Tokyo fish market: Toyosu tuna auction, Tsukiji Outer Market and how to visit

tuna auction at Toyosu, watched for free from the second-floor gallery

5:30 to 6:30

public hours at Tsukiji Outer Market, after the professional buyers

9:00 to 14:00

for a sushi or seafood bowl set at Toyosu ($19), omakase ¥5,000 to ¥6,600

From ¥3,000

The Tokyo fish market now has two addresses. The wholesale market and its famous tuna auction moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu in October 2018, to a modern site on the bay where you watch the auction through glass. Tsukiji Outer Market stayed open: it is the lanes of seafood shops, food stalls and sushi counters that grew up around the old market, and it is where most visitors go to eat.

The short answer: go to Toyosu if you want to see the auction, which starts at about 5:30, and to Tsukiji for a seafood breakfast between 9:00 and 14:00. Both are free to enter, both close on Sundays and holidays, and you can do the two on the same morning.

Tsukiji and Toyosu tours

A guide helps most at the auction, which starts before the first train from central Tokyo reaches the market.

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Tsukiji or Toyosu: which Tokyo fish market should you visit?

Tsukiji Market opened on 11 February 1935 and closed its wholesale floors on 6 October 2018. Toyosu Market took over five days later, on 11 October 2018, on a site of 40.7 hectares against 23.1 at Tsukiji. The two are 2.3 km apart. They are now very different places to visit.

Is Tsukiji still worth it? For food, yes. The outer market is livelier than Toyosu and you can eat almost everything you see. Toyosu is worth the early alarm if the auction is the reason you came, and less so after 10:00, when the wholesale floors are empty and you mostly walk long corridors. If you only have one morning, do Toyosu at 5:30 and Tsukiji for breakfast, about 30 minutes apart by train.

Toyosu Market opening hours and closed days in 2026

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which runs the market, the visitor passage is open from 5:00 to 17:00, restaurants and shops included. The PR corner opens from 8:30 to 14:30 (until 11:30 on Saturdays), and the rooftop garden stays open from 5:00 to 23:00, even on closed days. In practice, almost everything worth seeing happens before 10:00 and most restaurants close by 13:00 or 14:00.

The market is closed on Sundays, national holidays and extra days set in its calendar. In 2026, it opens 251 days and closes 114 days for seafood. The remaining closed days for the fish market in 2026, read on the 2026 calendar on 14 November 2026:

On 25 November and 30 December, only the fruit and vegetable market closes, so the seafood side and its restaurants are open. The market also closes for the New Year holiday. The 2027 calendar is published on the official market website: check it before you set an alarm, as closed Wednesdays change from month to month.

Toyosu tuna auction: the free gallery and the observation deck lottery

The auction takes place in Block 7, the seafood wholesale building, on a floor painted green where hundreds of tuna are laid out in rows, typically about 200 fresh and 1,000 frozen fish on a normal day. A bell starts the bidding at about 5:30, and it is over by about 6:30. Each fish sells in seconds, so you see dozens of sales in a few minutes.

The second-floor gallery, free and without booking

Anyone can watch from the gallery on the upper floor, through large windows above the auction floor, with no ticket and no reservation. Arrive by 5:30 to see the start. You are behind glass and some way above the fish, so the view is wide rather than close, and the gallery gets busy on peak travel days.

The lower observation deck, by lottery

The observation deck on the lower level stands right next to the auction floor, without the distance of the gallery. Places are drawn by lottery, not first come first served, through the official application site linked from the market website. For the December 2026 visits, applications closed on 11 November and results are sent by email on 19 November.

Applications for each month usually open for about a week at the start of the month before, for example 7 to 13 October 2026 for November. Tokyo Cheapo, which follows the lottery closely, reports about 100 places a day, groups of up to five people, a meeting at 5:30 at the Promotional Corner, a visit from 5:45 to 6:25, photo ID for everyone and no visits from 25 December to 5 January. The official rules are in a PDF we could not read, so check the lottery page before you apply. A tour company cannot apply for you.

Prices at the New Year auction are the ones that make the news. The record was set on 5 January 2019, when a 278 kg bluefin sold for ¥333.6 million ($2.1 million) to the owner of the Sushi Zanmai chain. On 4 January 2026, a 243 kg tuna sold for ¥510 million ($3.2 million).

Toyosu Market restaurants: sushi breakfast, prices and queues

Toyosu has nearly 40 restaurants, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Most are on the 3rd floor of Block 6 (about 22) and of the administration building next to Block 7 (about 13), with three more in the fruit and vegetable building, Block 5. Many open before dawn for market workers and close around 13:00 or 14:00.

Sets of seasonal sushi or seafood bowls start at about ¥3,000 ($19), and a chef's choice omakase costs ¥5,000 to ¥6,000 ($31 to $38). Daiwa Sushi, in Block 5, serves its omakase for ¥6,600 ($41) and takes reservations. These are prices reported by Tokyo Cheapo in November 2026, and menus change with the catch.

The best-known counters, Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi, have the longest queues, often well over an hour on weekends and in high season. Two ways to avoid them: eat right after the auction, before 7:00, or pick one of the less famous counters on the same floor, which serve fish from the same auction. Bring cash, though more places now take cards.

Uogashi Yokocho, the market shopping street

On the 4th floor of Block 6, Uogashi Yokocho is a row of about 70 small shops that sell to market workers and, from about 8:00, to visitors: kitchen knives, tableware, dried bonito, tea and snacks. It is the only part of the wholesale buildings where you can buy something. Fresh fish from the wholesale floors is not sold to visitors.

Rules for visiting Toyosu Market

Enter through one of the three entrances on the pedestrian deck, one per building. Eating and drinking are not allowed in the visitor passages, benches included, and the wholesale shops are for professional buyers only. There is no parking for visitors, not even for bicycles. Keep your voice down at the auction windows, which are a workplace.

Senkyaku Banrai, the food complex next to Toyosu Market

Opened on 1 February 2024, Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai is a complex in Edo-period style beside the market, 4 minutes on foot from Shijo-mae station by the elevated walkway. Since September 2025 it has also been called Toyosu Jogai Shijo, the Toyosu outer market. It has about 65 food shops and restaurants. Shops open from 10:00 to 18:00 (some from 9:00) and restaurants from 10:00 to 22:00, every day of the year, even when the market is closed. That makes it the fallback on a Sunday or a closed Wednesday.

Its other half is Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club, a hot spring bath open 24 hours. Adult entry (12 and over) costs ¥3,850 ($24) with towels and a yukata, from 10:00 to 3:00, with an extra charge for staying overnight. Like most onsen in Japan, it generally refuses visitors with tattoos. Our guide to ryokan and onsen etiquette explains how a Japanese bath works. teamLab Planets, the barefoot digital art museum, is one stop away at Shin-toyosu: see our teamLab Planets guide to book it the same day.

Tsukiji Outer Market: opening hours, what to eat and prices

The outer market has no single opening time, since each shop sets its own hours and closed days. The official association gives 6:00 to 9:00 for professional buyers and 9:00 to 14:00 for the public. Many shops open from 5:00 or 6:00 and close around 14:00. On Sundays, Wednesdays and holidays, when the wholesale market is closed, a good share of the shops close too, so the lanes are half shut. From 10:00, the main lanes are packed.

What to eat at Tsukiji Outer Market

The classics are tamagoyaki, the sweet rolled omelette sold in thick slices or on a stick, grilled scallops and oysters, tuna and sea urchin, and kaisendon, a bowl of rice topped with raw seafood. A simple bowl starts at around ¥1,000 ($6) and a salmon and roe bowl costs around ¥2,000 ($12), while a sushi counter set runs higher. Beyond food, Tsukiji is the place in Tokyo for kitchen knives, dried bonito flakes, tea and tsukudani, small fish simmered in soy sauce. Bring cash: many stalls do not take cards or a Suica.

Tsukiji Outer Market rules and etiquette

The association asks visitors to follow a short list of rules, and the shopkeepers take them seriously:

• Eat inside the shop or in a designated eating space, not while walking through the lanes.
• Leave large luggage in a paid locker, and strollers at Plat Tsukiji for ¥500 ($3).
• Ask before taking photos of shops or staff, and never touch the produce.
• Give priority to professional buyers before 9:00, keep groups small and hold children by the hand.
• Smoke only in the smoking areas, and do not haggle.

Next to the market, Tsukiji Hongwan-ji is a Buddhist temple rebuilt in 1934 in an ancient Indian style, with a stone dome that looks nothing like a Japanese temple. Its main hall is open from 6:00 to 16:00, entry is free, and its café serves a breakfast that pairs well with a market morning.

Visiting Kyoto as well? Its Nishiki Market is the closest thing to Tsukiji, a covered street of food stalls in the city centre.

How to get to Toyosu Market and Tsukiji Outer Market

All these lines take an IC card, see our Suica card guide, but bring coins or cash for the food stalls.

The catch for the auction: the first Yurikamome train from Shimbashi leaves at 5:45, too late for the 5:30 start, and the first one from Toyosu station leaves at 5:15. To be there on time, take a taxi or stay within walking distance of Toyosu or Shimbashi. Our guide to where to stay in Tokyo compares Ginza, next to Tsukiji, with the other districts. Toei bus 市01 also runs from Shimbashi to the market in about 22 minutes. From Toyosu to Tsukiji, take the Yurakucho line to Shintomicho and walk 750 m.

Best time to visit the Tokyo fish markets

Go on a weekday morning, but not a Wednesday without checking the calendar, and never on a Sunday or a public holiday. Saturdays are open at both markets but are the most crowded. At Toyosu, plan two hours from 5:30 for the auction, a walk through Blocks 6 and 7 and breakfast. At Tsukiji, 8:00 to 10:00 is the sweet spot, after the professional rush and before the crowds.

Winter is the best season for fish quality and tuna, and the first auction of the year, around 5 January, draws the biggest crowds. The weeks before New Year are the busiest of all at Tsukiji, when Tokyo residents come to buy food for the holiday. Our things to do in Tokyo guide and our Japan itinerary show how to fit a market morning into a first trip.