The auctions were closed to foriegners recently due to bad behavior but their open again...

The auctions start at 5 a.m. everyday!

If you love seafood this is the main venue in Tokyo.

My former Hawaii roomate's, Nobu, family lives there and sells these beautifull tako there too... 



In fact Tsukiji was one of the first places I lived here when I came to Tokyo. Yes, raw in all it's glory...

Japanese ramen winning converts in Hong Kong

http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/japanese-ramen-winning-converts-in-hong-kong

HONG KONG — A typical lunchtime in Hong Kong’s business area of Wan Chai sees a long queue forming outside a casual-style restaurant adorned with Japanese paper lanterns, where the 60 seats have been rapidly occupied, mainly by young women.

"I love a pork soup,’’ said Tse Choi Yan, 20, a junior college student, as she sat around a table with her friends.

A bowl of ramen (Chinese noodles in a hot soup) is priced here at about HK$30 (about 420 yen), compared with HK$20 for a local bowl of ramen.

The restaurant is one of 281 in China operated by the Ajisen Ramen chain based in Kumamoto city, in Kyushu. The company is also doing ramen business in Southeast Asia, including Singapore and Thailand, as well as in the United States and Canada.

Its locally incorporated company in China was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March 2007, a rarity for a Japanese-affiliated enterprise here, and the U.S. Business Week magazine named it top of 100 small and medium-sized enterprises rapidly growing in Asia.

At a Kyushu food fair held in Bangkok in September, its pork soup ramen also proved popular, and Kentaro Oshima, 27, the company’s assistant manager, said, "Well-to-do people are increasing in numbers in Southeast Asia and tend to buy high-quality Japanese food products, even though they are more expensive.’’

Liu Yun-hsiang, the late father of Ajisen President Katsuaki Shigemitsu, was a student from Taiwan when he created the uniquely tasting soup in Kyushu around 1955 from pork and burned garlic.

Shigemitsu, 40, who succeeded his father, advanced into Taiwan in 1994 but had to withdraw because of sluggish sales, partly due to the introduction of a diluted soup as advised by local staff. Yet the number of domestic chain restaurants in Japan now totals 105.

"I wanted to return home in triumph,’’ he said. ‘‘So I decided to try my luck with Japanese tastes without catering to local tastes.’’

In 1996, he opened a restaurant in Causeway Bay, the most bustling area of Hong Kong, at the suggestion of Cheng Wai To, 40, who runs a sushi restaurant.

Cheng made a successful bid for a bluefin tuna from Aomori Prefecture at a price of 6.07 million yen in last year’s first bidding at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fish market.

He studied in Japan in the 1980s and was impressed by pork soup ramen. ‘‘The Chinese have a custom of boiling soup at home. A pork soup is healthy, and I thought it would also be popular in Hong Kong,’’ he said.

As expected, Japanese-style ramen has turned out to be popular, with long queues forming in front of Shigemitsu’s restaurant.

According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, there were 400-500 Japanese restaurants in Beijing as of February 2007, and the number is rising.

In Shanghai where there are 400 to 500 Japanese restaurants, a committee on Japanese dishes was created under the Shanghai Restaurant Association with about 2,000 members, and a meeting to study Japanese dishes is held each month.

In Hong Kong, a major food business battleground, there are 700 to 800 Japanese restaurants ranging from ramen restaurants to those specializing in pork cutlets, beef bowls, tea-ceremony dishes and sushi. About 10 percent of them are run by Japanese.

"As Japanese meals are safe, all foods are promoted as ‘Japanese style’ foods. Tastes are important, but now what is important is safety,’’ said Cheung Kin Man, 48, an official in charge of sales at Ajisen’s locally incorporated company.

The ‘‘Japanese food boom’’ has been supported not only by China’s rapid economic growth but also by Chinese people’s unrest over food safety following a spate of incidents in the country, such as melamine-containing powdered milk and vegetables with fertilizer residues.

But the safety of Japanese foods has now also been shaken by food scandals in Japan. In addition, China’s economic growth has begun to slow, increasing the chances of intensified competition among Japanese restaurants.

Ajisen, which chiefly relies on Chinese-produced noodles and materials for ingredients, maintains quality control divisions at Chinese firms, where Japanese staffers verify the places of production.

But for Shigemitsu that is not enough. ‘‘We would like to produce all our materials by ourselves,’’ he said.

Imperial New Year's poetry reading focuses on 'life'


Imperial Family members listen as a poem written by Emperor Akihito is read out in the annual ceremony at the Imperial Palace yesterday.

Poems by Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and other Imperial Family members were read out in a traditional New Year's poetry reading ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Thursday morning.

As many as 21,180 poems, including 184 from 26 countries and territories abroad, were entered for this year's reading, which included poetry from 10 successful competitors, jurors and 87-year-old folklorist Kenichi Tanigawa.
The main theme of the reading was "life."

Emperor Akihito wrote a poem reflecting on the 15 years he spent at the Imperial Palace while observing various creatures, after moving into the Imperial Residence in December 1993.

Empress Michiko wrote a poem on the preciousness of living things by describing a throng of midges in the imperial gardens.

Crown Prince Naruhito wrote a poem on the life energy of flowers in the desert of Arabia he visited in 1994, while Crown Princess Masako wrote a poem about her joy over Princess Aiko's enrollment at Gakushuin Primary School last spring.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090115p2a00m0na011000c.html

Australia offers 'best job in the world'



SYDNEY — Position: Island caretaker. Duties: Lazing around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for six months. Salary: A$150,000 (U.S. $100,000).

It sounds too good to be true, but it’s for real. Billing it the “Best Job in the World,” Australian tourism officials say they are seeking one lucky person to spend six months relaxing on Hamilton Island, part of the country’s Whitsunday Islands, while promoting the destination on a blog.

Within 24 hours, more than 200,000 prospective applicants had clicked onto the website advertising the sweet gig. The surge to the site caused it to jam, but officials were working to upgrade so people could access it again, said Tourism Whitsundays official Karin Whiting.

The eager reaction—and worldwide media attention—delighted tourism officials, who listed the job as part of a $1.7 million campaign to publicize the charms of northeastern Queensland state.

“The global response in the first 24 hours has outstripped even our expectations,” Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said.

Boyle said the campaign had already reached some 29 million people through television and print media coverage—the equivalent of nearly $10 million in publicity.

While the advertisement is a stunt, the job is still genuine. Applicants must submit a 60-second video application, and 11 finalists will be flown from their home countries to Hamilton Island in May for the final selection process.

In exchange for the plush salary, free accommodation in an oceanfront villa and airfare from the winner’s home country, the employee will be required to stroll the island’s white sand beaches, snorkel, maybe take a dip in the pool—and post photos and videos of his or her experiences on a weekly blog.

As of Wednesday, at least 200,000 people logged onto the website to check out the listing, Boyle said. Only about 200 video applications had been submitted, but officials said they expect thousands more.

Applications are open until Feb 22. The job begins on July 1.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/features/view/australia-offers-best-job-in-the-world