Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World

I was, admittedly, way more excited about this book than I should have been. You see, I rather love the Tsukiji Fish Market. It might be my favorite place in Japan - every variety of plant or animal found in the seven seas spills forth from styrofoam boxes (who am I kidding - the Japanese are far too orderly for that - it only feels as if it were spilling forth); it is a veritable labyrinth crammed with generations-old stalls and dozens of little sushi shops are piled on top of one another throughout the labyrinth. And if you don't believe that you can get anything from the sea there, take a careful look at the last picture: whale bacon. (The other other white meat??) But enough about the market.

Sushi, and seafood generally, is tremendously important to Japan's economy and, as Theodore Bestor notes early on, the value of what passes through Tsukiji in a single year is valued in the billions. And here is where my interests differ from those of Bestor. I am interested in Tsukiji as an economic engine. Bestor is interested in the anthropological aspects of the market. What makes the sellers tick? How are the various stakeholders connected to one another? What are the origins of some of the traditions at the market? How would moving the market affect the people, the relationships, their sense of self and place and time? These are fine questions, they are, but honestly the answers bored me after a couple hundred pages. Then I began skimming. In earnest.

In the early chapters, Bestor does a fine job making the market come alive, but as the page count rises, the anthropological analysis becomes increasingly academic (read: dull). The most salient - and interesting - points are conveniently available in an article Bestor wrote summarizing his findings. For those wanting more, though, particularly from an economic perspective, I strongly recommend The Sushi Economy, which examines the entire phenomenon of sushi in Japan and around the world. Bon appetit. You may want to pass on the whale bacon.

I would not tell a lie: you are looking at whale bacon.