To Tsukiji or not to Tsukiji

A few years back, I went to Tsukiji. Unfortunately my timing was bad that trip because there had been a few extremely large earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear power plant melt-downs. Which even shut down the most venerable fish market in the world. So knowing that the market part would be moving in the near future, I decided that even though it was raining, I would go and at least take a few photos.

I didn't really have a plan, just get there and walk around and see what there was to see. Which turned out to be more of this sort of thing than not. 

I'm not sure if it's because they are closing down some of this that it looked a bit worn and degraded, or if it's the fact that above all, this area is a business where people sell seafood and that is it.

And it's obvious that is done here. I didn't have a hard time figuring out what direction to go when I exited the subway station. The smell and the sight of seagulls made it obvious. 

Along with it being early afternoon, I wasn't surprised a lot of places were done for the day. I do think the rain helped a little with the clean-up.  

Even though most of the sellers were done, small restaurants were busy serving lunch. Although I was surprised at a pizza place being here.

But really, there are a lot of different things sold in the shops and restaurants around Tsukiji. Traditional Japanese sweets were one. 

And curry. Although the curry with crab looked tempting, I really wanted to eat something more in tune with the place. 

 I looked around a bit more at the market.

But that grey sky wasn't being kind. 

However this food hall did look intriguing.  I believe it is called Tsukiji Fish Coast Haifu Bridge Building, 築地魚河岸 海幸橋棟.

And it was intriging. Different vendors with all kinds of seafood and more. It made me wish I had a place with a big fridge and a way to cook because there were a lot of things I would buy.

Instead I decided to get a few things to eat there. Like these really nice scallops. 

Which they cut up for sashimi for me. Along with maguro sashimi, grilled eel and tamagoyaki. Which I ended up eating under an umbrella in the rain. On the roof. Since there was no other place there to sit and eat. Even the rain did not ruin how delicious this all was. So fresh. These were the best scallops I have ever eaten. 

Once done I decided to look around some more. Besides checking out a couple temples, which I will post next, I visited what appeared to be the Tsukiji shopping streets.

Even with the rain it was a neat area to see. The older buildings made it feel like it was a movie set. 

With some of the smallest restaurants I have seen.

A number of the streets were a proverbial sea of umbrellas. It is a fact, when it rains in Tokyo, there will be umbrellas everywhere. 

  Even with less umbrellas it's still a busy place.

So much so that I decided to stick to the main street. I checked out a few of the shops, like this dried fruit vendor. 

So many different types of food were sold in the many shops and restaurants. And of course there were seafood stores too. 

Sadly I was not able to get anything fresh since I was headed to another place after Tsukiji. But I did end up getting a pack of dried orange slices. Which were very good!