The wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018, but Tsukiji's outer market stayed: two places, one early morning, a lot of very fresh fish.
In 2018 Tokyo's wholesale fish market moved from Tsukiji to a modern site at Toyosu. The tuna auction starts around 5:30am and can be watched free from the upper corridor.
For a closer view, a floor-level observation deck is allocated by a free monthly lottery.
Tsukiji's outer market stayed where it was: lanes of stalls selling tamagoyaki, tuna bowls, grilled scallops and kitchen knives. It is busiest from 8am to noon and partly closed on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Next to Toyosu, Senkyaku Banrai has an Edo-style food hall, an onsen using water trucked from Hakone, and a free rooftop foot bath over the bay.
Auction first, breakfast second.
Watch the bidding through the windows of the upper corridor.
Sushi breakfast in the restaurants inside the Toyosu buildings.
Warm your feet on the roof overlooking the bay.
Ten minutes by taxi or Yurikamome and subway.
Tamagoyaki on a stick, a tuna bowl and a knife shop.
Toyosu: Shijo-mae station on the Yurikamome. Tsukiji: Tsukiji or Tsukiji-shijo subway stations.
The first trains don't reach Toyosu by 5:30am; take a taxi or stay nearby.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
