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cycling through tsukiji

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

On my route to work is a singular piece of real estate. It is "Tsukiji", the world's largest fish market. Thanks to the many pedestrians, pedestrians pulling cargo sleds, traffic cops, delivery cycles, courier motorcycles, curiously-designed three-wheeled trucks (really just a flat bed with a broad steering ring and a dead-man's brake), countless delivery trucks of every description and the occasional full-sized trailer-tractor rig, it is probably the busiest place you could imagine cycling.

An analogy for my fellow sci-fi fans would be the scene in the movie Serenity where the pilot plunges the ship into the gigantic space battle. It is noisy as hell, with plenty of debris to dodge and strange new sites at every turn. The diverse vehicles are moving in every direction -- often without signal and frequently with teetering cargos threatening to tumble over. The ground is badly pitted thanks to the heavy traffic, and slick with a mix of water, oil, fishery byproducts and mashed up styrofoam and cigarette butts.

In fact, you wouldn't want to fall while cycling here. You'd get... a rash. I cycled through after a bit of rain, and my fine yellow shirt from the Wat Po Massage School got spattered with blackish-green stuff that left stains.

Anyway, it's a mindbending addition to a commute, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone and everyone who has the chance to cycle near Tokyo harbour.