Gallery: Tsukiji 2004-end

Tsukiji Sushi

If you want the freshest sashimi in Japan, go to one of the small sushi restaurants that line the outer rim of the Tsukiji market.

I avoided the places where the locals weren't present (note the lack of merchants in line). I actually ate next door on the recommendation of one of the buyers. Mmm... delicious fresh tuna sashimi on rice. You couldn't have asked for a better end to a morning.

If you want to visit Tsukiji yourself, I've written copious notes about photographing there. Please, please don't be a jerk and threaten the ability of other photographers to shoot at Tsukiji. Always respect the importance of the merchants to do their job efficiently.

NOTE: Effective May 9, 2005, the tuna auction has been closed to tourists and photographers. The outside stalls in the fish market remain open. For more information, see my blog entry.

Equipment Bag
I carried my usual digital set-up for daytrips but it turned out to be too much for Tsukiji:

What I did right:

• Digital is better than film at Tsukiji. I shot about 400 frames while there (about 10 rolls). A large CF microdrive ensured that I didn't have to worry about dropping film or memory cards when changing them. In general the 10D and the 4-gig MD was fine, but there were times during the auction calls when I had to stop shooting because the buffer had filled up. This is frustrating, but akin to stopping to change film - only you don't have to worry about dropping the film in a pool of fish blood.
• The lighting is absolutely horrendous. The auction floors and stalls are lit by a mix of fluoresecent and tungten lights. You will find you are shooting at ISO800 or above most of the time. Slide film would not do the job, maybe Fuji NPZ or NPH could do it. Shoot in RAW because you'll want to color-balance later on. My EOS did an OK guess at auto white-balancing but I touched up most of the photographs in this series when RAW converting.
• Things happen very quickly, so an auto-focus, motor-drive SLR is handy. On the other hand, there's no need for stealth, so a rangefinder is not needed.
• There's no good place to set your camera down to reload, so either bring a huge memory card or have lots of pockets.
• Zooms are better than primes. While I normally advocate primes, you need a zoom at Tsukiji. You can't always step forward or backwards to compose your shot because you'll step onto a fish or into a grappling hook. Shooting locations are rather fixed.

What I did wrong:

• Don't even think about using a flash, it annoys the merchants. I didn't use mine but saw the scrowls given to the tourists who were popping away.
• Don't bring a backpack, only the smallest of waist packs or shoulder bags. The auction floor is quite crowded and the pack gets in the way. There's nowhere to set it down to change equipment.
• Maybe bring two bodies: one for wides and one for teles. Changing lenses is a liability.

Please e-mail me with comments or feedback about my photos or any other material on this site:

Links on the web

• Official Tsukiji website
• Japan-Guide.com's coverage
• National Geographic's online page (one photo w/ caption)

Tsukiji Photo Blogs / Experiences

• Brad Templeton's experience
• Ciro Cattuto's Tsukiji Blog
• Eric Lee (Hong Kong): Tsukiji w/ Leica