Gallery: Tsukiji 2004-03

After-Purchase Support

After the tuna is bought, it is immediately loaded onto trolleys and brought to the middleman's stall outside. There, he will cut it up and prepare it for delivery to the various sushi restaurants that he serves. I'm using the generic 'he' and 'middleman' because I did not see any women who were licensed buyers. At the stalls outside, there were certainly a lot of women working with the fish. But the auction itself was a man's world.

The biggest fish can weigh over 400 kilograms or 900 pounds.

There are several grades of tuna (maguro) depending on where the fish grew up, the fat content, and the portion of flesh the meat is coming from.

The most expensive meat comes from the fatty flesh in the stomach area. This is called toro. If you go to a sushi restaurant, you can order the following types of maguro sashimi:

ô toro = very fatty flesh

chû toro = medium fatty flesh

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.