Toyosu vs Tsukiji in Winter: Which Tokyo Fish Market to Visit (2026–27)

For most winter visitors, the Tsukiji Outer Market is the better morning. Add Toyosu if seeing the tuna auction is the point. The best plan is both, in that order: the Toyosu auction at 5:30 a.m., then Tsukiji from about 8:30 or 9:00, on a day when both are open. In December and January the auction is over before sunrise, which comes at about 6:50 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Tsukiji’s lanes are outdoors but sheltered, and they are at their best from 9:00 to 11:00. Check the calendar first, because both markets lose most of their shops on Sundays, national holidays and the wholesale market’s closed Wednesdays, and both shut from 31 December 2026 to 4 January 2027.

The short answer:

• Choose Tsukiji if you want food, atmosphere, kitchen knives and no 4:30 a.m. alarm. It has more than 400 shops (GO TOKYO counts about 460), with public hours of 9:00 to 14:00.
• Choose Toyosu if you want the 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. tuna auction and sushi where the fish was sold.
• Do both on an open weekday: Toyosu at 5:00, then about 10 minutes by taxi (about ¥1,500 to ¥2,000) or Toei bus 市01 to Tsukiji.
• Dates that change the answer: Wednesdays 11 and 18 November and 2, 9, 16 and 23 December 2026 are closed days. Sunday 27 December is a special trading day, 28 to 30 December is Tsukiji’s year-end crush, and trading restarts on Tuesday 5 January 2027.

If you want both markets without arranging the 5:00 a.m. taxi and the transfer, the Toyosu Tuna Auction & Tsukiji Market Gourmet Adventure (4.9/5 from 488 reviews, from $114) meets at 5:00, watches the auction and moves the group to Tsukiji for a guided walk in about 3.5 hours. It runs on trading days only, so check your date below.

Toyosu vs Tsukiji at a glance, winter 2026–27

The two are different kinds of place. Toyosu is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s wholesale market, which you watch from behind glass. The Tsukiji Outer Market never moved: it is a shopping and eating district run by its own shop association, which calls it “Japan’s ‘Food Town’”. Our Tsukiji vs Toyosu guide tells the story of the 2018 move and the old inner-market site.

Toyosu Market sits near Senkyaku Banrai, teamLab Planets and Odaiba, and Tsukiji is close to Tsukiji Hongwanji, Ginza and the Sumida River. Guided Tokyo food walks, market tours and other experiences are below:

Which market to choose

Choose Toyosu if…

The auction is on your list; you are jet-lagged and awake at 4:00 a.m. anyway; you want sushi at the source and will queue for it; or it is a cold or wet weekday and you want to stay indoors.

Choose Tsukiji if…

You want to eat many small things; you dislike early alarms; it is a Sunday; you are shopping for knives or souvenirs; you have young kids or a tight budget; or you have only two hours.

For a guided version, the Tsukiji Fish Market Food Walking Tour with 5 Tastings (4.7/5 from 823 reviews, from about $95) runs about 3 hours with the food included. The Tsukiji Fish Market Guided Walking Tour (4.8/5 from more than 2,000 reviews, from about $13) is a 2-hour walk where you pay for the food as you go. Take the tastings tour if you want the eating planned, and the walking tour if price matters more to you. On Sundays and closed Wednesdays fewer shops trade, so routes shrink; check the date before you book.

Do both if…

It is an open weekday (Monday to Saturday, and not a closed Wednesday or a holiday), you can be at Toyosu by 5:00 a.m., and you have about four hours.

Which market for which traveler

Winter calendar: the dates that change the answer

Tsukiji’s calendar page reproduces the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market calendar, so a closed day usually hits both markets at once. Planning “Tsukiji on the day Toyosu is closed” mostly fails; Sunday is the exception, because about a third of Tsukiji’s shops, mostly restaurants, still open.

The November and December dates are from the official 2026 market calendar, which lists 251 seafood trading days for 2026 and 250 for 2027. Our New Year guide covers the holiday closures and the 5 January auction, and the Sunday guide lists what still opens at both.

Tsukiji Outer Market in winter

Best time

Shops open from 6:00, but the market asks visitors to come after 9:00. Its official time bands are 6:00 to 9:00 for professional buyers, 9:00 to 14:00 for public selling, and shop-by-shop hours after 14:00. Before 9:00, the ground floor of Tsukiji Uogashi is open only to buyers with advance permission.

On winter weekdays, 8:30 to 9:00 is the best window: the stalls are stocked, the trade rush is ending and the lunch crowd has not arrived. Plan 90 minutes to two hours.

Hot things to eat

• Kitsuneya: horumon-don, beef offal stewed in miso, ¥900 (Time Out Tokyo; an October 2026 Tabelog review lists the same price, with a soft-boiled egg for ¥100). Time Out gives its hours as 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., closed Wednesdays and Sundays. It has five counter seats and room for about 20 standing, has been running since 1947, and takes no credit cards. On a cold morning this is the bowl to queue for.
• Tamagoyaki: Marutake and Yamacho sell hot skewers. Reported prices run from ¥100 to ¥250, so check the board.
• Grilled scallops and oysters: about ¥500 to ¥1,000 each. Sea urchin from the box: about ¥1,500 to ¥3,000.
• Oden and fish cakes: the association lists a whole category of oden and nerimono shops, plus ramen and Western options.

Ramen Inoue, the old Outer Market ramen counter, has been listed as suspended since a fire in August 2017. Japanese listings still mark it as closed in 2026, whatever some English pages say.

Where to sit and warm up

• Tsukiji Hongwanji: the temple opens at 6:00. Its Cafe Tsumugi serves the 18-dish breakfast (about ¥2,200; breakfast 8:00 to 10:30; limited servings; book up to 30 days ahead). It is the best warm, seated start in the area.
• Tsukiji Uogashi 3F “Uogashi Shokudo”: an indoor food court open from 7:00. Eating is not allowed on the ground floor; use the rooftop plaza or the 3F rest space.
• Sit-down kaisendon shops along the lanes, for a bowl indoors.

Rules for visitors

The association publishes eight manners:

• Buyers have priority before 9:00.
• Eat inside the shop, in front of it or at a marked spot, never while walking.
• Leave suitcases in lockers; Plat Tsukiji can hold strollers.
• Move in small groups and hold children’s hands.
• Ask before taking photos.
• Don’t touch the food.
• Don’t bargain.
• Smoke only in designated areas.

The English site adds: wear closed-toe, non-slip shoes, and expect card acceptance to vary by shop.

Plat Tsukiji, the information center, opens 8:00 to 14:00 on weekdays and Saturdays and 10:00 to 14:00 on Sundays, holidays and closed days. It has English help, a Seven Bank ATM, a currency exchange machine, coin lockers, stroller storage (¥500) and a tax-free counter. The rest area opens from 6:00 (7:00 on Sundays and holidays) until 16:00, with an accessible toilet nearby, and the center closes over New Year. The association’s older English FAQ says the market has no exchange counter, so bring yen.

Year-end at Tsukiji

December is Tsukiji at its busiest: New Year food shopping, crowds in winter coats, and teas and nori in New Year packaging. The market’s FAQ says crowds peak around midday and that pickpocketing and bag theft increase, and it suggests arriving at 7:00 to 8:00 for year-end shopping. Its 2023 notice had all stores open from about 6:00 between 25 and 30 December. In December 2025 the market asked tour operators to hold back tours during the rush, so expect guided groups to be unwelcome from 28 to 30 December.

Some sites say Tsukiji is “open, not closed” at year-end. Both are true: shops trade heavily from 25 to 30 December and close from 31 December (or 1 January) to 4 January.

Knives and shopping

The association’s store list has whole categories for knives, cooking utensils and tableware. Aritsugu and Tsukiji Masamoto are the names most visitors look for; check each shop’s winter hours and New Year closure before you go. Japan’s tax-free system changed to a refund model on 1 November 2026, so ask at Plat Tsukiji’s tax-free counter how it applies to a knife purchase.

Next door: a stadium district led by Mitsui Fudosan is planned for the former inner-market site in the 2030s. Nothing changes for a visit this winter, apart from hoardings and site traffic; our Tsukiji vs Toyosu guide has the plan.

Our Tsukiji Outer Market guide and street food guide map the lanes shop by shop.

Toyosu in winter

What Toyosu has that Tsukiji does not:

• The live tuna auction, from the free 2F walkway or the lottery deck. In November 2026 the deck took 100 people a day, viewing from 5:45 to 6:25 after a 5:30 check-in, with photo ID required. Our lottery guide explains how to apply.
• A sushi breakfast a few minutes from where the fish was sold.
• A warm, indoor and fairly quiet morning.
• The rooftop garden.
• Senkyaku Banrai next door, which opens at 10:00. Its food building was renamed the Toyosu outer market (Toyosu Jogai Shijo) on 1 September 2025; it has no connection to Tsukiji.
• teamLab Planets one Yurikamome stop away.

The downsides: a 4:30 a.m. alarm, a sterile and spread-out feel, little to do between about 6:30 and 10:00 if you skip the sushi, and the same closed days as Tsukiji, with nothing on Sundays.

Our winter visitor guide covers the auction in the cold, and the winter teamLab itinerary fills the rest of the day after Toyosu.

How to do both in one winter morning

Getting from Toyosu to Tsukiji:

• Taxi: about 10 minutes, about ¥1,500 to ¥2,000.
• Toei bus 市01: board at Shijo-mae Ekimae and get off at Kokuritsu Gan Kenkyu Center-mae, beside the Outer Market. It runs every 10 to 15 minutes between about 5:00 and 9:00, costs ¥210 and does not run on Sundays or holidays.
• Train: Yurikamome to Toyosu, then the Yurakucho Line to Shintomicho and an 8-minute walk, about 15 minutes plus the walk.
• On foot: about 3 km over three bridges, 30 to 40 minutes. It is cold and windy at dawn, so walk it only on a clear day.

The guided alternative is the $114 Toyosu–Tsukiji tour above, which includes the transfer between markets and a Tsukiji walk in 3.5 hours. The Private Toyosu & Tsukiji Market Adventure with Tuna Auction (4.8/5 from 292 reviews, from $165) covers the same two markets in 3 hours with a private guide. Book the group tour for the lower price, and the private one if you are a family or a couple who wants the pace set around you.

Prices compared

• Sushi breakfast: Toyosu’s famous counters cost noticeably more than a Tsukiji kaisendon. Budget Toyosu meals run about ¥2,000 to ¥3,500, and Tsukiji bowls about ¥1,500 to ¥3,000, though some 2026 guides quote ¥2,500 to ¥5,000 for kaisendon. Treat both as ranges and check the board.
• Street bites: tamagoyaki ¥100 to ¥250; scallops and oysters ¥500 to ¥1,000; sea urchin ¥1,500 to ¥3,000; horumon-don ¥900.
• “Tourist prices”: the complaint holds for premium skewers with wagyu, otoro or uni toppings. A GetYourGuide reviewer wrote that “some of the vendors pricing was higher than I thought was reasonable”. Tsukiji is not cheap next to a supermarket or an izakaya, but the classic bites (tamagoyaki, horumon-don, a mid-range bowl) are fairly priced. Skip the ¥1,000-plus novelty skewers unless you want the photo.

Winter weather at the two markets

Tokyo, Japan Meteorological Agency 1991–2020 normals.

• Dry and sunny: winter is Tokyo’s driest, sunniest season, with 170 to 193 hours of sunshine a month.
• Snow: rare, with 2.8 to 3.5 days of snowfall on average in January and February.
• Dark mornings: sunrise is about 6:50 in early January, so the whole auction happens in the dark.
• Wind: Toyosu sits on reclaimed bayfront land, and the walk from Shijo-mae and the rooftop are exposed. Tsukiji’s tight, partly covered lanes shelter you better, but you stand still while you eat. Wear layers, gloves you can take off to eat, and waterproof closed-toe shoes, which Tsukiji asks for anyway.

Common mistakes and map confusion

• “Is the tuna auction still at Tsukiji?” No. It has been at Toyosu since 2018. A tour selling a “Tsukiji tuna auction” is a red flag.
• “Did Tsukiji close?” Only the inner wholesale market did. The Outer Market is open.
• Arriving at Tsukiji at noon, on a closed Wednesday, or expecting fish auctions. A weekday at 9:00 is when it shines.
• Arriving at Toyosu at 9:00 or 10:00, when the floor is empty and the building feels like an office.
• Map pins. “Tsukiji Market” is the old site, now a construction zone; “Tsukiji Outer Market” is the shopping streets; “Toyosu Market” is the wholesale market; and “Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai” or “Toyosu Jogai Shijo” is the retail complex next to Toyosu, not part of Tsukiji. Pin “Plat Tsukiji” and “Shijo-mae Station”.
• “Sushi Dai at Tsukiji?” It moved to Toyosu in 2018.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the tuna auction at Tsukiji?

No. Tokyo’s tuna auction moved to Toyosu in October 2018. Tsukiji has no auction; it has the Outer Market’s food and shopping streets.

Is Tsukiji open on Sunday?

Partly. About a third of the shops, mostly restaurants, open on Sundays and holidays, and Toei bus 市01 does not run. Toyosu’s wholesale floor and auction are closed on Sundays.

Which is better in the rain?

Toyosu, where nearly everything is indoors and linked by covered walkways. At Tsukiji, use the Uogashi 3F food court, Cafe Tsumugi at Tsukiji Hongwanji and the sit-down kaisendon shops.

Can I do both on 30 December?

Yes. Wednesday 30 December 2026 is open for seafood at Toyosu, but Tsukiji will be at its year-end peak, so arrive by 7:00 to 8:00 and expect crowds and some tours to stay away.

Is Tsukiji open at New Year?

Mostly not. Both markets close from 31 December 2026 to 4 January 2027, though a few Tsukiji shops may open at their own discretion. Both are back on Tuesday 5 January 2027, the day of the first auction.

How far apart are Toyosu and Tsukiji?

About 3 km. A taxi takes about 10 minutes, bus 市01 or the train about 15 to 20 minutes, and the walk 30 to 40 minutes.

Do I need cash?

Yes, for Tsukiji in particular. Many stalls and counters take cash only, card acceptance varies by shop, and there is a Seven Bank ATM at Plat Tsukiji.

Can I bring luggage?

Not into Tsukiji’s lanes. Use the coin lockers at Plat Tsukiji or leave bags at your hotel. Toyosu has more space, but nowhere to leave a large suitcase at 5:00 a.m.

Bottom line

Go to Tsukiji at 9:00 on a weekday if you want one easy winter morning of food. Set a 4:30 a.m. alarm for Toyosu first if the auction matters to you, then take a 10-minute taxi to Tsukiji for breakfast. Check the official calendar before you fix a date, because a closed Wednesday, a Sunday or the 31 December to 4 January break shuts both markets at once.