Toyosu Market in December 2026: Opening Days, Winter Seafood & New Year Closures

Toyosu Market is open on most days in December 2026, including a special Sunday opening on 27 December. The last seafood trading day of the year is Wednesday 30 December, and the market then closes from 31 December until the first tuna auction of 2027 on Tuesday 5 January. December is also peak season for fatty bluefin tuna, winter yellowtail, fugu, snow crab, oysters and monkfish liver, so it is one of the best months of the year to eat here, just as the calendar tightens.

The short answer:

• Closed days: 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23 and 31 December. Every other day of the month is a trading day, which makes 23 in all.
• Best dates: Go on a weekday between 1 and 22 December for a relaxed visit, or between 28 and 30 December for the year-end rush. The last week is the busiest stretch of the market’s year.
• On a closed day you cannot enter the market buildings at all, restaurants included. Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai next door stays open every day of the year, New Year included.
• The tuna auction can be watched free from the upper visitor walkway on any trading day. The close-up lottery deck has its own application cycle and its own gaps at year end, covered below.

If you would rather not organise a pre-dawn arrival yourself, one small-group tour covers the tuna auction and a Tsukiji tasting walk. It cannot run on closed days, so check the date you want before you book.

Toyosu Market opening days in December 2026

Toyosu Market is open from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on trading days, and the tuna auction usually runs from about 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. The market follows a calendar of designated closed days, not a fixed “closed every Wednesday” rule, and individual restaurants can still close on their own days. The dates below come from the official 2026 calendar of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, which lists 251 seafood trading days for the year.

Do not assume every Wednesday or Sunday follows the same pattern. In December 2026, 27 December is a Sunday and 30 December is a Wednesday, and both are trading days. The authority can add or move a closed day, so check the official Toyosu Market calendar for your exact date. Our guide to when to visit Toyosu Fish Market has the full 2026 and 2027 closed-day calendar and a date checker.

A December day around the bay can take in more than the auction. Within a short ride you have the Tsukiji Outer Market food stalls, the Senkyaku Banrai food street and Manyo Club onsen next to the market, teamLab Planets one Yurikamome stop away, LaLaport Toyosu, and Odaiba with its Rainbow Bridge views. Guided Tokyo market mornings, food tours and other experiences are below:

The New Year closure and the first auction

The market closes on 31 December and stays closed from 1 to 4 January. On the 2027 calendar, the first trading day and the first tuna auction of the year (hatsuseri) fall on Tuesday 5 January 2027, and Wednesday 6 January is a trading day for seafood, with only the fruit and vegetable side closed. The 2027 calendar was posted in September 2026 and lists 250 seafood trading days. Check the official 2027 calendar once your trip is fixed.

The pattern is very stable. The last seafood trading day is 30 December, the closure runs from 31 December to 4 January, and the first auction is on 5 January, even when that falls on a Sunday.

Our guide to Toyosu Market at New Year covers the closure, the first auction and what stays open in more detail.

The year-end rush and who can shop where

In the last week of December the trade side of Toyosu is at its busiest of the year, because restaurants and retailers stock up on tuna, crab, salmon roe and kazunoko (herring roe) for New Year feast boxes. Japanese coverage of the 2025 to 2026 year end put the visitor crowd peak on 29 and 30 December, with 5 January busy as well.

• The wholesale floors are trade only. Tourists cannot buy fish from the intermediate wholesalers on the ground floor. What visitors can do is walk the visitor corridors, eat at the in-market restaurants and shop the Uogashi Yokocho specialist street on the 4th floor of the Fisheries Intermediate Wholesale Market Building. The official Toyosu Market site describes it as a cluster of around 70 shops selling knives, tamagoyaki, dried goods, pickles, tea and kitchen tools, and encourages tourists to visit from 8:00 a.m. onward. It trades from early morning until around midday.
• The public can buy year-end seafood at Senkyaku Banrai. In 2025 it ran a year-end sale from 27 to 31 December, with discounted Oma bluefin reported by a local blog. See the Senkyaku Banrai section below.
• The visitor corridors are open from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on trading days. The PR Corner is open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays), and the rooftop garden is open from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, even on closed days.

Watching the tuna auction in December and at New Year

There are two ways to watch, and they work differently.

The lottery cycle. Applications open in the first part of the month before, and results come in mid-month. For January 2026 viewing, the official lottery site took applications from 3 to 9 December 2025, with results on 18 December 2025. For January 2027 viewing, expect a similar early-December window.

No deck from 25 December to 5 January. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s lottery FAQ (updated June 2025) says applications for early-morning tuna auction viewing are not accepted for 25 December to 5 January, so the deck is out for the last week of the year and for the first auction. One tour listing says there is no lottery in December at all, but that is the operator’s own policy, and the January 2026 round did take applications in December 2025. Treat the upper walkway as the guaranteed option on these dates, and no operator can promise you deck access. Our guide to the tuna auction lottery and viewing times sets out the windows.

The first auction of the year. On 5 January 2026 the bell that starts trading rang at about 5:10 a.m., and hundreds of tuna from across Japan were on the floor. A 243 kg Oma bluefin sold for a record ¥510.3 million (¥2.1 million a kilogram) to Kiyomura Corp., the company behind the Sushi Zanmai chain, which then served it at normal menu prices at its Tsukiji flagship. A sea urchin board also set a record that morning, at ¥35 million for about 400 g. Television crews flood the floor, so arrive before 5:00 a.m. for a place on the walkway.

Every winning fish in this table came from Oma in Aomori, which has taken the top price for 15 years in a row, according to Nikkei. The 2027 price cannot be known, so treat ¥510 million as the record to beat and not a forecast. Our guide to bluefin tuna auction record prices covers every year and why the price is so far above what the fish is worth on the plate.

Restaurants: Sushi Dai, Daiwa Sushi and December queues

• In-market restaurants follow the market calendar. They are closed on every closed day in the table above, including 31 December to 4 January. Most open around 5:30 to 6:00 a.m. and close around 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., or earlier if they sell out.
• Sushi Dai (Block 6, 3rd floor) opens at about 6:00 a.m. and closes around 2:00 p.m. It is closed on Sundays, holidays and market-closed Wednesdays, and takes cash only. Queues of 2 to 5 hours are commonly reported, and recent visitors describe a check-in-and-return system on some days. Expect the long end of that range from 24 to 30 December and on 5 January.
• Daiwa Sushi (Block 5, 1st floor of the Fruit and Vegetable Building) is open roughly 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It has more seats and turns tables faster, so waits are usually 1 to 2 hours.
• The better December plan is a quieter counter in the same buildings, serving fish from the same morning auction. Go on a weekday between 1 and 22 December, avoid Saturdays, and be in line before 7:00 a.m.

Our guide to the best sushi at Toyosu compares the counters, the queues and the alternatives.

Winter seafood in season in December

December is the one month when all of the fish below are at or near their peak at the same time. The market is also full of New Year luxury products such as kazunoko, salmon roe and ise-ebi (spiny lobster).

Our field guide to Japanese fish and seafood at Toyosu names what you are looking at, and the guide to tuna cuts and grading makes an omakase easier to follow.

Senkyaku Banrai at year end

Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, the Edo-style food street and onsen complex next to the market, has no closed days and opens every day of the year. Normal hours are retail 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and dining 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (some shops close at 8:00 p.m.), and the free 8th-floor footbath garden runs 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

• 2025 to 2026: the operator said it would operate without closing through the New Year and ran a year-end sale from 27 to 31 December. A New Year festival ran from 1 to 12 January 2026, with lion dances on 1 January, Daikoku and Ebisu dances on 2 to 4 January, and mochi-throwing and mochi-pounding with free zoni soup.
• 2024 to 2025: 1 January hours were 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with normal hours on the other days.
• 2026 to 2027: the schedule had not been announced at the time of writing. Expect it in late November or December, and check the official site before you go.
• Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club, the onsen inside, stayed open 24 hours through the 2025 to 2026 New Year, with a special buffet schedule from 29 December to 3 January.

Tsukiji Outer Market in December

The Tsukiji Outer Market named 25 to 30 December in 2025 as the peak of year-end shopping, with all shops open and trading from about 6:00 a.m. On 31 December it was a free trading day, with some shops closed or on short hours, and most shops then stay closed until 4 January. Tsukiji closes on most market closed days as well, so “Toyosu is closed, go to Tsukiji” only half works.

Guided tours can be affected. In December 2025 the Tsukiji Outer Market asked tourism operators to refrain from food-walking, group activity and guided tours during the December rush, and warned that it would ask the relevant authorities to step in if the request was ignored. A similar request may come for 2026, so check that a tour listing still includes its Tsukiji walk for your date. A Toyosu-only morning avoids the issue.

The best combination is to watch the auction from the walkway at 5:00 to 6:30 a.m. and have a sushi breakfast at Toyosu. After that, cross to Tsukiji for 9:00 a.m. to noon (early to mid-December only), or go to Senkyaku Banrai from 10:00 a.m. Our Tsukiji Outer Market guide covers what to eat and buy there.

Guided tours in December

Tuna auction and Tsukiji food tours typically watch the auction from the upper walkway from about 5:00 to 6:30 a.m. and then walk to Tsukiji. No tour can run on a closed day, so check each listing’s calendar for 24 to 30 December, and remember that tours cannot run from 31 December to 4 January.

• The Toyosu Tuna Auction & Tsukiji Market Gourmet Adventure is a 3.5-hour small-group tour, from $114.
• The Toyosu Tuna Auction + Breakfast at Sushi Dai or Bentomi is a 3-hour tour, from $113, with the meal paid separately. Its operator states that it does not run on Wednesdays, Sundays and holidays that are market closed days.
• The Private Toyosu & Tsukiji Market Adventure with Tuna Auction is a 3-hour private tour, from $165, which suits a group who want their own guide.

One tour listing says there is no lottery in December and that all December guests view from the upper walkway. That fits the unclear year-end lottery position above, so avoid any tour copy that promises guaranteed deck access. Our comparison of Tokyo fish market tours covers every format.

Getting there, weather and practical information

• Getting there: the easiest route is the Yurikamome line to Shijo-mae Station (U-14), which connects to the market by covered walkway. The first train from Shimbashi (5:45 a.m.) is too late for a 5:30 a.m. lottery meeting time, and the first departure from Toyosu Station (5:15 a.m.) reaches Shijo-mae at 5:17 a.m. Toyosu Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line is the practical rail hub, about 15 to 20 minutes on foot. From central Tokyo, a taxi is the surest pre-dawn option; the 5:01 a.m. Yurakucho line train from Yurakucho connects at Toyosu with the 5:15. There is no visitor parking or bike parking at the market. Our guide to getting to Toyosu Market before sunrise has the details.
• Layout: the site has three blocks connected by pedestrian decks. Block 7 is the Fish Wholesale Market Building, where the tuna auction is held, and it houses the PR Corner. Block 6 is the Fisheries Intermediate Wholesale Market Building, with Sushi Dai on the 3rd floor and Uogashi Yokocho on the 4th. Block 5 is the Fruit and Vegetable Building, with restaurants including Daiwa Sushi. Senkyaku Banrai sits beside Block 6, next to Shijo-mae Station. Visitors enter through the three pedestrian-deck entrances, one per block.
• Weather: Tokyo in December is dry and sunny but cold at dawn. The average high is about 12 °C and the average low about 4 °C. The auction floor is chilled, so wear layers, a warm coat, gloves and non-slip shoes.
• Rules: do not eat or drink in the corridors or on the benches, stay on the visitor routes, watch for turret trucks (especially on the Uogashi Yokocho floor) and do not use flash near the auction floor. Keep groups small in the narrow restaurant corridors.
• Accessibility: the visitor corridors are barrier-free, with lifts in each building, and Senkyaku Banrai lends wheelchairs on advance request.
• Cash and lockers: many market restaurants, Sushi Dai included, take cash only, so bring yen. Coin lockers are on the 2nd floor of Senkyaku Banrai.
• Check before you go: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has posted a notice titled “Restrictions on Entry to the Visitor’s Course at Toyosu Market” (25 September 2026). It was a one-off for the 24 October fireworks and does not affect December; our Christmas and New Year guide has the details.

Nearby things to do in December and New Year

• teamLab Planets is in Toyosu, walkable from the market, and makes a good closed-day or afternoon filler. Our teamLab Planets and Toyosu itinerary sets out four timed plans.
• Odaiba and the Toyosu waterfront are on the same Yurikamome line, with bay views, winter illuminations and shopping malls. Our guide to where to stay for the tuna auction compares bases near the market.
• New Year in Tokyo: government offices close from 29 December to 3 January, and many shops and restaurants close from 1 to 3 January. Shrine visits fill Meiji Jingu, Senso-ji and others from midnight on 31 December. Plan Toyosu for before 30 December or from 5 January.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Toyosu Market open in December 2026?

Yes, on its normal trading days. In December 2026 the market is closed on 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23 and 31 December and open on the other 23 days, including a special Sunday opening on 27 December.

Is Toyosu Market open on 31 December 2026?

No. The New Year closure starts on Thursday 31 December. The last trading day is Wednesday 30 December, and on that day only the seafood side trades.

When does Toyosu reopen after New Year?

The first trading day and first tuna auction of 2027 is Tuesday 5 January 2027 on the 2027 calendar, following the same pattern as 2025 and 2026. Confirm it on the official calendar.

Is Toyosu open on Sunday 27 December 2026?

The market trades that day as a special year-end opening, and the visitor walkway is expected to open, but no official page confirms visitor access in writing, so confirm in late December. Our Sunday guide covers the other Sundays.

Can tourists see the first tuna auction of the year?

Yes, from the free upper visitor walkway, which has no booking and no cap on numbers. Arrive before 5:00 a.m., because media crowd the floor. Close-up lottery deck availability on that day is unconfirmed.

Can I buy fish at Toyosu for New Year?

Not on the wholesale floors. Buy at Senkyaku Banrai, which is open daily and ran a year-end sale in 2025, or at the Tsukiji Outer Market.

Is anything open at Toyosu on 1 January?

The market is closed. Senkyaku Banrai and the Manyo Club spa were open on 1 January in past years. In 2024 to 2025 Senkyaku Banrai ran 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on 1 January.

Are Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi open over New Year?

No. They follow the market calendar, so they are closed from 31 December to 4 January and on other closed days.

How cold is it?

Dawn temperatures are around 3 to 4 °C, and the auction floor is colder, so wear layers.

What is the best time to arrive?

For most visitors, around 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. is a good balance for a sushi breakfast. Arrive earlier only if the tuna auction is central to your visit.

Is this worth planning around?

Yes if it matches your priorities, but always check the official Toyosu calendar and current visitor arrangements for your exact date.

Bottom line

For a relaxed December visit, go on a weekday in the first three weeks of the month. For the year-end atmosphere, go between 28 and 30 December, when the seafood is in demand and the market is a day or two from closing. Pair the morning with Senkyaku Banrai or teamLab Planets. Visiting earlier in the season? See our November 2026 guide. And read our guide to Toyosu Market at New Year if your trip spans the break. Dates on this page were last checked on 30 September 2026, and Senkyaku Banrai, Tsukiji and lottery details for the year end may change once they are announced in November and December.