I’m going to be working in Tsukiji, the old central market of Tokyo starting January, 2024.
I never really thought I would have this kind of opportunity, very happy and excited to work at one of the fish shops there.
What really interests me is that a small incident led to Tsukiji. Incidents lead to actions, then leads to the next, then the next...
So today I wanted to share what led myself to work in Tsukiji from staying in Bali.
It all started in Bali
I started to really think about working as a cook while I was in Bali. I was on a trip around Southeast Asia to figure out what I wanted to do post Covid.
I stayed with a local family in Bali via Airbnb, and the family would kindly invite me to the traditional ceremonies and feasts they frequently have while I was there.
I realized myself engaged watching them slow cook their traditional food, the techniques and materials would actually resemble Japan’s.
In one of the feasts, somebody from the family brought a lot of fish from the market. A lot of them were carps. The family didn’t know how to cook it, so they were going to throw it away.
I hate wasting food... so I cooked it imitating from YouTube. It turned out quite good, the family also thanked me for the new experience. Then we really started sharing cooking ideas with each other.
Why not I buy a good kitchen knife from Japan
When I cooked the carp the kitchen knife wasn’t very sharp we had difficulty to clean the fish and fillet them. So I thought it was a good idea to have one good kitchen knife from Japan that I could carry along to my travels.
When I came back to Japan I stopped by at Kappabashi in between Ueno and Asakusa where you'll find kitchen equipments catered to chefs and food enthusiasts. I bought my knife from
TDI at Kappabashi. The knife sommelier Makoto spoke very good English, and was informative in his recommendations, so no language barrier even for non Japanese speakers!
Fishing in Hokkaido
After getting my kitchen knife, I needed a good place to practice cutting up the fishes. I headed to Hokkaido to work at Tomamu, Hokkaido.
Cooler climate, good food from June to August.
I was very lucky that one of the first colleagues I met loves fishing and he would go almost every morning to the nearby river.
We could fish quite a lot of yamame or the child of masu salmon.
Cooking it with olive oil and tomato was nice but our favorite was to suage 素揚げwhich literally means, deep fry as is.
Tastes very clean but also rich... It will definitely be one of my hobbies to fish and cook in nature.
Wine from Hokkaido
Wine is something I need to highlight from this year.
Japanese wines are becoming very popular worldwide. I’d read about wine makers from California or France starting a wine project in Hokkaido again and again.
In Tomamu there is a wine house where you can taste the wines across Hokkaido.
I heard the Hotaru Street the shop is located becomes part of a ski slope you can stop by for a break. Not bad at all haha :)
And wow, some of the wines were very good.
The ones I want to have noted are:
- Kodou sparkling wine 2020
- Hamada Vineyard 2020 Chardonnay
- 10R Winery 2021 Chardonnay
It's special because the Sauvignon... The Chardonnays..They taste different from the original grapes from France or California but it's still good in its own way.
Im so happy and excited about the future of Japanese wines. Not only will I continue to look for good Hokkaido wines, one reason I chose to stay in Hakone is it's close to Yamanashi, the most dedicated wine region of Japan.
Cooking in Hakone
Hokkaido gets way too cold during autumn to winter, so I moved down south in Hakone to work in the kitchen from November.
I also chose to spend time in Hakone because:
- It’s close to Kamakura where there are zen temples I wanted to visit
- To visit another big wine region of Japan, Yamanashi
I want to talk about these two in another article which turned out to be a great experience.
Although I did enjoy Hakone,work wasn’t very fulfilling than I thought it would be. It turns out that the fish is already cleaned and cut in fillets when it’s delivered to the restaurants. I can't get the experience I wanted...
I would work the longest hours dishwashing and packaging, not cooking. I ended up heading to the supermarket to buy fish and practicing by myself.
I hear it a lot that Japanese chefs go through this phase for a long time. But I wanted to speed things up.
So I would keep asking questions to the chef and the sous chef what I should do. Then I found out that if I want to learn to prepare fish then working at a fish shop has the best opportunities.
So I googled...
And to my surprise, what I got was an opportunity to work at a fish shop in Tsukiji, the old central fish market of Tokyo.
When I went for the interview, the fish shop told me they always clean and fillet about 100 kinds of fish. The central market actually moved east to Toyosu, but there are still professional craftsman and tradesman that comes in and out.
I already got a permission to take a month off in June to visit Bali again for a month, to cook better than a year back with the family I stayed with. Looking forward to that.
Note: Life is such a messy process
You never know what becomes your dream job.
When I was going through the interview in Tsukiji, I was reflectIng on the process of me trying to work at a fish shop, when a few years back I was working online interviewing doctors. I was interpreting for a private bank in Singapore before that. But I'm a lot more engaged learning about the fish and creating a business out of it in the future.
I have the opportunity now to be very good in preparing fish and learn more about Japanese cuisine along the way, but it was sort of a silly, trial and error to get here.
So, my point is, I couldn’t get to where I want to be just thinking and planning how to get here.
I needed to really reflect on what actually made me happy, what might be interesting for me, swallow my pride that it might lead to nowhere.
But a year passed since the day I prepared the carp in Bali. It was a lot of left turns but hey. It's starting to go right.
The Best Book I read in 2023: The Long Game
The best book I read this year was The Long Game: How to be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Clark, Dorie.
In the book it said,
“People tend to optimize for money, but it might be better off optimizing for meaning. If you can’t figure out what feels meaningful or you’re drawn to many different things, its helpful to optimize for interesting.”
I too am drawn to many different things. But when you're interested nothing really happens unless you move forward in the Uncertain darkness.
"You gotta start somewhere" was something an influencer was saying when I was net surfing, which pops back to my head every once in awhile.
That first step might be the wrong direction, but this action leads to another step, then the next, and slowly but surely you're on the right track.
Once you're on that track, the goal might feel a distance apart but ot also feels like you just need to keep going to reach it.
This feeling is meaningful.
I wanted to note that I was interested that day I saw the carp in Bali that led me to buy the kitchen knife, then fishing, then the kitchen work, then the opportunity in Tsukiji...
It sure felt uncertain here and there along the way, it felt very silly at some points. But it’s a long game. It’s better on track now and I look forward to the 2024 and my next steps along the way.
Goal of 2024: Dig deeper on what interests me
Life is good when you have good people around yo u. So I once gave a thought on who I want to surround myself with.
I love having people that are passionate in cooking. I love the sharing of knowledge and experiences that are food related.
So 2024 will be part of my long game of enhancing my food profession. I want to strive to be the person that can inspire and help people that I want to surround myself with.
Good Food Good Mood, and Happy 2024 everyone!!
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