Japanese Fish Market Tsukiji Toyosu Culture

Tokyo — Tsukiji established 1935; Toyosu opened 2018; tuna auction tradition continuous from Tsukiji to Toyosu

The Tsukiji Fish Market (closed October 2018, relocated to Toyosu) was for 83 years the largest wholesale fish market in the world and the beating heart of Tokyo's — and Japan's — seafood culture. Its replacement, Toyosu Market (豊洲市場), opened on Tokyo Bay's artificial island in 2018 with the same wholesale function but a different architecture and access: the tuna auction, once openly visible to licensed spectators, now operates behind glass in a temperature-controlled viewing gallery. Tsukiji's outer market (jogai shijo) retail area — which predates the wholesale market's closure — continues to operate along the original streets, selling fresh seafood, dried goods, kitchen equipment, and sushi/sashimi to the public. Toyosu's tuna auction begins at 5:30am with the world's most intense fish buying: premium hon-maguro (Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis) from Aomori's Oma Fishing Port or Iki Island in Nagasaki are assessed by buyers using torch-light examination of tail core samples (the fatty acid distribution, colour, and texture visible in the cut cross-section predict the entire fish's value). The first auction of the New Year (hatsu-uri, usually January 5) produces record prices for premium tuna — the ceremonial first fish's price reflects prestige, media attention, and restaurant marketing as much as market economics. The Toyosu auction price record for a single tuna is ¥333.6 million (2020, 276kg tuna, purchased by Kiyoshi Kimura of Sushizanmai).

The pre-dawn cold of a fish market, the torch-light examination of a 200kg bluefin tuna's tail — the moment before the food, when its fate is decided by expertise alone