Tsukiji Fish Market
The inner auction halls are gone — but the outer ring of sushi counters, fresh seafood stalls, and knife shops is still running, if you get there before early afternoon.
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From 1935 to October 2018, Tsukiji handled the world's largest wholesale seafood trade in quarter-circular steel halls built to accommodate freight trains. The inner market is now demolished. What remains is the outer market (jōgai-shijō), sandwiched between the Sumida River and Ginza: sushi restaurants, seafood stalls, and the Japanese kitchen-tool and restaurant-supply shops that fed professional kitchens for decades.
What to look for
- Sushi restaurants and fresh seafood stalls in the outer market, open from early morning
- Japanese kitchen-tool and restaurant-supply shops — the trade that kept the outer market alive after the wholesale halls closed
- The cleared footprint where the inner market's steel-framed, column-free auction halls stood until demolition after 2018
Take the Toei Oedo Line to Tsukijishijo Station or the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line to Tsukiji Station; most outer-market stalls close by early afternoon.
Tsukiji Fish Market is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Tokyo, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Tokyo pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Tokyo
- Mode Gakuen Cocoon TowerA 50-story school curved like a cocoon — white aluminum and dark-blue glass, criss-crossed by diagonal white lines — that beat 150 rival proposals and won Skyscraper of the Year.
- Tokyo SkytreeAt 634 metres, the height isn't random — 6-3-4 spells "Musashi," the ancient name for this exact corner of Tokyo.
- Tokyo TowerA third of its steel came from US tanks scrapped after the Korean War — Japan's postwar recovery, painted orange and bolted into the sky.
- National Diet LibraryBorn in 1948 as a "citadel of popular sovereignty," Japan's national library holds 12 million volumes — and anyone can walk in.
- Akihabara (Electric Town)The black market that outgrew itself and became Japan's otaku capital.
- Tokyo National MuseumOne in ten of every artwork Japan has ever officially designated a National Treasure lives here.