Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(
Indira Gandhi International (20km/12
miles).
L
$$$
The Imperial,
1 Janpath (
&
011/
2334-1234;
www.theimperialindia.com).
$$
Oberoi Maidens,
7 Sham Nath Marg,
North Delhi (
&
011/2397-5464,
or central
reservations 1 600 11 7070; www.maidens
hotel.com).
famous for its authentic Mughlai tandoori
dishes, spicy mutton stews, and spit-
roasted kebabs.
Near Turkman Gate, Khari Baoli Road
(no phone).
Open-Air Markets
11
Tsukiji Fish Market
Seafood at Sunrise
Tokyo, Japan
It should come as no surprise that the
world's largest and most famous seafood
market is in Japan's capital, Tokyo—the
heart of an island nation whose people
have always lived off the sea. Be prepared
to rise before dawn to visit it, however; the
action starts at about 3am, and it's all over
by 9am or so.
All through the night, boats, trains, and
trucks converge at this immense, hangar-
like facility to unload their catch, not just
locally caught but imported from some 60
other countries, including Africa and the
Americas. Under the harsh glare of elec-
tric light, a bewildering variety of fish—
hundreds of types, from tiny sardines to
hulking tuna, slithery eels to gangly octopi
and spiky sea urchins—are laid out on
wooden pallets for licensed wholesalers to
inspect. Fast-paced auctions finally take
place from about 4:40 to 6:30am (tuna
auctions have been closed to spectators
since 2005, but you can still see those
gigantic fish laid out for their once-over).
The wholesale fishmongers then haul
what they've bought to their own stalls in
the inner section of the market
(jonai shijo),
where they sell to buyers from retail stores
and restaurants. (Almost all the seafood
consumed in Tokyo—around 2,000 tons a
day—passes through this one market.) As
the day slowly dawns outside, it's a scene
of controlled chaos, with men tromping
around the wet floors in black rubber boots,
trundling wheelbarrows and dollies through
the aisles. It's fascinating, if gruesome, to
watch the vendors cutting up the fish
they've bought—a ballet performed to the
tune of buzzing band-saws and cleavers
clanging on chopping blocks. It seems all
the more surreal if you don't understand
Japanese or can't read the scrawled char-
acters on the handwritten signs at each
stall, yet it's a very popular visit for foreign
tourists (very few Japanese make it here).
While you're not allowed to photograph
the auctions, feel free to snap photos of
the wholesalers at work; workers burst
with pride if you single them out for a
photograph.
The outer sections of the market
(jogai
shijo)
are rows of barracklike buildings
divided into sushi restaurants and shops
related to the fish trade. The immediate
neighborhood is also crammed with tiny
retail shops and stalls where you can buy
the freshest seafood in town, as well as
dried fish, seaweed, vegetables, knives,
and other cooking utensils.
