Tokyo is the site for the world's largest fish market, a place famous for the ultra-high quality tuna featured at the city's best sushi restaurants.
ALEX CHADWICK, host: Our friend Madeleine Brand is on assignment in Japan right now. She's doing stories for our Climate Connection series. And while she's in Tokyo, she's gone by the world's largest fish market. It's a place famous for the ultra high-quality tuna featured at Tokyo's best sushi restaurants.</s>MADELEINE BRAND: The demand for tuna is so great now that even though it seems like there's a glut of tuna standing here in the Tsukiji fish market, just looking at the (unintelligible) of tuna lying here on palettes, they really are being over-fished. And it's a big problem for the tuna worldwide.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Now, Madeleine doesn't really know her way around this market yet. So she went with a guide. His name is Tim Horniac(ph). He's a freelance writer, a big sushi fan. He had all kinds of statistics about the fish in this market, fish from all over the world.</s>Mr. TIM HORNIAC (Freelance Writer): two thousand, five hundred tons of fish, worth over $23 million are sold here everyday. And tuna can fetch prices up to 20 million yen, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is something like $200,000 for a single fish.</s>MADELEINE BRAND: What kind of (unintelligible) lying here. They looks like sad little porpoises with their tails cut off, a big gash under their fins.</s>Mr. TIM HORNIAC (Freelance Writer): And you can see the tails are sliced off in sort of 90-degree angle cuts so that the traders can directly inspect the meat with their flashlights. And they're looking for the freshest, fattiest tuna that will fetch the highest price.</s>MADELEINE BRAND: Okay, and this is where it all ends up. We're sitting in a sushi restaurant right next to the fish market. It is 7:00 in the morning and we're having sushi.</s>Mr. TIM HORNIAC (Freelance Writer): This is the best sushi in the world right here at Tsukiji fish market. Ground zero for sushi.</s>MADELEINE BRAND: Okay. Eat your heart out, Alex, because I'm about to eat some delicious sushi. Ba-bye. Sayonara.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Madeleine Brand, enjoying a sushi breakfast with Tim Horniac at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo