FoodZealot.com

Yeah, more pickles, same shop.

I'm guessing this is something like shiokara (fermented, spiced squid), but I'm not sure, because it costs too much. This jar is about 5 ounces for $48.39US.

I couldn't resist having some sizzling hot kabayaki eel for breakfast. Yummy delicious.

Really big tiger shrimp, probably almost 8 ounces each, with the head on.

Heading back into the wholesale part of the market again. These little flatbed trucks are the vehicle of choice in the market. It's actually a three wheeler - the wheel for steering is directly connected by vertical column to the wheel that steers (no gearing, I don't think - one to one steering). The throttle is in the same shape as the steering wheel, and is omni directional - so any pressure on the throttle will move it, meaning that it can be steered and throttled with one hand. They're really maneuverable, accelerate fast and stop on a dime, since they drive right through the narrow paths of the market itself and also to the merchants outside the market. It's also performs well at avoiding tourists in the way. Note also the mountain of used styrofoam.

Live suppon turtles

I'd call this a red stickfish, but I don't know if that's correct.

In Japanese, I found out these are called akanai, I'm guessing they're also called blood clams. Apparently they can be dangerous if they come from warm waters, but I have to say I wanted to just eat these right out of the shell. No sushi place had them, so they may not be edible raw.

Lots of yellowtail on this day, hardly any on the first day.

Cleaning out the "sawdust".

In Hawai`i these are called kawakawa, a type of small tuna.

Sea cucumber, or namako in Japanese.

Very alive sea scallops, clapping and splashing.

Although octopus (tako) in a sushi restaurant usually means the legs, the heads (or domes as Steve likes to call them) are also edible. These might be going off to be made into a dried snack.

At first I thought this was bloodline from maguro, but as I think about it, it's probably whale.

Another guess - I'm thinking whale. There were some other stalls that had it sliced paper thin, fanned out, and vacuum sealed like prosciutto. But the marbling looks remarkably like otoro or wagyu beef.

Animal or vegetable? No idea.

After all of that, I was hungry!! There are certain places that are just stoopid crowded, so I went to some of the lesser known places. This one is called Sushi Bentomi.

This is the omakase set, including scallop, akagai clam, fluke, flounder, bonito, chutoro, uni, ikura, tamago, ebi and shaku.

That uni was damn good, so I had another one with some okay otoro. If I recall correctly, the total was about 4300 yen, or $36.52US.

If you're a cook and you get to go to Japan, you simply must go to Tsukiji Fish Market. On the one hand, it's inspiring to see such incredible ingredients. On the other hand, there's the dark side as well, which is that it's reminiscent of a slaughterhouse. But as Thomas Keller relays in his rabbit story, you have to use that to demand the best from yourself, to pay proper respect to the ingredients, who gave of themselves. Or I suppose had it taken from them.