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Field recording · Japan

Early in the morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market

Japan, 〒104-0045 Tōkyō-to, Chūō-ku, Tsukiji, 4 Chome−10−2, (有)菅商店

A field recording by Felicity Ford made in Chūō, Japan on 14 February 2017, in the dawn. Soundscape: sea & waves, markets & bazaars and snow & ice.

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Early in the morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market
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Spectrogram of Early in the morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market
Spectrogram of the full recording (time left to right, frequency bottom to top), generated by the Internet Archive.

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

Recordist's notes

The Tsukiji Fish Market is the stuff of legends; it's where all the fresh fish is purchased early in the morning to become sashimi and sushi later on the same day all over Tokyo. The size of the market and diversity of fish produce is incredible, and there is an amazing sense of many buyers and sellers quietly and efficiently setting about the day's trade. There are lethal little motorised trolleys that zip up and down the slender aisles between the vendors, piled high with boxes of fish. Great band-saws deal with the enormous deep-frozen tuna that come in, and there are squeaky polystyrene boxes everywhere full of recently caught seafood. Tanks of water keep shellfish alive, and teams of workers hack away at various frozen carcasses... we later discovered the public isn't supposed to be in the market before 10am so this is an illicit early morning recording made by wandering through the market with binaural microphones on, listening in on the action, marveling at many sea creatures we had not seen before, and occasionally just getting in the way...

Written by Felicity Ford on radio aporee ::: maps.

About the place

Chūō is a city of about 169,179 people in Tokyo, Japan. OttoAnna lists 18 field recordings from here.

Equipment mentioned: Binaural microphones. Microphones worn in the ears (or in a dummy head) that capture sound as a listener hears it – best experienced on headphones.

Recorded nearby

More by Felicity Ford

More sea & waves recordings

Sources & credits