Tsukiji market is the biggest fish market in the world. It handles about 400 different types of seafood, and every day it’s bustling with people. The market is very famous for its tuna auctions, that are available for tourists to watch. The catch is, the auction starts at 05:20am and only 120 people are allowed to see it. It’s a very unique experience and there’s a lot of interest so people tend to queue hours before. I got there at 03:50am and was pretty lucky because after I came, only 30 people were let in.
You can distinguish 3 stages of the whole auction:
- they bring frozen tunas from all over the world and lay them down on the floor
- buyers examines the tunas, checking which one they want to buy and for how much
- bidding starts, lot’s of noise and tunas are sold in the blink of the eye
After the auction I couldn’t resist and I had a tekkadon(tuan bowl) for breakfast.
If you want to learn more, this article is a good guide on things you should know before visiting the market.