Tsukiji Fish Market Japan

Tsukiji: The Outer Market Still Exists, the Inner Market Moved

The most important thing to know about Tsukiji in 2024 is that the famous wholesale tuna auction moved to the new Toyosu Market in 2018. If you are specifically hoping to watch the early-morning tuna auction, you need to go to Toyosu in Koto ward, not Tsukiji. Toyosu allows a limited number of visitors per day (60 at the time of writing) on a lottery system; apply online months in advance through the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market website.

What remains at Tsukiji is the outer market - about 400 shops and restaurants on the streets surrounding the old wholesale building - and it is genuinely excellent. The inner market building itself was empty for years and is now being redeveloped.

The Outer Market

The outer market occupies a grid of narrow lanes along Shin-Ohashi Street and Tsukiji 4-chome. It operates roughly from 5am to about 1pm, with most shops and restaurants at full activity from 7am to 11am. By early afternoon, many vendors close up. Do not arrive expecting lunch service at 2pm.

What is on offer: fresh and cured seafood, seaweed, pickles, Japanese omelettes (tamagoyaki) cooked in rectangular pans by vendors who let you sample before buying, dashi stock ingredients, professional kitchen knives, ceramics, and dried goods. The knife shops are worth spending time in - Tsukiji has some of the best kitchenware shopping in Tokyo, with knives made by Osaka and Sakai bladesmiths that are significantly cheaper than the equivalent sold to tourists in Asakusa or at department stores.

Where to Eat

Sushidai is the most famous sushi counter at Tsukiji and has queues that start before 5am. The set menus run JPY 4,000 to 7,000 and the fish is extraordinarily fresh. You can queue or you can simply walk thirty seconds to one of the adjacent counters offering comparable quality with a fifteen-minute wait instead of two hours.

Daiwa Sushi is the other commonly cited top counter. Same situation.

Honestly, the pressure to eat at specifically Sushidai or Daiwa is somewhat manufactured. The outer market has dozens of sushi and seafood counters where the fish came off the same wholesale trucks at 4am. Yakisoba Inoue on the market perimeter does stir-fried noodles with pork for about JPY 500 and is a more useful meal at 7am than a set sushi menu.

The grilled scallops from the street stalls are hard to walk past. About JPY 500 for two large scallops in their shells, done over a charcoal grill. Buy them.

Tamagoyaki (sweet rolled omelette) samples are offered at multiple stalls and the style varies from sweet to savoury depending on the maker. They are cooking fresh all morning; buy at least a slice.

Getting There

The Tsukiji outer market is adjacent to Tsukijishijo Station on the Toei Oedo Line. Alternatively, Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line is a five-minute walk. The market is also walkable from Ginza in about fifteen minutes.

Toyosu Market, for the tuna auction, is on the Yurikamome monorail from Shimbashi Station - get off at Shijomae Station.

Toyosu Market

The wholesale market at Toyosu opened in 2018 after several false starts involving contamination concerns (the site is former Tokyo Gas land) that were resolved by 2018. The building is modern, slightly soulless compared to old Tsukiji, but the scale is extraordinary. The visitor viewing area for the tuna auction is on elevated walkways behind glass - you are looking down at the auction floor rather than standing among the buyers as was theoretically possible at old Tsukiji. Whether that glass-separated experience is worth the lottery application is a personal judgment; the answer is probably yes if you have strong interest in the Japanese fishing industry, and probably no if you are primarily interested in a photogenic early morning experience.

What Else Is Nearby

Hama-rikyu Garden is a formal Edo-period garden immediately adjacent to Tsukiji on the waterfront, bordered on two sides by the skyscrapers of Shiodome. The garden sits on former tidal flats reclaimed in the 17th century; the central pond fills with seawater at high tide. Entry is JPY 300. A teahouse in the garden serves matcha and wagashi. It is worth an hour before or after the market.

Ginza is a ten-minute walk north and worth visiting for the food halls in the basement of any major department store (Matsuya, Mitsukoshi, or Itoya for stationery). These depachika are the best domestic food shopping in Tokyo.

Practical Notes

  • Cash is heavily preferred at market stalls. Some shops now accept Suica (the IC transit card), but many do not.
  • The outer market lanes are narrow and busy. Not the place for large backpacks or wheeled luggage.
  • Sunday is the quietest day; many wholesale-oriented businesses are closed. Saturday is the most crowded. Weekday mornings are optimal.
  • The area around Tsukiji smells of fish. This is a feature rather than a bug.
  • Winter (December through February) is better for the tuna quality at market because Atlantic and Pacific bluefin are at peak fat content. Summer visits are fine but the premium grade fish is not at its best.