Tsukiji fish market ( 築地市場)

photo by Julio Marcos
I have always been fascinated by this place, and hope one day to make it there in the wee hours of the morn, to watch the auctioning off of the steaming and frozen Tuna.. Here's some sites with pics of this amazing market....

National Geographic: "Tsukiji is a fish market in the sense that the Grand Canyon is a ditch or Caruso was a crooner. Among the wholesale fish markets of the world, Tsukiji ranks at the top in every measurable category. It handles more than 400 different types of seafood, from penny-per-piece sardines to golden brown dried sea slug caviar, a bargain at [U.S.] $473 a pound. It imports from 60 countries on six continents."
(there are some nice pics and good little blurbs at this site)

Wiki: There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The "inner market" (jonai shijo) is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The "outer market" (jogai shijo) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants. Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier.

pic titled 'keeping warm' by Olya
(taken in the Tsukiji market)