It’s a given – Anyone who pays a visit to Tokyo’s famed Tsujiki fish market gets there before dawn to witness the tuna auctions that have been operating for the over 80 years. The sad news is that the market will stop admitting tourists for its tuna auctions as it prepares to move on October 11, 2018.
The popular tourist attraction which opened in 1935 will be shifting locations to east Tokyo in Toyosu, the site of a previous gas plant, and the tuna auctions, which have been considered a must-see when visiting Japan, are usually frequented by top restaurants around Tokyo, especially by Michelin-star sushi chefs around the area.
The tuna auctions usually begin at 5.30 a.m. daily and the number of tourists are normally capped at 120 people, but that doesn’t stop throngs of foreigners who make their way there every morning as some tourists even start forming a line as early as 2 a.m. in the morning.
Access to the tuna auctions will end on September 15, 2018 for preparatory work to take place, whereas the viewing of wholesale markets for vegetables and other marine products will stop on September 29. With that said, there will be an aisle prepared for tourists to watch the tuna auction through a glass wall.
Should you be visiting the Land of the Rising Sun soon, take note of the closures so you won’t be disappointed, and to make sure you don’t get up early for nothin’!
