Originally Posted by angra

for a value-focused foodie, be sure to look up the term B-kyu.

For sushi, most of the higher end places take reservations, so waiting shouldn't be a huge issue. *getting* the reservations can be. rely on your hotel concierge or a local friend to help secure reservations (in advance for higher end places).

for ramen, I'm just going to leave this here: https://ramendb.supleks.jp/ . My trips to Japan involved hit or miss success with ramen until I started going by that sites ratings. You can narrow down based on specific styles that you want, which is huge for me since there are styles I dislike.

Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle

I think that is correct assumption, you do not have to make a trip to Tsukiji market area to get most flavorful fish for sushi. In beef it is well known that aged beef provide better flavor than freshly slaughtered beef. Similar thing was shown for raw fish by scientific study.

In a body of fish there are two chemicals which provide flavor to human pallet, glutamic acid and inosinic acid. It was shown that live fish contains glutamic acid but body of live fish contain hardly any inosinic acid. It was shown that once fish is dead, adenosine triphosphate (which is the energy source for fish) in body of fish degrades and create inosinic acid. The study showed that amount on inosinic acid reach highest around 10 hrs. after the death of fish.

Which means if fish is kept in proper refrigeration condition to prevent fish from rotting, then flavor of fish reaches peak around 10 hrs. after the death.

This translates to fresh fish alive in the morning at Tsukiji market will give best flavor around 10 hrs. after that. Having sushi at a restaurant at Tsukiji market early on the morning where fish was still alive that morning, likely will not give best flavor of fish.

Once fish was transported out of Tsukiji market and being served at sushi resturants around greater Tokyo area later in that day will likely have better flavor.