The Japanese love seafood so it's no wonder the country has the world's largest wholesale fish and seafood market to satisfy local cravings. Since it's a wholesale market vendors extremely busy dealing with core customers early in the morning and only opens to the public around 9am. A few areas open earlier and there are also a few areas that are always off limits. Once the morning transactions are completed wholesalers start re-packing fish in ice containers and hose down their work space. It's best to arrive as close to 9am as possible - if you arrive too late the only thing you'll be able to do is dodge transport carts as they fly past.
TUNA AUCTION
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One of the few ways that you can catch the Tsukiji Market in "action" is to attend an early morning tuna auction held most Mondays through Saturdays. This auction has become a top tourist draw in Tokyo and potential guests are often turned away if they do not arrive at the market early enough to obtain a spot among the 120 daily entrants.
Rather than wait in the capsule bed at my hotel, I headed to the Tsukiji area well in advance of the recommended tuna auction arrival time. I was the first person in line at 2:50am. Additional people started to trickle in and by 3:30 there were about thirty people in line. |
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Security opened a waiting room, but oddly there were no chairs. Everyone had to sit legs folded on the ground...for the next two hours. Around 4:30 the waiting room reached maximum capacity - anyone arriving afterwards was turned away and unable to observe the day's tuna auction. At 5:25 after almost two hours of sitting the doors to the waiting room were finally opened and the first group of sixty was escorted through the market traffic lanes to a large freezer. Inside the freezer were about 100 massive tuna laid on pallets. The tuna were all frozen with open cuts in the tail sections to assist the purchaser evaluate quality.
After fifteen minutes in the freezer the first series of auctions started - the auctioneer was demonstrative but the purchasers maintained the stoic, reserved Japanese presence. There were several auctions and only a handful of the thirty purchasers in the room participated in any one auction. Once the auction ended our group was escorted out of the freezer area to a Tsukiji Fish Market exit.
There wasn't much to the auction - given the early morning wakeup and a 3,000 YEN taxi cab ride it was difficult to initially classify this as a must see event. However, upon further reflection I think the simplicity of the auction and seeing people engaged in the grit of their day to day business without "putting on a tourist show" gives a glimpse into Japanese life you wouldn't otherwise see. There's nothing glamorous or really even exciting about a 5:30am tuna auction but with the right perspective that ultimately becomes the beauty about attending the event.
After fifteen minutes in the freezer the first series of auctions started - the auctioneer was demonstrative but the purchasers maintained the stoic, reserved Japanese presence. There were several auctions and only a handful of the thirty purchasers in the room participated in any one auction. Once the auction ended our group was escorted out of the freezer area to a Tsukiji Fish Market exit.
There wasn't much to the auction - given the early morning wakeup and a 3,000 YEN taxi cab ride it was difficult to initially classify this as a must see event. However, upon further reflection I think the simplicity of the auction and seeing people engaged in the grit of their day to day business without "putting on a tourist show" gives a glimpse into Japanese life you wouldn't otherwise see. There's nothing glamorous or really even exciting about a 5:30am tuna auction but with the right perspective that ultimately becomes the beauty about attending the event.
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EATING SUSHI AT TSUKIJI
Whether you arrive early for the tuna auction or decide to sleep in and visit the market at a more reasonable hour no trip to Tsukiji would be complete without eating sushi. There are a few restaurants located inside the market itself, however, many more restaurants and shops are located north of Tsukiji in an adjacent market. The restaurants in the market tend to be smaller in size and have longer lines. Several of the better restaurants, Daiwa Sushi and Sushi Dai, have expanded and have locations in both markets. Some of the set meals may appear to be expensive but the 3,000 YEN price per set is typically less then an equivalent set in other areas of Tokyo. Most of the restaurants in this area serve fresh, never frozen, fish.
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For more detailed information before your visit Tokyo Market Guide which also has a link for a PDF download market map. Supposedly the wholesale market is relocating in 2016 to make room for high rises in an expensive real estate area.