Wholesalers hope to bring 'essence' of Tsukiji market to Toyosu site

TOKYO -- Japan's famous Tsukiji wholesale market, in the capital's Chuo Ward, closed the curtains on its 83 years of history on Oct. 6.

"I'm overwhelmed with emotions," said Hiroshi Udagawa, the third generation president of the intermediate wholesaler "Daiyoshi," founded in 1940, a mere five years after the opening of Tsukiji market. Udagawa was raised as an appraiser on the auction floor of the fish market, and currently has 30 employees under his charge. "I want to say, good work over these 83 years," he continued, tearfully. He leaves the market loved by his father on the monthly anniversary of the day of his death, now shifting his focus toward the new Toyosu market.

It's 8:30 a.m., and over 100 types of seafood items such as sea urchin, clams and oysters line the storefront of Daiyoshi. "Thank you for your business all these years," "I'll see you in Toyosu..." Udagawa says, as he does what he has done every day for the last 35 years: purchase, move and sells his products. However, each time he exchanges short greetings with regular customers and bows his head in thanks, his is reminded of something in particular.

Udagawa began working at the shop at age 22, fresh out of university. As his grandfather originally sold clams and other shellfish harvested in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, just east of Tokyo, Udagawa was tasked with handling high-grade species of shellfish. Daiyoshi served a wide range of customers, spanning from sushi chefs to hotels and restaurants.

"An apprenticeship is about looking with your own eyes and learning," Udagawa's father Minoru said, pushing him into the fray. If the product was sea urchin, it was the concentration of the roe packed into the shell, the color and where the animal was in season. These were the lessons he learned about appraising seafood by showing up on the auction room floor and asking his seniors.

"In a way we were all like rivals, but we were one market made up of 500 shops," Udagawa remembers thinking. He gathered his courage from regular customers coming in to tell him that he had done well with his picks. Udagawa has now come to understand why his father would not directly teach him what to do or how to act, but simply let him learn through experience.

At Tsukiji, there was a culture of rough mannered but warmhearted craftsmen working together. Still, there were occasionally times when Udagawa thought the "Me! Me!" attitude of some of the sellers was "selfish." He feels that while they much preserve the valuable traditions of the market, the move to Toyosu should also serve as an opportunity to shift attitudes to match the times.

"For example, if you are about to run into someone and say, "No, you go ahead first." I would perhaps like to see that sort of essence come to the market," Udagawa said.

Udagawa's son, who wrote about Tsukiji for his high school graduation thesis, is now in his third year of university. "You write the Chinese character for 'food' from the character for 'person' and 'good,' meaning that it is food that makes people feel better," Udagawa said. He learned from his father that it is "delicious food that brings smiles to people's faces. There isn't any work that is as wonderful as that."

Udagawa's father passed away 10 years ago at the age of 77. Every month on the day of his father's death, Udagawa never misses going to his father's grave to offer a prayer. Today is no different.

"Thanks to you, Tsukiji closed without any trouble," Udagawa said of what he plans to tell his father upon his visit. "From now on, we will embark on making new history at Toyosu."

(Japanese original by Kentaro Mori, City News Deparment)