I cannot comment on the early morning experience that all the guide books say you must try, since getting up that early was not in my plan. I can say that by lunch time the area was still humming and worth the few blocks walk from the Tsukijishijo metro station on the Toei Oedo line. If you are interested in getting a feel for the speed of life that is Tokyo with out the Neon glow found in Ginza or Shinjuku, this is the place to go.

The streets leading up to the dock provide a great opportunity to fill your kitchen cabinets with bowls, dishes and any other necessity. The stalls are filled from the floor to ceiling and those not selling wares are packed with workers getting a quick meal. Barely able to fit the cook, much less any guests, the sidewalks are lined with make shift tables of all sorts and exploring here does require staying alert to avoid steaming bowls of food and the constant blur of bicycles zipping around.

Most of the sales had ended inside the market area by the time we reached the area, but it was still a buzz with trucks and carts zipping around moving the fresh product out into the city. Several restaurants / stalls in this area have been written and proclaimed at the best place to eat in a wide range of guide books. They are not too hard to find, they are the ones with long lines and hour waits to eat. Not able to compare the food at one of these establishments with the one I did experience I cannot say that one is superior; I can say that we walked right into a sushi bar and sat down, no wait. The food was great, even fish that I typically avoid were enjoyable and the serving for the money was definitely fair. I don't know the name (see the photo), but if you are looking to get a good meal I don't think you can go wrong by straying from the guide books when in the area.

You've landed in Japan, perhaps after a long journey, such as the 13 hour flight from Toronto to Tokyo and you find yourself annoyingly, irritatingly, wide awake at 4:00 a.m. due to jet lag. What's that sound? It's opportunity knocking. The early rising you've experienced is the perfect time to take advantage of witnessing one of Tokyo's famous and interesting sights the Tsukiji fish market.

After navigating our first subway ride through Tokyo, we arrived at the Tsukiji station stop to find our way to the market. This is the site where all the fresh catch is available for purchase. Although it's listed in most guidebooks and websites catering to foreign tourists, it is far from a tourist attraction: it is a real life, working hub of activity. At first I thought we would be killed by the numerous buzzing scooters and mini-flatbed transport vehicles, not to mention all the men pushing carts and all the bicycles..wow! My sense is that the workers at the market are well-accustomed to seeing tourists wander the stalls but they go about their business and do not cater to us foreigners wandering aimlessly - in other words, watch out or you could end up bonked on the head by a fish being carried past you!

Once we got our bearings it was well worth the trip. It was fun and interesting to see all the fresh fish for sale in the market. Giant tuna, eels, squids, gorgeous purple octopii and more. It was a photography enthusiast's dream.

The fish is so fresh that it doesn't even really smell - which is a feature you will welcome since you likely will not have had breakfast at the time of your visit. You absolutely must visit early (pre-7:00 a.m.) - if you arrive by 5:30 a.m. you can see the giant tuna being auctioned. I'm sorry to say we missed the auction and probably arrived around 6:00 a.m. but there were still many great sights to see.

Oh, and furthermore, watch out for the giant buckets of fish water that are getting sloshed about!

If you're a sushi/sashimi lover, this is the one place you cannot miss. They have the freshest fish in the world made into sushi and sashimi at low price! Delicious and cheap, what can be better! They do not let tourists go inside the fish market to watch their fish auctions anymore, I have only been there once to see the auction. It was very fascinating to see them drag the fishes in and out and bid for the price. There are huge fishes freshly loaded off boats, and a lot of other seafood! Too bad that they don't let people go inside anymore, however, you can still visit the outside of the fish market where there are restaurants and markets that you can buy and eat fresh sashi/sushi and seafood.

Recommendations: Uni (sea urchin), Fatty Tuna (OO Toro), Tamago Yaki (Egg Omelet), Grill Eel, Clam Miso soup.

These are my favorites and they're the best in Tsukiji.

"We have to get up at what hour?" In order to witness the truly marvelous and grotesque, one must arrive at the Tsukiji Fish Market by 6am to see eels writhing on the floor and vendors haggling over huge tuna. Still, we didn’t make it out to Tsukiji until about 7:30am or so. By that time, much of the action had passed but we still managed to gawk at a few spectacles.

We meandered around the open air market and peered in the various stalls selling seafood, both familiar and unfamiliar parts. One vendor had bags of cuttlefish (a savory snack for those of us who enjoy the chewy treat), another sold sashimi, raw fish meat. But the most interesting vendor did not pay any attention to us as he carved slabs of fresh tuna from a huge carcass. The tuna’s head alone was larger than my office desk. As the vendor worked diligently, he drew long puffs off of his dangling cigarette. Not the most sanitary conditions I’ve ever seen but I figured that after he cut the meat, he would wash it off and prepare it for sale.

My husband informed me that the fishing boats often travel as far as off the coast of California, outside US jurisdiction, and return to Tokyo with their catch. Restaurateurs gathered in the mornings to participate in auctions for the best fish. The fishermen would later export the leftovers to other countries. Open air market stalls and larger covered buildings comprise the fish market. Auctions occur inside the covered buildings.

We also found restaurant supplies and fake Japanese display food in Tsukiji. My husband, deprived from fruit and vegetables for over a week, zeroed in on a fruit vendor who sold apricots for US$5 a piece. As he reached for his wallet, I swatted my husband’s hands and reminded him that at home, we could walk out of the grocery store with two bags full of apricots for $5. He had to suck it up and deal with two more days of deprivation.

Get to Tsukiji early. Don’t worry about making reservations at a sushi restaurant, just pick one that tickles your fancy and try it. We wove through the alleys until we found a clean, small sushi restaurant. Sushi breakfast at 8am is perfectly acceptable and you shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Where else will you be able to find anything fresher?

Trying to hurry to arrive at the market early on a Saturday morning was a challenge for the two of us. But the pace was even more hectic at the market, which we got to around 7am (a Saturday-morning miracle!). What a mad, frantic, vivid place!

For every main sloshy aisle we crossed, we had to look both ways. Teeming throngs of fish mongers were pulling or pushing carts, or driving these tiny motorized trucks called ta-rays, all of them laden with fish of some sort. Dozens of times we were almost run over. We got beeped at and physically moved between shoulder-high stacks of seafood...some of it still flailing.

But amongst all of the chaos of needing to prepare for the wholesalers--who come around 9 a.m.--the mongers would still pause. Some even seemed to appreciate our incredulity. A few knowingly slowed down so I could take a shot. One man even posed the massive tuna carcass he was hacking (with the longest blade I’ve ever seen).

It was pretty gory, but still visually stunning. There were amazing colours. The deepest red squid in white containers. Crackled silver fish, white iced in blue boxes. And the mongers’ faces were so expressive. They had this incredible calmness about them, in the din of it all.

Supposedly, the market takes up 56 acres. Every day except Sunday, 2300 tonnes of fish end up there. Over 400 types of seafood are prepared for sale, leaving me to wonder how there can be anything left in the sea if THAT many fish come ONLY to Tokyo. I started feeling really bad for them--such beautiful creatures--after I got adjusted to the visual onslaught. Admittedly, it didn’t stop either of us from having an unbelievably fresh sushi breakfast.

Another quick fact – 60,000 people pass through the market each day. We pushed through a good chunk of them later on to get Colin’s delicious ramen lunch. He ate it at the standing counter, but almost everything around had been made into a table. The truck parked behind us on the street had an open back, packed with buckets. Even they had been covered with wood pieces for noodle-bowl resting. For us, it was perfect crowd-watching.