Tsukiji Wonderland Page #2

---

I pretend fish aren't selling

when they are.

The others do the same

so it all works out.

It's good.

I'll take it.

We all play games.

We trick each other

because we're desperate.

Everyone has memo

pads with jottings in them.

It's shorthand notes. I know

which ones are good.

If you want something, you can't be

stingy about 2,000 yen.

It's competitive.

It's like a sumo ring.

All sellers say their product is the best.

Toshiaki lshizuka

Intermediate Wholesaler

So you put them in the ring to test it-

That's the market-.

I'm nothing but grateful.

Good fish earns more money

which is an incentive.

So fishermen try their luck with us.

Hiroyuki Hirai

Intermediate Wholesaler

I'm grateful for their faith in us.

That's what Tsukiji is about.

I love prawns so I only want to sell

them to people I like-.

I love prawns so I only want to sell

them to people I like-.

Katsumi Morita

Intermediate Wholesaler

They're bigger today and wild.

It's not really a work to me.

I guess I'm a fool.

Forget profit.

- It's not about money?

- No.

Akihiro Oyama

Intermediate Wholesaler

In good and bad times we interact

with one another.

We communicate in person, not

over computers or telephones.

Which is good.

Theodore C. Bestor Social Cultural

Anthropologist Harvard University Professor

We got some lots from Hachinohe.

Go ahead and take a look.

Wow, so firm.

And cheap!

- It's a good deal!

- I hear you!

They are good.

40 cases for you, thanks.

They're from Aomori.

They're good.

This one goes to Los Angeles!

Nakaoroshi = intermediate wholesalers

I bid on these lots today.

Look how meaty they are.

One of a kind.

I'll sell them.

All the good fish

comes to Tsukiji-.

For me Tsukiji is a battlefield.

It's a battle between dealers

and shoppers.

I have to keep fighting

for good fish-.

If you do well, the wholesalers treat

you as an equal.

Don't order from the harvesters.

See it yourself and then decide.

Don't order from the harvesters.

See it yourself and then decide.

Ren Redzepi

noma

- Great.

- From Oita.

That's small.

But it's lively.

Tsukiji is great. We'd have

no business without it.

I started accompanying him to

Tsukiji early on.

I thought all the stalls

looked the same.

The market's so huge

you can get lost easily.

But he wouldn't wait for

his apprentices.

I thought if I got lost

I'd never find my way out.

I had to run after him,

carrying his bags.

The aisles are like a maze so it's

hard to keep up.

In western Japan, chefs are

like department stores in a way.

They diversify.

Their style is to employ various

techniques to serve variety of dishes-.

Variety is their style.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes