Tsukiji Market

Address	5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku
Transportation	Nearest subway station: Tsukijishijo or Tsukiji
Admission	Free
Hours	5am to 11am (Closed some Wednesdays and on holidays)
Phone	03-3542-1111
Website	www.tsukiji-market.or.jp

You won’t be disappointed if you’re willing to get up early enough to see one of the world’s largest fish markets. It handled over 2,200 tons of marine products in 2003 and receives over 450 kinds of fish each year. Just don’t complain about getting up early to visit—wholesalers begin working at 3am, laying out fish to prepare for daily auctions. So you’ve got it easy! If you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, jobbers—sometime after 3am—start examining the quality of each fish and estimating their selling price. That’s why they’ll be picking up and checking out certain fish before moving to the next stack of marine life, in case you’re still waking up and trying to figure out what’s up with all the rushed activity. By 5am, fishmongers are busy selling their goods and the market is wide awake: fresh food has poured in from all over the world by trucks, planes and ships, and you’ll hear shouting from auctioneers when the auction begins at 5:30am. It goes on for much of the morning, although at 8am, retailers start loading the fish that they purchased during the auction, and by 11am, jobbers begin tidying up their shops for closing time.