Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads...

I though you all might like to see what the Tsukiji Fish Market looks like to those of us who are sequestered in the Japanese world...

This is biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind (at least according to local folklore and wikipedia). I must say that I had heard that it was a must see and was a bit dubious as to why, but since we must continue to check things off of the gotta do list, I went and did. The whole experience was pretty interesting. The guys wandering around looking at the fish all had picks that they would swing into the frozen fish and then look at the holes. They also had little flaps hacked open and the guys would shine their flashlights and then scribble things down on a pad of paper. This went on for a while and then the auctioneers (three of them standing at different places in the warehouse) started ringing bells and then begans chanting, and shouting, and writing things on their little notepads. It lasted for about half an hour and then we made our way through the inner market where the fish are processed. In there were about a bazillion guys driving fish around on little trucks. Other guys were hacking up fish with machetes and still other carving them with saws. It was crazy, but interesting to watch. And all the while I had the fish heads song playing in my head!