In October 2018, Tokyo's wholesale seafood trade relocated from Tsukiji to a purpose-built complex on reclaimed land in Koto Ward, ending eight decades of chaotic predawn commerce in Ginza's shadow.
The new Toyosu facility separated the tuna auction floor, intermediate wholesale stalls, and fruit-and-vegetable halls into three climate-controlled buildings connected by service tunnels, while the historic Tsukiji outer market—a dense grid of street-front stalls selling tea, pickles, knives, and grilled tamago—remained in place one kilometre west. Today the toyosu market morning tuna auction and tsukiji food tour links both sites, starting before sunrise at the observation deck above the auction floor and concluding with a guided walk through the outer market's breakfast vendors.
Toyosu's tuna auction runs Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from approximately 05:30 to 06:30, though bidding can finish earlier when volume is light. Bluefin tuna from Oma, bigeye from the Indian Ocean, and southern bluefin from Australian waters arrive on refrigerated pallets; buyers inspect the tail-cut cross-sections under halogen lamps, then signal bids with hand gestures while auctioneers chant lot numbers at more than two hundred syllables per minute. The observation gallery—a glass-walled corridor suspended six metres above the floor—accommodates roughly 120 visitors per session and requires advance reservation through the metropolitan government portal or a licensed tour operator. Unlike the old Tsukiji viewing area, which stood at floor level and closed after overcrowding incidents in 2017, the current setup isolates tourists entirely from the trading floor.
After the auction, most tours depart Toyosu by van or subway for the fifteen-minute journey back to Tsukiji's outer market, where more than three hundred shops open between 06:00 and 07:00. Stalls specialise: Yamacho sells only bonito flakes; Maruya Kusakabe stocks handmade bamboo skewers; Tsukiji Masamoto forges carbon-steel deba knives to order. Visitors sample uni shooters, grilled scallops, tamagoyaki wrapped in nori, and toro sashimi cut from the morning's unsold lots. The market's pedestrian alleys—some barely two metres wide—prohibit photography with tripods, wheeled luggage, and groups larger than twelve. The district's rental-knife ordinance, enacted in 2019, forbids visitors from purchasing blades longer than fifteen centimetres without arranging international shipping at the point of sale. By 09:00 most stalls close; by 10:00 the outer market is quiet.
3 hr 30 min
