You, too, may be able to get your hands on this “Tuna King” when you pass through Tokyo Station.
Within the ticket gates of Tokyo Station in the ecute shopping complex, there are countless gourmet foods and specialty souvenirs for visitors to Japan’s capital city to buy. Our Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato often finds himself wandering around the shops, admiring all of the exciting things for sale.
On this particular day, in the area of ecute closest to the Marunouchi district (the west side of Tokyo Station), he spotted fresh fish takeout specialty shop Tsukiji Kiyomura, a store which belongs to the same Kiyomura Corporation that owns the Sushi Zanmai chain of sushi restaurants.
Inside one of the shop’s showcases was a framed photo of a young Kiyoshi Kimura (the owner of Kiyomura Corporation) deftly slicing into a tuna. Kiyoshi is perhaps the only person in the world with “Tuna King” as a title on his resume. For several years now, he’s been the highest bidder on the first tuna auctioned off at Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market on New Year’s Day.
However, it was something next to the framed photo that commanded Mr. Sato’s ultimate attention: a giant tuna head! He suddenly felt like shouting out “TUNA KING!” for all of the tuna lovers around the world to hear.
It also seemed like an impossibly good deal at only 1,300 yen (US$8.67) for the whole thing, so of course he had to claim the prize and bring it home.
The reason he’d wanted to shout out “Tuna King!” at the shop was because that’s what was actually written on a red sticker on the bag. He’d definitely want to save that for future use (you never know what kinds of items might come in handy at the SoraNews24 office).
Mr. Sato was so immensely pleased with his purchase that he had to pose with the tuna head for scale, like a proud parent about to eat their child. It was massive!
Speaking of size, do you know why tunas are so good at weighing themselves? It’s because they have their own scales.
Ahem…sorry for that. This particular head weighed in at 924 grams (2.04 pounds). Even though every part wouldn’t be edible, that was still plenty of tuna for a hungry Mr. Sato.
Here was the cooked Fish Boss itself. With its whole body attached, it must have been an impressive catch, indeed.
A closer look at its mouth revealed its jagged teeth still intact. That was a bit terrifying to behold and Mr. Sato decided to just ignore the mouth altogether.
At this point he couldn’t wait any longer and reached over to grab a bite from the cheek area with his chopsticks. The piece broke off easily and in a generously sized chunk. It was absolutely delicious!
Next, he tore off a chunk from the top of the head. It also tasted divine.
Mr. Sato kept eating bite after bite voraciously. The tuna head had been simmered with some kind of soy sauce-based broth and was perfectly seasoned the way it was. He pictured having it with rice and Japanese sake right up until he would pass out from happiness.
It seems that Tsukiji Kiyomura doesn’t always have the tuna heads in stock, so count yourself lucky if you manage to bag one. It would certainly make for a memorable snack to show off to friends back in your hotel room. You may also want to bag some of this crazy big street food while you’re inside of Tokyo Station, too.
Store information
Tsukiji Kiyomura ecute Tokyo / つきじ喜代村 エキュート東京
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi 1-9-1, JR East Tokyo Station indoor shops, 1st floor
東京都千代田区丸の内 1-9-1 JR東日本 東京駅構内1F
Open: 8 a.m.-10 p.m. (8 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sundays)
Website
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[ Read in Japanese ]