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Apr 26, 2019

Year 2018 - The finale of Tsukuji

最後築地
從來不愛緬懷過去,偏偏這些年我們失去的太多,當看到熟悉的人和事快將逝去時,很容易便觸動不捨的情緒,好像是清晨裡熱鬧嘈吵、活力充沛的築地。「ハヨザイ!」築地裡人人劈頭的第一句,聽起來令人一頭霧水,後來才明白是「おはようございます」,是築地版本的早安。落標時習慣分秒必爭,築地人的直率,有時候連日本人也受不了。
日本橋魚河岸時代至今,水產批發商由全盛期的千多間至現在只餘下六百多間。由於不少商店已改用網上或電話來買貨,加上愈來愈少人在家煮食,使魚市場逐漸萎縮,昔日清晨時份人頭湧湧的光輝歲月已成歷史。築地在平成時期劃上句號,也算是光榮引退吧。

I am not the kind of person who likes to feel nostalgic. Nonetheless, given how much we have lost in recent years, even a tiny dose of collective memory can now be an emotional trigger. Whenever I visit the present Tokyo, where Tsukiji market no longer exists, I am still not used to not having to wake up early and hurry to the market. Shoutings of “Hayozai!” from the mouths of Tsukiji locals made me scratch my head at first. It was only after a local explained to me that I understood it was a shortened lazy version of the standard “Ohayogozaimasu” for good morning.  Accustomed to making split-of-the-second decisions at auctions, Tsukiji locals are so direct and frank that even Japanese people find it unbearable.

The number of seafood wholesalers has dropped from more than one thousand during its prime era at Nihonbashi Uogashi to only more than six hundred at present. Since quite a large number of shops have switched to placing orders with calls or emails and because of the growth of home-cooking, the fish market has shrunk in scale. Bygone are the glorious days when the markets welcomed every dawn full of people. That Tsukuji has written its final chapter during the Heisei Era, perhaps, can be regarded as an honorable departure from the scene.


遊日職人
看相片,讀文章,一字一句帶來意境影像。熱愛日本文化,趁改朝換代新元號上場前,記錄屬於自己的平成回憶。

looking at the photos and reading articles. Each word and sentence conjures up images. An enthusiast of Japanese culture, I would like to leave a record of my own memories of the Heisei Era before the new one begins.

Instagram: onkickomoshiroi_travel

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