me next to one of the tuna’s they would be selling on the sales floor below the viewing deck.
Seeing that we got there at 6:30, we were actually too late for the rush of fish sales at 4AM when the fisherman just get in, but I snagged photos anyways. It was incredible to see the size of some of these fish, it honestly blew my mind and reminded me why I hate deep water. Despite that, it was fun to see where Spoonfish’s fish for poke would come from if it was based in Japan. They don’t just do large tuna sales, they also do small fish, shellfish, bait, and any other fish that big distributors would carry for wholesale pictured with the tuna sales floor.
After we toured the inside of the building, we decided on a lunch spot from one of the sushi shops and then headed outside to the rooftop garden. They have a whole trail tracing the top of the building in fun shapes. They also filled the trail with luscious manicured grass with little flowers and some benches and some open air overhangs with picnic tables. It was pretty windy by the time we made it up there, but it seemed like a lovely place to go for lunch or to study. We took one of my favorite photos up here, but look at this glass overhang overlooking the bay and port where the fishermen come in for the sales each day. The glass floor/ glass overhang concept is everywhere in Tokyo.
We decided to head back down and to go to the sushi restaurant in the market that we decided on earlier. We each got a plate to try the freshest fish from the sales of the day, and I loved it.*
*There may have been a miscommunication while ordering, and my wasabi was added between the lovely fish and my sushi rice on every piece of sushi. Unlike Spoonfish, they cut their root that day when they receive their fish shipment from the fish market below and make their wasabi for the whole day. I didn’t expect this and actually ran to the bathroom the throw up the rice because I couldn’t handle the spice. Thankfully, the Japanese bathrooms all have a mechanism that plays rushing water for people with bathroom anxiety when the stall locks so no one knew I was sick!! I washed up and headed back over looking good as new. Despite, the waitress asking Rey if I was okay after my episode, we had a lovely experience. The pieces I remembered to take photos of are below.
Highly recommend making a stop here if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo, it’s an incredible place to see firsthand. This is the modern version of the Tsukiji Market, which was almost completely open air and visitors could be hands on for all aspects of the sales. This new market takes the hands on element away, but still gives you an amazing taste of what aspects Tsukiji had.
Grey2Bay 