Getting to the Tsukiji Fish Market

Three stations serve the Tsukiji Outer Market and only one of them is called Tsukiji. Getting the wrong one costs you about four minutes, which matters more than it sounds when the shops start closing at 2pm.

The three stations, and the one that is not called Tsukiji

Stations for the Tsukiji Outer Market

Tsukijishijō is the one that catches people out, in both directions. It is on the Toei Ōedo line, its name means “Tsukiji market”, and it comes up on the far side of the old market site — so it is a minute from the lanes but a different minute from the one Tsukiji station gives you. If your tour meets at Tsukiji Hongan-ji, use Tsukiji station and exit 1.

Higashi-ginza is worth knowing about because it is the interchange: the Toei Asakusa line and the Tokyo Metro Hibiya line both stop there, and it is a three-minute walk in through the shops, which is a pleasanter arrival than either of the others.

From Tokyo Station in one ride

The metro route means a change, and the bus does not. Toei buses run to Tsukiji-Sanchōme from Tokyo Station (routes 都04, 都05-1 and 都05-2), from Shimbashi (業10 and 市01) and from Kinshichō (錦11). It is a single fare and it puts you at the market's north end.

Getting to Tsukiji from around Tokyo

From Haneda and from Narita

From Haneda, the Tokyo Monorail to Hamamatsuchō and the Ōedo line to Tsukijishijō takes about 40 minutes. A taxi is 30 to 40 minutes outside rush hour and costs several thousand yen.

From Narita, allow 80 to 100 minutes on the Narita Express to Tokyo Station and the bus or metro on from there. Doing the market on the morning you land is possible from Haneda and ambitious from Narita.

The Toei buses

The bus is the underrated route here and almost nothing in English mentions it. Services run to Tsukiji-Sanchōme from Tokyo Station, from Shimbashi and from Kinshichō. Pay with an IC card on boarding, and the stop is at the market's northern edge rather than at a station exit, so you walk in past the shops instead of up from a platform.

Walking in from Ginza and Higashi-ginza

Ginza to Tsukiji is about twelve minutes on foot along Harumi-dōri, and it is a good walk: the department stores thin out, the Kabuki-za appears on your right at Higashi-ginza, and the street narrows into the market. If you are staying in Ginza there is little point taking the metro at all.

Coming the other way is the better plan for a morning here — eat in the market from nine, then walk into Ginza as it opens.

Luggage, and why not to bring it

The market asks visitors to leave large bags behind, and the lanes make the case better than any rule does: three or four people wide, with counters projecting into them and delivery carts coming through. Coin lockers at Tsukiji, Tsukijishijō and Higashi-ginza take a cabin bag; Plat Tsukiji, the market's own information centre at 4-16-2 Tsukiji, Chuo City, Tokyo, stores a stroller for 500 yen.

The map page puts each tour's meeting point against the station exits, visitor information has the hours and the market's own rules, and Tsukiji Fish Market Tours compares the walks themselves. A Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market tour usually starts within four minutes of one of these three exits.