鰹節 | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 1 (1/3): TSUKIJI OUTER MARKET (築地場外市場), Tokyo, Japan, 2018.05.25

Walking out of Tsukiji Metro Station, our attention immediately fell to the monumental Tsukiji Honganji Temple (築地本願寺) across the street. Design in mixed styles including Indian Buddhist, Islamic and Hindu, as well as Western Neoclassical influences, architect and Tokyo University professor Chuta Ito intended to steer away from the traditional East Asian timber architectural traditions. Instead, he traveled to India numerous times to visit temples, and brought home design touches from the birthplace of Buddhism. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed the temple’s predecessor. The current Honganji Temple was built in the 1930s, and soon became a prominent Jodo Shinshu (浄土真宗) temple in Tokyo. We climbed the main stair and entered the main hall through an elegant doorway with beautiful stain-glass transom windows overhead. We were surprised to see a full house of audience in the cathedral-like main hall (even with an organ). Apparently there was a concert going on. A female vocalist was performing some kind of Western opera inside the temple.

The unique facade of Tsukiji Honganji Temple hardly revealed its true identity of to us.

The elegant stain glass transom over the doorway depict the Buddhist icon of lotus flowers.

There was a concert inside the main hall of Tsukiji Honganji Temple.

The architecture of Tsukiji Honganji Temple presents the trend of cultural fusion back in early 20th century.

Across the street adjacent to the Tsukiji Honganji Temple, we picked a small lane leading into Tsukiji Jogai Shijo (築地場外市場) or the Outer Market. Encompassing a few blocks adjacent to the Tsukiji Jonai Shijo or the Inner Market, the Outer Market is a popular tourism attraction. Catered for the public, small shops selling all kinds of culinary-related goods from dried seafood to kitchen knives and food stalls offering a wide range of snacks such as sushi and grilled egg, the pedestrianized lanes of the Outer Market is truly a foodie’s paradise. On this piece of reclaimed land (Tsukiji literally means reclaimed land), the eateries and shops of the Outer Market had long been providing a diverse range of food to the people of Tokyo since the Showa Era (1926-1989). The entire Tsukiji Market was in fact a consequence of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which devastated Central Tokyo in 1923 including the Nihonbashi Fish Market. The fish market was relocated to Tsukiji and began to operate in 1935 as one of the three major markets in the city. Already the largest wholesale seafood market in the world, the Tsukiji Market is running out of space for further development. Work of relocating the market has been undergoing for sometime. After several delays, it seems that the market is really moving to its new home in Toyosu (豊洲) this October. But that didn’t affect the bustling Outer Market as these few blocks of shops and eateries (and the loads of tourists) would likely to stay even after the move.

Street vendors appeared blocks away from the Tsukiji Market just outside the Metro Station.

A large fish painted on the building facade probably reminds tourists the direction of the market.

A relatively new market called “Tsuki Waza” will remain at Tsukiji even after the relocation of Tsukiji Inner Market.

The Tsukiji Outer Market is consisted of a few pedestrianized streets of shops and restaurants.

Katsuobushi (鰹節) is the dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna or bonito flakes commonly seen in Japanese cuisine.

Akiyama Shouten (秋山商店) specializes in katsuobushi. We couldn’t resist but got ourselves 500g of the flakes.

There are many small shops with all kinds of dried seafood and seaweed.

While it only occupies a few blocks, one can easily get disoriented in Tsukiji Outer Market.

Apart from the small shops, there are also indoor shopping arcades of food stalls.

We ended up get our first snacks from a street BBQ vendor.

Apart from seafood, spices can also be found in the Outer Market.

Tamagoyaki (玉子焼き) or grilled omelette is another popular snacks available at Tsukiji.

We saw about four to five stalls specialized in tamagoyaki. We tried two of them and they both tasted good.

After free tasting of black beans from Kyoto region we ended up get a pack home.

After all, tuna is still the king in Tsukiji. Quite a long queue of people were waiting for fresh tuna sashimi in front of this shop.

New indoor shopping arcades have been established in recent years at the Outer Market, perhaps as a gesture of confidence for the future of Tsukiji after the relocation of the wholesale Inner Market later this year.