Toyosu tuna auction
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Toyosu is the wholesale market that replaced Tsukiji’s inner market in 2018, and the tuna auction that happens there in the small hours is free to watch. There are two ways to do it and the difference matters.
The upper walkway is a glazed gallery running above the auction floor. It requires no booking at all – you turn up, you walk along it, you look down. The lower observation deck puts you much closer, separated from the floor by glass, and it requires winning an advance lottery run by the market. People who fail to get a lottery place often conclude they cannot see the auction. They can.
At a glance
- Cost
- Free, both viewing options
- Upper walkway
- A glazed gallery above the auction floor. No booking required – turn up
- Lower deck
- A small viewing area much closer to the floor. Advance lottery application required, run by the market
- Timing
- The auction runs in the very early morning and is effectively over by breakfast. Plan a first train or a taxi
- Closed days
- The market closes on Sundays, most Wednesdays and public holidays, on a calendar the market publishes
In this guide
What you are actually looking at
Rows of frozen tuna, tails cut off and laid on the concrete with their cut faces exposed, under bright light, each with a number chalked on it. Buyers walk the rows with torches and small hooks, taking slivers from the tail cut, rubbing the flesh between their fingers and judging fat content, colour and texture. Then the auctioneer starts, and the bidding is fast, loud, and conducted in hand signals and a chant that is unintelligible even to most Japanese visitors.
The whole thing is over quickly. This is a working wholesale market, not a demonstration, and its purpose is to move several hundred tonnes of fish to restaurants before the city wakes up. That is precisely what makes it worth seeing: nothing about it is for you.
From the upper walkway you get the scale, the layout and the movement, through glass, from above. From the lower deck you get the faces, the torches and the sound. The upper view is the better one for understanding what is happening; the lower one is the better one for feeling it.
Getting there, and the timing problem
The auction happens in the very early morning, before the first trains in most cases. That is the real obstacle, and there are three honest ways round it.
Take the first train. The Yurikamome line serves Shijo-mae station, which connects directly into the market buildings by covered walkway. The first service will get you there for the later part of the auction rather than the beginning, which for the upper walkway is usually enough.
Take a taxi. From central Tokyo this is not extravagant when split between two or three people, and it is the only way to be there at the start.
Stay nearby. Toyosu and the Tsukishima side of the water have hotels, and this turns a difficult morning into an easy one.
Check the market’s own calendar before committing. Toyosu closes on Sundays, most Wednesdays and public holidays, and the pattern varies month to month. Turning up on a closed day is the one failure mode here and it is entirely avoidable.
Afterwards: the reason to go even if you miss the auction
Toyosu has restaurants inside the market buildings, several of them run by the same families who ran them at Tsukiji, and they open for the market’s own workers. A sushi breakfast here costs a few thousand yen and uses fish that was on the floor downstairs an hour earlier. There is a queue and it is worth it.
The market also has a rooftop lawn with a view over the bay, and Senkyaku Banrai, an adjoining complex with a hot-spring bathhouse and food streets, which is a good place to spend the hours between a five-in-the-morning auction and anything else being open.
Tsukiji outer market still exists and is still worth visiting. The inner wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the outer market – the street of knife shops, dried fish, tamagoyaki stalls and restaurants – stayed where it was. Guides that say Tsukiji closed are half right in a way that costs people a good morning.
teamLab Planets is in Toyosu too, which makes for an efficient if strange day.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Toyosu tuna auction cost anything?
No. Both viewing options are free. The difference between them is the booking, not the price.
Do I need to book to see the tuna auction?
Not for the upper walkway, which you can simply walk along. The lower observation deck, much closer to the floor, requires winning an advance lottery run by the market.
What time is the Toyosu tuna auction?
Very early morning, before most first trains, and it is effectively finished by breakfast. A taxi is the only reliable way to be there at the start.
Is Tsukiji market closed?
The inner wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the Tsukiji outer market – the shopping and eating streets – is still open and still worth a morning.
What days is Toyosu market closed?
Sundays, most Wednesdays and public holidays, on a calendar that varies month to month. Check the market's own calendar before you commit to an early start.
Further reading
Official sources
- Toyosu Market (official) – Viewing arrangements, the lottery for the lower deck, restaurants and the closure calendar
- GO TOKYO – spot directory – Official Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau listings
- teamLab Planets TOKYO (official) – The other reason to be in Toyosu