NewTsukijiTour

TheNewTsukijiTour

Time to meet:

3AM.

Meeting place:

The intersection of Tsukiji Yon (4)-chome, in front of a convenience store Lawson (The 2nd floor is a family restaurant Jonathan's).

map of the meeting place

How to get to the meeting place:

Taxis are almost the only transportation at the time of the tour. Tell the taxi driver "Tsukiji Yon (4)-chome." A good taxi driver would take you to the intersection with only that.
See the image of the meeting place above. The 1st floor of the bright building is the "convenience store Lawson." The 2nd floor is a "family restaurant Jonathan's." They are good landmarks. 'Convenience stores' and 'family restaurants' are already Japanese terms.

--Word of caution: These days, the taxi drivers drop our clients at the wrong spot. They stop at the reception spot beside the Kachidoki-bashi Bridge Gate for a Tokyo Metropolitan Government tuna auction observation. Most foreign tourists go there, so when the taxi drivers hear the word, "Tsukiji," they almost automatically take the tourists there. There is no use any more to say, "Tsukiji Yon (4)-chome," because the taxi drivers are already in a brain freeze.
To avoid this to happen, I suggest you to tell the taxi driver the land mark, "family restaurant Jonathan's" at first, then say "Tsukiji Yon (4)-chome."

Description of the tour (This is a very rough description. The courses and timings would change very often depending on the conditions at the Market):

3:00 Meet at meeting place
3:10 Walk around jogai-shijo (outer market)
3:15 Visit Namiyoke Shrine
3:20 - 3:40 Pass by the preparation stages of three different tuna auctions (Please note that stopping to watch or to take photos is impossible here. We can only literally, by-pass)
3:45 We will go to a rooftop of a building to get a grand view of the entire Tsukiji Wholesale Market
4:00 We will walk the annexed merchants area inside the Market, where they have the best sushi restaurants
4:10 We will walk the vegetable & fruits section inside the Market
4:15 We see the fresh fish site and the living fish site

4:20 (In the even months) Hopefully, we will watch a fresh fish auction at this timing
4:40 (In the odd months) Hopefully, we will watch a fresh fish auction at this timing

4:15 - 4:50 Generally, we walk around the middlemen store area. If we missed some spots to see, we will cover them here.
After about 4:40, my tour has to be very optional.
Watching at a tuna carving by a middleman is most interesting, but it doesn't happen all the time. If you are interested in watching more auctions, I could take you to an uni (sea urchin roe) auction that takes place from 5:10. You could attend theTMG tuna auction observation, which takes place after my tour at 5:25 and 5:45, if space is still available.
You could also remain at the middlemen store area after my tour, which I most suggest you to do. You could re-visit the spots that I pointed out to you around 5:40 and watch tuna carving of giant tuna delivered to the middlemen's store right after the auction. There is a possibility that a security guard might come up to tell you to leave because you are a tourist. But you could have a very ample and convincing argument that you are "shopping," so you don't have to leave. But also as a manner, please avoid the middlemen store area close to the tuna auction sites because the middlemen there have been annoyed a lot by tourists in the past. After the big event of watching tuna carving, you could go back to the annexed merchants area and eat at the best sushi restaurant I have pointed out to you already around 6AM.

Tour fee:

7500 yen per person. Please pay in cash.

Notice:

Warning. I regret to say, but no professional photographers please.
Snap shots are okay, but moving around freely and taking shots, as aggressive photographers do is impossible on our tour (We get the risk to be kicked out). This allows the administration and their patrolmen the excuse that we are apparently tourists. They ask to please leave not to disturb the business. In fact, professional photographers tend to annoy the business because they concentrate on their shots, stand still at the same place, lack caution to the traffic, etc.

What you can see at the TMG tuna auction observation (pdf)

New Tsukiji Tour calendar (Tours available on blue dates):

2012

Red: Mareket closed (Sundays&national holidays)
Yellow: Customary holidays for markets
Green: Public holidays but markets open

Blue: New Tsukiji Tour dates
~~Lined out~~: No space available

October

November

December

No tours in december

2013

January

Vegetable section closed on 30th

February

Vegetable section closed on 20th

March

Vegetable section closed on 6th

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

No tours in December
Vegetable section closed on 30th

How to make a reservation on our tour:

Please send an email to 'BZQ23303@nifty.ne.jp'-Naoto Nakamura-to book your tour.
Send the email at least 3 days before your tour. We don't accept last-moment reservations.

We are filtering email domains such as .com and .net because of spam mails.
By using the key word, "Tsukiji" in your email title, you could get through the filtering.
If your email is still blocked, please leave a message on our board.

(How to use the board: Click the

icon. At the window that appears, put the title at the first box, your name at the second box, your message at the fifth box, the number you read from the certain image at the eighth box and finally submit by clicking the button at the bottom with the

mark).

Thank you!

. Tsukiji Market page

Photos from recent tours:

June 5, 2012

June 28, 2012

A book by Naoto Nakamura

Contents of
FREE JAZZ AT THE TSUKIJI FISH MARKET

Contents
Prologue
1. The Black Cod under the Elevated Railway
2. Dalian
3. Who Am I?
4. Tsukiji Market Tour
5. Yukon King
6. Italian Uni
7. Russian Factory Ship
8. Petty Fish Processor
9. Philippine Lobsters
10. The Barge at the Kuskokwin River
11. Free Jazz at the Fish Market
12. The Island of Newfoundland
13. Sukiyabashi-Jiro
Afterword
(LOOK INSIDE! the book at Amazon link! )

Another book by Naoto Nakamura