Tsukiji tuna auctions readmit sightseers – no major rudeness
The Tsukiji fish market reopened its tuna auctions to sightseers today after a 1-month ban:
The move comes as the Tokyo metropolitan government deemed the famous tuna auction, which attracts a maximum of about 500 people a day, an important tourist attraction, and because they were able to gain the understanding of market participants, according to metropolitan officials.
In accordance with the resumption, the local government deployed two security guards to the auction area, marked observer boundaries, displayed a sign at the main gate of the market and distributed flyers in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Russian explaining that flash photography and entering the actual auction site are banned.
No major problems went down this morning, so the new measures seem to have been a success. Here’s a medley of reactions from foreign tourists from the news reports that aired on Asahi/Fuji/NTV/TBS:
All the foreign tourists interviewed were happy with the experience, and the guy in charge of maintaining order at the market was very happy (some tourists even said “Thank you” to him!). The international media was also on the scene, so CNN’s Kyung Lah even filed a report about it.*
Most of the Japanese TV networks included replays of their wild scenes of rude foreign behavior from the pre-ban Tsukiji, and they were on watch for rule-breaking. Here’s what TBS and Asahi TV were able to dig up:
The daring TBS reporter was quite forward in scolding the poor guy who accidentally left his flash on. Asahi TV also captured a guy using his flash, as well as a woman who got in the way of one of the vehicles used to transport fish around the interior of the market. They also got some comments from a Tsukiji market worker about how gaijin get in the way by walking around in such a manner and blinding workers with their camera flashes.
Those scenes aside, the overall tone of the reports on all four networks was positive. Most of the workers interviewed were very pleased with the results of the new measures, and owners of shops and restaurants in the area were particularly happy that the foreign tourists who make up so much of their customer base will be able to continue visiting the auctions. It’s great to see that Tsukiji is back open to tourism and things are going relatively well for both foreign tourists and the fish market.
*Comment about CNN’s report: Quite surprising that their elite team of journalists in Tokyo had to rely on some very familiar low resolution footage instead of asking the Japanese TV network in question to use a higher quality version. I don’t ever see NTV use junky YouTube quality clips when they include footage from CNN in their news reports.
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James, can we assume that your use of “elite team of journalists in Tokyo” in reference to CNN was being sarcastic?
They are really horrid. Kyung La should be sent back to LA post-haste – of course, she’d never find work there, but anyway…
I recently saw a CNN article about how the “global economic downturn” was affecting small restaurants everywhere areound the world, and in every little bit of the story either the reporter himself spoke the local lingo, or s/he had a translator along. And every little section also highlighted the local cuisine.
Except for Kyung La’s “report” from Tokyo, where she went to an Curry shop run by an Indian, who was obviously chosen as he spoke English. And she ooh’d and aah’d about how great the curry was, and how she loved to eat there…
They post the little trollop to Tokyo, and she spends her time in curry shops?!? Sheesh.
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But curry IS the local food of Japan! The genuine Vermont stuff too, with apples…..
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CNN is no longer the bastion of journalism it was presumed to be back in the day. Whether this example is representative of CNN’s decline in quality or the general decline in journalism as a whole is debatable, but I do wish these half-ass reports and reporters were held to the fire more often.
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Are tuna (and other seafood) auctions common in Japan?
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It’s very hard to find a seafood auction in Japan. In fact you can walk around the country for days and weeks and never see one. You have to be actually looking for one – it’s not as if you can go to the Golden Pavilion or Tokyo Disneyland and just come across one.
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That hugely depends on how you go from your hotel to Tokyo disney.
You may stumble over Tsukiji on your way to Tokyo disney…
However, walking from beyond Tsukiji to TD is, well, kinda stupid.
But if you have a free day on your hands… why not.
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I can think of worse walks myself. And better ones. Although if I was going to TDL I would stay near TDL ideally. I can’t believe it’s 25 years already – the first I went there it was its *5th* anniversary…..
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Like walking over Kabukicho 2-chome wearing a pink latex outfit?
It sure is a fishy place where they do auctions too, sort of…
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What’s the issue with flash photography?
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You ever tried to work with idiots setting flashes off in your face?
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This is funny. In which other country would “Rude foreigner takes a flash photograph” make the national news? The Japanese fear of people (especially foreigners) not following all their little rules always amuses me.
I just came back from Australia, if you really want to see rowdy tourists (fighting & puking), go out on a weekend night down there!
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I have never been to Tsukiji but been to Spain and seen what it is like to have a holiday resort invaded by drunken trash English men. It is not pretty. When I see what it is like in Spain, it makes me happy that Japan is so far away from UK.
There are quite a few fish markets around Japan which is smaller than Tsukiji which could maybe be better for tourists to go to as there are much less tourists, people and hype there than Tsukiji.
When I was in elementary school I remember going to a fish market in Shimizu, in Shizuoka Prefecture with my school. There was a huge plastic sheet covering something. I then look beneath the cover and saw lots of dead dolphins. I have until this day wondered if the dolphins were caught by mistake in fishing nets or if they were hunted.
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What I would wonder is if the dolphins were carefully hidden under the tarp so that primary school kids wouldn’t see them….
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Thats what I have been wondering too. Why were the dolphins hidden beneath a tarp? I can’t remember if dolphins were the only fish/animals hidden beneath a tarp or not. This was a long time ago.
Choushi in Chiba probably has a fish market which is much more local and less touristy but not sure if tourists are allowed to enter the fish market there or not. They hunt whales off the shores of Chiba Prefecture so you could maybe see whales in the local fish market there. Not sure if they hunt whales/dolphins in Shizuoka though.
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In the clip where the man says he saw it on BBC news, isn’t the woman next to him Fern Cotton?!
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