Tsukiji vs Toyosu: What Moved, What Didn't, and Where You Should Actually Go

The single most important thing to understand: only Tsukiji’s licensed wholesale “inner market” and its famous tuna auction moved to Toyosu on 11 October 2018. The Tsukiji Outer Market — the food stalls, sushi counters and knife shops that most travellers actually came for — never closed and is still thriving in 2026. If you turn up at Tsukiji expecting to watch tuna sold at auction, you will be disappointed; that spectacle is now about 2–2.5 km away at Toyosu. But if you skip Tsukiji because you heard it “closed down,” you’ll miss one of Tokyo’s great eating mornings. For many travellers the honest answer is to see both — and this guide shows you exactly how.

• Only the wholesale inner market + tuna auction relocated to Toyosu in 2018. Tsukiji Outer Market is open and, if anything, busier with tourists than ever. Toyosu is the modern, indoor, glass-partitioned wholesale market where you watch the auction; Tsukiji Outer is the open-air, street-food, browse-and-graze experience.
• Choose by goal: tuna auction, best-value market sushi breakfast, and “seeing a working market” → Toyosu; street food, knives, tamagoyaki, atmosphere, and a relaxed late-morning graze → Tsukiji Outer Market. Limited time and you only want to eat → Tsukiji. Willing to wake before dawn for the spectacle → Toyosu.
• Doing both in one morning is very achievable: auction at Toyosu around 5:30–6:30 am, then a short Yurikamome-plus-Metro hop (or taxi) to Tsukiji Outer Market for a late-morning food crawl. Watch the closed days — both follow the Tokyo wholesale-market calendar (Sundays, most Wednesdays, holidays, New Year), but individual outer-market shops set their own hours.

The Core Distinction: Inner Market vs Outer Market

Tsukiji always had two distinct parts, and conflating them is the single biggest source of confusion.

• The inner market (jōnai shijō) was the licensed Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market: the auction pits, the intermediate wholesalers’ stalls, the professional buyers, the turret trucks. This is where the tuna auction happened. It was fundamentally a workplace for the trade, only partially and conditionally open to tourists. This is the part — and the only part — that moved to Toyosu.
• The outer market (jōgai shijō) is the dense grid of retail shops, food stalls, sushi restaurants, knife and kitchenware sellers, and dried-goods stores that grew up around the wholesale operation over decades. It served chefs, local residents and visitors, and it has always been open to the public. When the inner market moved, the outer market had no reason to follow — its customers were right there. So it stayed.

The inner market handled roughly 1,400–1,800 tonnes of marine products on a typical trading day and, before the move, hosted roughly 600 intermediate wholesalers across some 1,600 stalls. The outer market comprised several hundred retail businesses. When headlines in 2018 blared “Tsukiji closes,” they were referring to the inner wholesale market only. (For scale, in its final full years the inner market moved about 400,000–450,000 tonnes of seafood a year, worth roughly ¥420–440 billion — about US$3.6–4.3 billion at the exchange rates of the time — per the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market’s annual reports.)

History of the Move

Origins. The Tsukiji market opened on 11 February 1935 as the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, built as the permanent replacement for the old Nihonbashi fish market, which the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1 September 1923 destroyed. A temporary market was set up at Tsukiji — a district well-suited to both land and water transport — and this became permanent in 1935. It grew into one of the largest fish markets in the world and a cornerstone of Japanese food culture.

Why relocate. By the 2010s the case for moving was strong: aging infrastructure (buildings over 80 years old), an open-air design ill-suited to modern cold-chain and temperature control, hygiene concerns, earthquake and fire-safety worries, chronic congestion, no room to expand, and ever-heavier tourist crowds interfering with a working market. Relocation had been discussed for decades — renovation attempts in the early 1990s were abandoned over cost and time — and in 2001 the metropolitan government under Governor Shintarō Ishihara formally decided to move the market to Toyosu, a parcel of reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay.

The contamination controversy. The Toyosu site was the former location of a Tokyo Gas plant, and testing found soil and groundwater contaminated with benzene, arsenic and cyanogen (cyanide compounds). According to The Japan Times, in 2008 toxic materials including benzene at a concentration 43,000 times the environmentally allowable level were detected at the roughly 40-hectare former Tokyo Gas site; cyanide compounds were found at levels around 800 times the safe level. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government undertook major remediation — removing contaminated topsoil and laying down a thick layer of clean soil across the site. However, the cleanup became a scandal when it emerged that, contrary to an expert panel’s recommendation, the clean-soil layer had been omitted beneath the main buildings, where basements were built instead.

Koike’s postponement. Newly elected Governor Yuriko Koike, who took office in the summer of 2016, suspended the planned November 2016 move (announced 31 August 2016) to allow further testing. Subsequent groundwater tests found benzene at levels many times the regulatory limit, plus detectable cyanide. After an expert committee concluded that the surface could be kept safe through groundwater-control measures, Koike gave the green light in mid-2017, opting to proceed with Toyosu while also redeveloping the old Tsukiji site. The move finally happened: Tsukiji’s inner market held its last auction and closed in early October 2018, and Toyosu opened on 11 October 2018, with the first tuna auction there in January 2019.

Resistance and litigation. The move was deeply contentious. The Wholesalers’ Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market formally opposed relocation, and surveys by a wholesalers’ women’s group (the “Tsukiji okami-san kai”) found that a large majority — over 70%, and by some counts over 80% — of intermediate wholesalers wanted to scrap the plan. Several hundred people protested; a group of fish traders filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to halt the relocation. Some vendors couldn’t afford the move and closed; others staged protests on opening day by selling in front of the shuttered Tsukiji gates. Roughly 600 merchants ultimately relocated.

What Happened to the Old Tsukiji Inner Market Site

After the market closed and was demolished, the ~19-hectare (approximately 190,000 m²) inner-market site — prime central-Tokyo land beside the Sumida River and Ginza — served as a transport depot (“Fleet Depot”) and parking area for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), with capacity cited around 3,000 cars and buses. Since then it has largely been cleared, vacant land used for temporary purposes such as parking.

The redevelopment plan. In April 2024 (the TMG selection was announced on 19 April 2024) the Tokyo Metropolitan Government chose a consortium of 11 companies — “Tsukiji Machizukuri,” led by Mitsui Fudosan, and including Toyota Fudosan (Toyota Real Estate), the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, Kajima, Taisei, Shimizu, Takenaka, Nikken Sekkei, Pacific Consultants, the Asahi Shimbun and Toyota Motor — for a redevelopment valued at around ¥900 billion under the concept “ONE PARK × ONE TOWN.” The plan envisions nine buildings totalling roughly 1.26 million m², including:

• A multipurpose stadium with capacity of approximately 50,000 (this is the current official figure in the August 2025 Basic Plan; earlier reporting citing 57,000 is an outlier and appears superseded). The Aug 2025 plan revealed a distinctive fan-shaped roof echoing the old market’s fan-shaped floor plan, designed as an all-weather indoor venue for baseball, football, rugby, basketball, e-sports, concerts and MICE events.
• Hotels, offices, residences (towers reportedly up to ~210 m), a theatre/culture hall, MICE facilities (including a ballroom for around 1,200 people), a life-sciences/“Tsukiji Culinary Center” hub, a food hall linked to the Tsukiji Outer Market, and expansive green space (~40% of the site greened).
• New transport links: a new subway station, water-bus facilities on the Sumida River, bus access, and provisions for future autonomous vehicles and even a “flying-car” port.

Current status and timeline (verify — this has shifted repeatedly). As of 2026 the project is in the detailed-design and administrative-procedures phase following a basic agreement signed in March 2025; the Basic Plan was announced on 22 August 2025. The site itself is essentially cleared land undergoing preparation rather than major vertical construction. The latest phasing: temporary “early-vibrancy” facilities in 2026–2027 (commercial + water-transport hub near the Outer Market); water-transport/theatre hall around FY2029; main-building construction (stadium, towers) starting around FY2028, opening in the early 2030s; most facilities complete around FY2032; and full completion in the late 2030s into the 2040s (earlier reporting cited FY2038). Note: media speculation that the Yomiuri Giants will move here from Tokyo Dome has been publicly played down by Yomiuri leadership — treat it as unconfirmed.

Bottom line for visitors: in 2026 there is nothing to see on the old inner-market site — it’s a construction/preparation zone. Don’t plan a visit there; the living heritage is the Outer Market next door.

Tsukiji Outer Market Today (2026)

The Outer Market is very much alive — and arguably more touristed than before, because it became the destination rather than the overflow once the inner market left.

• Size and character: commonly cited as around 400 shops (some sources say 460+) packed into a tight grid of narrow lanes in Chūō ward, near Tsukiji Station. It’s open-air, tactile and busy: charcoal grills, dashi steam, the sweet-caramel scent of tamagoyaki, vendors calling out, knives being sharpened.
• What it sells: fresh and grilled seafood (uni, oysters, grilled scallops, tuna bowls), tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) on sticks, dried goods (katsuobushi, kombu, nori, matcha), pickles, ceramics and lacquerware, copper tamagoyaki pans, and — a signature buy — hand-forged Japanese kitchen knives.
• Notable shops and landmarks: the flagship of the Sushizanmai chain; famous tamagoyaki stands including Marutake and Yamachō; knife houses Aritsugu, Masamoto and Sugimoto; the guardian Namiyoke Inari Shrine at the market’s edge (founded 1659, present shrine 1937; the name means “protection from waves,” with memorial monuments to seafood); and the striking Tsukiji Hongwanji temple nearby, whose Indian-influenced architecture is a landmark in its own right.
• Hours and closed days: most shops open early (around 5:00 am) and wind down in the early afternoon — the best window is roughly 8:00–11:00 am on a weekday. The Outer Market broadly follows the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market calendar (closed Sundays, most Wednesdays, national holidays, and the New Year period, typically about 30 December–4 January), but each shop sets its own hours — a subset opens on Sundays/Wednesdays and some close on other days. Always check the official tsukiji.or.jp calendar and individual shop listings.

Best experiences here: street-food grazing, tamagoyaki, uni and oysters, a standing or sit-down sushi breakfast, and shopping for knives and pantry staples. This is where to spend your appetite and your souvenir budget. See our full Tsukiji Outer Market guide for the best stalls and shops, and our street-food deep-dive for the stall-by-stall eating order.

Other Ways to Experience Both Markets

Beyond browsing on your own, most travellers combine a guided Toyosu tuna-auction tour, a Tsukiji Outer Market food walk, or a combination tour that does both in one morning — worth a look if you’d rather not plan the pre-dawn logistics yourself:

Toyosu Today (2026): The Short Version

Toyosu Market opened on 11 October 2018 on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and at roughly 408,000 m² it’s about 1.7× the size of Tsukiji (23.1 ha vs 40.7 ha) — the world’s largest fish market. It’s modern, indoor, climate-controlled and hygienic, and visitors move through it along dedicated corridors and observation decks, separated from the working floor by glass. Our complete Toyosu visitor guide walks through the whole site building by building.

• Three main blocks: Block 7 (Fisheries Wholesale — the tuna auction and viewing areas, plus the 3F Promotional Corner with exhibits and photo spots), Block 6 (Fisheries Intermediate Wholesale — the biggest restaurant zone, the Uogashi Yokochō retail shops, and the rooftop green space), and Block 5 (Fruit & Vegetables — its own viewing corridor plus a few restaurants).
• The tuna auction — two viewing options: (1) a free upper walkway (2nd-floor observation windows) open from around 5:00 am, no booking, no cap — you watch through sealed glass from a distance; and (2) a close-up observation deck requiring an advance online lottery (100 people per day), where winners meet at the Block 7 3F Promotional Corner at 5:30 am for viewing 5:45–6:25 am. The lottery is applied for about a month ahead via the official Toyosu lottery site; the deck is closer, partly open (you can hear and smell the action) but still has a glass barrier. Honest verdict: the free walkway is enough for most people; the lottery deck is a marginal upgrade for a lot more planning. See our tuna auction lottery and viewing guide for the full application walkthrough.
• Uogashi Yokochō: approximately 70 retail shops open to the public selling knives, dried goods, pickles, tea, seasonings and souvenirs.
• Rooftop green space: a landscaped garden atop the Block 6 building with panoramic Tokyo Bay views (Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, sometimes Mt. Fuji); often accessible even on some market-closed days.
• Restaurants: 39 restaurants inside the market — 22 on the 3rd floor of the Fisheries Intermediate Wholesale Building, 13 on the 3rd floor of the Management Facilities Building, and 3–4 on the 1st floor of the Fruit & Vegetables Building. The headliners are Sushi Dai (Block 6, 3F) and Daiwa Sushi (Block 5, 1F), both relocated from Tsukiji; expect long queues, especially at Sushi Dai.
• Hours and closed days: roughly 5:00 am–5:00 pm, closed Sundays, most Wednesdays, national holidays and New Year (the market is closed around 116 days a year). Individual shops keep their own hours. See our full opening hours and closed-days guide for the complete 2026 calendar.
• Senkyaku Banrai: a major addition that opened 1 February 2024 right next to the market — an Edo-styled food-and-shopping street (Toyosu Edomae Market) plus Tokyo Toyosu Manyō Club, a 24-hour onsen/spa using water trucked from Hakone and Yugawara, and a free public footbath on the 8th floor (officially listed 9:00 am–10:00 pm; some local sources report 10:00 am–8:00 pm — verify same-day; the rooftop footbath is for Manyō Club guests). Also nearby: the immersive teamLab Planets digital-art museum.

Direct Experience Comparison

The key experiential truth: Toyosu preserves the function of old Tsukiji (the auction, the wholesale trade, the market sushi) but not its feeling. Tsukiji Outer Market preserves the feeling (the crowds, smells, street food, chaos) but not the auction. Don’t expect Toyosu to feel like old Tsukiji — it deliberately doesn’t.

Which Should You Visit?

• You want to see the tuna auction → Toyosu. It’s the only place it exists. Free walkway needs no booking; apply for the lottery deck if you want to be closer.
• You want the best sushi breakfast → Either, but Toyosu edges it for eating at the source right after the auction (Sushi Dai, Daiwa Sushi and the quieter counters). Tsukiji Outer has excellent sushi too, with less pre-dawn commitment.
• You want street food and browsing → Tsukiji Outer Market. No contest — this is the grazing destination.
• Limited time in Tokyo → Tsukiji Outer Market. It’s central (near Ginza), needs no early alarm or lottery, and delivers the most sensory reward per hour.
• Travelling with kids → Tsukiji Outer Market for daytime grazing; Toyosu’s auction means a brutally early start, though its barrier-free layout and rooftop are family-friendly later.
• Mobility limitations → Toyosu. Modern, barrier-free, elevators and flat corridors. Tsukiji’s narrow, crowded lanes are harder.
• Photography → Tsukiji Outer for candid colour; Toyosu’s rooftop for skyline shots. The auction itself is photographically frustrating through glass.
• Buying knives/kitchenware → Tsukiji Outer Market (Aritsugu, Masamoto, Sugimoto), with Kappabashi “Kitchen Town” a short hop away.
• Repeat visitor to Tokyo → Toyosu for something new (the auction, Senkyaku Banrai onsen, teamLab Planets), or a fresh deep-dive into Tsukiji’s back lanes.

Is the auction worth the pre-dawn effort? For most travellers, honestly, it depends heavily on whether you win the lottery. Free-walkway viewers watch through a distance, from behind fully sealed glass, for a spectacle that’s over in ~20–40 minutes, after getting to a remote bay island before 5:30 am with no early trains. Lottery-deck winners, by contrast, report a far more satisfying experience — closer, audible, with a volunteer guide on hand. If you enter and win the lottery, go. If you just want atmosphere and great food, a relaxed Tsukiji Outer morning around 8 am delivers more joy for far less pain. We go through the review evidence traveller type by traveller type in our honest assessment of whether Toyosu is worth visiting.

Doing Both in One Morning

It’s very doable, and the two sites’ rhythms dovetail nicely: Toyosu peaks at dawn, Tsukiji peaks mid-morning.

Sample itinerary:

1. ~5:00–5:30 am: Arrive Toyosu (taxi or overnight stay nearby — the earliest possible train arrival, 05:17, misses the walkway opening and leaves no margin for a lottery meeting). Watch the auction from the free walkway (or lottery deck if you won).
2. ~6:15–7:30 am: Market sushi breakfast (Sushi Dai/Daiwa) or browse Uogashi Yokochō and the rooftop garden.
3. ~7:30–8:00 am: Transfer to Tsukiji.
4. ~8:00–10:30 am: Tsukiji Outer Market at its best — tamagoyaki, grilled scallops, uni, a standing-sushi set, knife shopping, the shrine.
5. By ~11 am: Crowds build and stalls start winding down; go find a coffee.

The transport connection (~2–2.5 km): The simplest public route is the Yurikamome from Shijo-mae Station (at Toyosu) toward Shimbashi, changing to the Tokyo Metro to reach Tsukiji Station (Hibiya Line) or Tsukijishijo Station (Toei Ōedo Line) — realistically about 15–20 minutes with the transfer. A taxi is faster (a few minutes) and easy at that hour. There’s also a Toei bus option (direct buses run between the Toyosu area and Tsukiji). Walking the ~2–2.5 km is possible for the energetic but not scenic. A scheduled water-bus link is part of the future Tsukiji redevelopment but is not a practical everyday option today — verify before relying on it.

Note: the two sites’ closed days mostly overlap (both follow the wholesale calendar), so if one is closed the other usually is too — but shop-level hours differ, so check both.

Getting to Each

Toyosu:

• Shijo-mae Station (Yurikamome line) — the closest, a ~2-minute walk via connected walkways. The Yurikamome is the scenic driverless line over Rainbow Bridge from Shimbashi.
• Toyosu Station (Tokyo Metro Yūrakuchō Line) — a longer walk, but on the Metro network.

Tsukiji:

• Tsukiji Station (Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line) — ~1–5 min walk to the Outer Market.
• Tsukijishijo Station (Toei Ōedo Line) — ~5 min walk.
• Walkable from Ginza and Higashi-Ginza (roughly 10–15 min).

Critical caveat: the earliest possible train arrival at Shijō-mae is 05:17, via a back-route transfer (Yurakuchō Line to Toyosu, then the first northbound Yurikamome). That misses the ~5:00 am auction start and leaves essentially no margin for a 5:30 am lottery meeting. To make the auction comfortably you’ll need a taxi or an overnight stay within walking distance of Toyosu. This is the single most common logistical failure for auction hopefuls — our guide to getting to Toyosu sets out the exact routes and times.

Common Mistakes and Misconceptions

• Turning up at Tsukiji expecting the tuna auction. It moved to Toyosu in 2018. Tsukiji Outer Market has no auction.
• Believing Tsukiji “closed down” entirely and skipping it. Only the inner wholesale market moved; the Outer Market is open and excellent.
• Expecting Toyosu to feel like old Tsukiji. It’s a modern, glass-partitioned facility viewed from corridors — deliberately not the chaotic street scene.
• Going on a closed Wednesday (or Sunday). Both sites broadly follow the Tokyo wholesale-market calendar (Sundays, most Wednesdays, holidays, New Year). Crucially, the closed days overlap but are not identical at shop level — the wholesale market’s official calendar governs the market, but individual Outer Market shops set their own days, and some open when the market is “closed.” Always check both the official calendar and specific shop listings for your exact date.
• Arriving too late. Both are morning affairs; by early afternoon fresh stalls shutter and the auction is long over.
• Assuming the Japan Rail Pass covers the Yurikamome. It does not — the Yurikamome is not a JR line. Use an IC card (Suica/PASMO) or a Yurikamome day pass. The JR Pass gets you to Shimbashi, where you transfer.

Tours

Because both markets reward local knowledge — and because the auction, the closed-day calendar and the layout confuse first-timers — guided tours are popular and genuinely add value.

• Tsukiji Outer Market food walks: a guide leads you to the best stalls, handles ordering, explains what you’re eating (tamagoyaki, uni, grilled seafood, sushi), and often folds in Namiyoke Shrine and Tsukiji Hongwanji. Typically a few hours, late morning. Best for foodies who want to eat confidently and skip tourist traps.
• Toyosu market + tuna auction tours: a guide gets you to the auction on time (transport is the hard part pre-dawn), explains the bidding, hand signals and grading you’d otherwise not understand, and often arranges market breakfast. This is where a guide adds the most, because the auction is baffling without context.
• Combination tours (both sites): the classic structure is Toyosu at dawn for the auction, then transfer to Tsukiji Outer for a food crawl — exactly the “do both” itinerary above, with the logistics handled. Look for combination tours on GetYourGuide-style platforms.

Booking tip: Book ahead, especially for auction tours (capacity is limited and pre-dawn logistics matter). Confirm exactly which sites and experiences are included — some “Tsukiji” tours don’t include the auction (it’s at Toyosu) — and verify the meeting time and closed-day compatibility before you book. See our Toyosu tours overview.

Plan your market morning: Browse guided Toyosu tuna-auction tours, Tsukiji Outer Market food walks, and combination tours that do both — a guide handles the pre-dawn logistics and turns a confusing working market into a genuinely memorable morning. (Verify inclusions, meeting point and date before booking.)

FAQ

Did Tsukiji fish market close? Only the inner wholesale market and tuna auction closed and moved to Toyosu in October 2018. The Tsukiji Outer Market — shops, stalls, sushi, knives — is still open in 2026.

Can I still see the tuna auction at Tsukiji? No. The tuna auction is at Toyosu. Watch from the free 2nd-floor walkway (from ~5:00 am) or apply for the lottery-only close-up deck.

Is Tsukiji still worth visiting? Yes — very much so, for street food, sushi and knife shopping. It’s one of the best eating mornings in Tokyo.

What’s the difference between Tsukiji and Toyosu? Toyosu is the modern wholesale market (auction, market sushi, indoor, glass corridors). Tsukiji Outer Market is the open-air retail/food-stall district that stayed behind. Different experiences.

Which is better, Tsukiji or Toyosu? Neither is universally “better.” Toyosu for the auction and eating at the source; Tsukiji Outer for street food, browsing and atmosphere. Many people do both.

How do I get from Toyosu to Tsukiji? About 2–2.5 km: Yurikamome from Shijo-mae plus a Metro transfer (Hibiya Line to Tsukiji or Ōedo Line to Tsukijishijo), or a quick taxi. ~15–20 min by transit, a few minutes by cab.

Do I need a reservation for the tuna auction? Not for the free walkway. The close-up observation deck requires winning the advance online lottery (100 people/day), applied for about a month ahead.

What days are the markets closed? Both broadly follow the Tokyo wholesale-market calendar: Sundays, most Wednesdays, national holidays and New Year. Individual shops vary. Always check the official calendars.

Does the Japan Rail Pass cover the Yurikamome to Toyosu? No. The Yurikamome is not a JR line. Use an IC card or day pass; the JR Pass only gets you as far as Shimbashi.

Can I get to Toyosu in time for the auction by train? The earliest possible arrival is 05:17 — too late for the 5:00 am opening and with essentially no margin for a 5:30 am lottery meeting. Take a taxi or stay overnight nearby for any certainty.

Is the tuna auction worth it? Depends heavily on the lottery. Lottery-deck winners report a genuinely rewarding, close-up experience; free-walkway viewers behind sealed glass more often find it distant and brief. A relaxed Tsukiji breakfast is easier and, for many, more enjoyable if you didn’t win.