Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (東京都中央卸売市場 Tōkyō-to Chūō Oroshiuri Shijō), commonly known as the Tsukiji Market (築地市場 Tsukiji shijō), is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind.

Trading starts early and arriving at 5am proceedings were well underway.

There are 400 different types of fish and seafood sold here. Walking the concrete pathways between the sections you witness trays of new and mysterious creatures from the deep.

Most memorable is the unloading of tons of frozen tuna. The auction houses (wholesalers known in Japanese as oroshi gyōsha) then estimate the value and prepare the incoming products for the auctions.

The auctions start around 5:20 a.m. The purchased fish is either loaded onto trucks to be shipped to other destinations in Japan or  and moved to the many shops inside the market. The shop owners cut and prepare the products for retail. In case of large fish, for example tuna and swordfish, cutting and preparation is an elaborate process.

The morning all the fish marketers focussed on trade but by 8am when the activity was calming some what we were able to talk with traders at his booth in the market.

The recent earthquakes  hurting Tokyo businesses including the market as although wholesalers are sourcing many of their products from regions beyond those affected by the devastation in the northeast and the nuclear fears, the public are  not to be buying it in the quantities they previously did.