If you plan a trip to Tokyo and search for the famous tuna auction, you will quickly run into a confusing headline: Tsukiji Market closed in 2018. Then you will see hundreds of recent blog posts and tour listings for Tsukiji Fish Market in 2026, still selling breakfast sushi and fresh uni to a line of tourists. So which is it? The honest answer is that both things are true at once, and understanding the split is the difference between watching a real tuna auction and standing outside a closed building at 5 a.m. wondering where everyone went.
What Actually Moved to Toyosu in 2018
In October 2018, the wholesale side of Tsukiji Market relocated to a new, purpose-built facility in Toyosu, about a 15 to 20 minute trip from the old site. That move included the professional auction floor, the cold storage, and the license-holders who buy and sell seafood by the ton before dawn. If your main goal is to see the famous tuna auction, this is where it now happens. Nothing about the auction itself moved back or split between two locations; it is entirely in Toyosu now.
What Stayed Behind: Tsukiji Outer Market
What never closed is the part most tourists actually came for in the first place: Tsukiji Outer Market, a retail district of roughly 400 shops selling directly to home cooks, restaurant chefs, and visitors. This is where you will find the grilled scallop stalls, the rolled tamagoyaki skewers, the knife shops, and the sit-down sushi counters with a queue outside. None of this is a recreation or a tourist trap built after the fact. It is the original retail street that always existed alongside the wholesale market, and it simply kept operating under its own name after the wholesale side left.
Toyosu Tuna Auction: Two Ways to Watch It
Toyosu Market opens the auction to visitors through two separate viewing options, and knowing the difference will save you a wasted early morning.
- Free upper gallery walkway: Open from around 5 a.m., no reservation needed. You watch through a glass window from an elevated corridor, with the auction sound piped in through speakers. This is the option almost every visitor uses.
- Reserved lower observation deck: A limited number of spots on a closer viewing floor, booked through the official Toyosu Market website roughly a month in advance. Applications open for about a week at the start of each month for the following months visits, and spots are assigned by lottery if demand is high.
The auction itself typically runs between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. and can last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, so arriving by 5 a.m. for the free gallery, or by 5:30 a.m. if you hold a reserved deck spot, is the safe move.
Getting There and Practical Notes
The nearest station to Toyosu Market is Shijomae on the Yurikamome line, a short elevated train ride from Shimbashi. General visitor access to the market is free. The market keeps early hours overall, roughly 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it is closed on a rotating schedule of Sundays, most Wednesdays, and Japanese public holidays. The exact closure calendar shifts year to year, so check the official Toyosu Market site for the specific dates before you build a morning around it. Tsukiji Outer Market runs on its own separate hours and its own separate closed days, which is one more reason the two places should never be treated as the same stop on your itinerary.
So Which One Should You Actually Visit
If you want to watch professionals auction whole tuna before sunrise, that experience now belongs entirely to Toyosu, and the free gallery is enough for almost every visitor. If you want to eat a fresh breakfast, browse a working Japanese food street, and buy a knife or a bag of dried bonito flakes to take home, that is still Tsukiji Outer Market, unchanged in spirit since long before 2018. Neither one replaced the other. They simply split into two different mornings, and the best Tokyo food trip covers both: the auction at Toyosu at dawn, then a short ride back to Tsukiji for the breakfast everyone actually came for.
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How This Guide Was Reviewed
This article was reviewed on July 26, 2026 to reduce generic travel advice and make the page more useful before booking. Prices, opening rules, ticket windows, transport details, and affiliate availability can change, so verify official sources before final plans.
