Tsukiji is one of those places that is more interesting than its reputation, mostly because its reputation is stuck in 2018. Here are thirteen things about it that surprise people who have already been, and several that will change how you plan a morning.
1. An earthquake put the market here
Tokyo's fish market was at Nihonbashi until 1 September 1923, when the Great Kantō earthquake and the fires after it destroyed the district. The city had already been arguing about moving the market on sanitary grounds; the earthquake settled it. The new market opened at Tsukiji on 11 February 1935.
2. The ground is reclaimed land
Tsukiji means, roughly, “built land”. It was reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the seventeenth century, and the reclamation kept washing away until a shrine was founded to calm the waves. The work finished in 1659.
3. There is a memorial mound raised to sushi
Namiyoke Inari Shrine, at the market's eastern edge, carries mounds raised by the trades in thanks to what they sell: one for sushi, one for prawns, one for eggs, one for kelp, and a stone for clams. It is the strangest true thing in Tsukiji and it takes about four minutes to walk round.
4. The temple is Indian
Tsukiji Hongan-ji does not look like a Japanese temple because it was not meant to. Itō Chūta rebuilt it in 1934 in the style of ancient Indian and Asian Buddhist architecture — the stone facade is close to Cave 9 at Ajanta — to show where Buddhism came from before it reached Japan.
5. It has a pipe organ
Donated in 1970 to spread Buddhist music, and played at a lunchtime recital on the last Friday of the month. The main hall is free and open 6am to 4pm, which is before any of the food stalls.
6. The market has its own written rules
Eight of them, published by the market itself, and almost nothing in English repeats them. Professional buyers have priority until 9am. Do not walk while you eat. Ask before photographing a shop. Do not haggle, because haggling is not customary here. Visitor information has all eight.
7. The name outlived the thing it named
The wholesale market stopped trading here on 6 October 2018. The shops around it kept the name, and so nobody calls Toyosu “the fish market” even though that is exactly what it is. The same thing happened before: the Nihonbashi Uogashi has not existed since 1923 and its name is on a building at Tsukiji.
8. About sixty of the old traders never left
Tsukiji Uogashi opened on 19 November 2016, two years before the wholesale move, and kept about 60 of the intermediate wholesalers at Tsukiji. It has a food court and a roof terrace on its third floor, which is the only place in the market with real seating that is not a restaurant.
9. Two dates are both correct for the move
Tsukiji's last trading day was 6 October 2018; Toyosu opened on 11 October 2018. English sources quote one or the other, rarely both, and the five-day gap is why the internet cannot agree. The history page takes it from Nihonbashi forward.
10. The Wednesday closures are not a rule
The market is shut on Sundays and public holidays, and on some Wednesdays — but which Wednesdays follows the wholesale market's own trading calendar rather than a pattern. Two consecutive Wednesdays can differ. It is the single most common way a trip here goes wrong.
11. The busiest days of the year are the last four in December
Tokyo buys its New Year fish between about the 28th and the 31st, the lanes go shoulder to shoulder, and prices for the prestige cuts rise with the crowd. The market then shuts for the best part of a week.
11b. What is in season when you come
A market is not a museum, and what you will find in the cases changes month by month. If you are choosing when to come for the eating rather than the weather, this is the table you want.
What you will find in the cases, by season
| Season | What fills the cases | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| December–February | Fatty tuna, yellowtail, oysters, snow crab, cod | The best eating of the year, and the coldest standing |
| March–May | Clams, firefly squid, sakura shrimp, the first bonito | The most comfortable months to walk in |
| June–August | Eel, abalone, sea urchin at its peak | Come at nine or not at all |
| September–November | Saury, mackerel, salmon roe, returning bonito | October and November are the quiet reward |
You can check any of it against the month-by-month page, which has the temperatures beside the seafood.
12. Around 460 shops, and a lot of them sell no fish at all
Knives, tea, dried goods, pickles, kitchenware, fruit. The knife makers in particular have supplied the trade for generations and are the reason a real share of visitors come here with no interest in seafood whatsoever.
13. Nothing here charges admission
No gate, no booth, no ticket. It is a shopping street. What you can buy is a guided walk, and Tsukiji market tour start at $13 — but the market itself has never charged anyone to walk into it.
What to do with all this on the ground
Most of it you can see in one morning if you know where to look. Walk in at nine at the temple end, give Tsukiji Hongan-ji ten minutes for the Indian facade and the organ loft, then work east through the lanes. Namiyoke Inari and its mounds are four minutes at the far end, and the Uogashi building is a detour you will be glad you took.
What you cannot see is the auction, and that is fact nine doing its work: you would have to be at Toyosu instead, before six in the morning. If that is what you came for, plan it as a separate morning rather than as an extension of this one.
You will also want cash. Between three and five thousand yen a person covers a morning of eating, and you will find counters that take nothing else. The food post has what to spend it on.
Where these come from
The dates and figures are the published record of the Tsukiji Outer Market, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the temple and shrine themselves. The market page sets out what is in the lanes now, and the auction page follows the trade to Toyosu. If you want the whole story in order, the history page starts at Nihonbashi.
Want it all pointed out on the ground? Tsukiji Fish Market Tours compares the walks that cover the market, the temple and the shrine in one morning.
