psychoidiot

So if you don't want to go to the tuna auction, is it worth going for breakfast for the restaurants/places near the Tsukiji market?

BuildingMyBento

There are still some interesting food stalls to check out on the market grounds.
Many of the restaurants will be busy in the morning, but if food is a priority in your travels, I'd say go for it.

drewguy

IMO, yes (based on my experience earlier this month). It is worth walking around the area and the market (you can enter after 9 without trouble) and see the stalls etc. Either eat first, and then look around or vv. Either way you don't have to get there at a horrific hour.

Taiwaned

Just went yesterday.

Arrived at the visitors area at 3:00 AM. Was maybe 20th in line. By 4:30 AM, all visitors visibility vests were gone.

The sign said that the revised date of the move is now November 1, 2016.

It was pretty interesting. Worth going once.

evergrn

Wow... ostukaresama.
Did you stay up all night or wake up early?

Still haven't done it after all these years. No one in my family's been, and they all live around Tokyo. I definitely would've done it by now if you could show up at 7 instead of 3.

Taiwaned

Stayed at a nearby manga cafe, slept til 2:45. Slept OK.

Right after Tsukiji breakfast, had an appointment to tour the JAL Maintenance Hanger in Haneda so didn't have time to sleep until I hit the night bus back to Osaka.

shuigao

I'm not surprised. When friends and family visit me they have itineraries of a whole bunch of things, many of which I've never visited, some of which I've never even heard of.

Anyway for a tourist on limited time, one consideration on doing the tuna auction is that if you also want to do sushi dai, you won't be able to queue early enough to get a reasonably short queue time.

basscadet75

I think it's worth going even if you don't get to see the auction. A big part of the attraction is to eat and see what else is for sale. And while there are differing opinions on the sushi at the market, my wife and I didn't have to wait long for Daiwa Sushi and my wife (who is Japanese) practically fell out of her chair when she had their eel. She said she never had anything like that when she lived in Japan, or since she's been in NYC. But she also said everything was really good. (I'm not a sushi person so it's hard for me to give my own opinion.) I did have tamagoyaki elsewhere and that was really good.

The lines at both Daiwa Sushi and Sushi Dai look longer than they are. We were about at the maximum length I've ever seen them in pics on the net, and it was still only about 30 minutes. I don't consider that long for a line to anything in Japan.

shuigao

Daiwa's 30 min wait sounds about right. The queue is shorter cos 1. there are more chefs and 2. they make and serve the sushi at their own (quick) pace, indirectly pressuring you to eat quicker.

Sushi Dai on the other hand makes sushi at your pace (you only get one piece at a time). Couple this with the additional time needed for photos, etc, and you end up with a much slower moving line.

Data points: I've visited Sushi Dai once in Summer (1.5hr), Daiwa also in Summer (0.5hr), and Sushi Dai again in Spring (4.0hr).

mkjr

Frankly the least interesting part of a visit is to see the auction. You can watch a utube video for that. But then again the foodies would not be able to instant blog about the same.

txflyer77

I personally like the outer market more than the inner market and you don't need to be up at o'dark-thirty for that. Lots of interesting shops and restaurants, plus any restaurant besides the Big Two won't have a line.

The inner market is interesting but since you can't get in before 9 (or whatever it is now), there's little reason to be up so early for it. I still often find myself at Tsukiji my first morning in Tokyo around 6, just due to jet lag coming from the US, but I don't try to make it for the tuna auction. Other than the line for Sushi Dai, the market is pretty quiet at that hour and makes for great photography. I like to grab some onigiri from the place near the info center and wander around to kick the jet lag.

ChicagoKev

I disagree. I enjoyed the tuna auction, but then I really like tuna.

Actually being there was entirely different than seeing it on video, actually I hate to watch any sort of auction on video, but they are interesting in person, assuming you can follow the bidding at all, comprehend the amount of money involved.

Tsukiji was actually my second auction on that trip, I also attended a private art auction earlier in the week, saw more tattoos that day than the entire trip (and no, it wasn't that kind of art. No, not "that" kind either).

evergrn

Thinking of going to Tsukiji this Dec since we may end up staying nearby. It'd be on a Saturday, we'll probably get there ~7am, purpose will be to have either sushi or donburi. Doesn't have to be one of the famous places as long as it's still very good. But we don't want to wait in line, definitely not more than 20min.

Contrary to above posts, Japanese blogs are saying that SushiDai's queue is usually 2-4hrs, sometimes 6-7hrs... that many other places also have long queues. So what's the truth?

Again, it'd be ~7am if we were to go. There's no way we're waiting >20min no matter how good the food is. And if all the sit-down places require waiting more than that, then is it worth going to Tsukiji to buy take-out food and then eating while walking?

estnet

There are lots of little hole in the wall place in the inner and outer areas as well as little "markets" selling fish that you can take with you (some live that they will prepare for you on the spot).
There are also people selling street food type stuff (giant fresh oysters, the best tamago ever made fresh and sold on a stick for about USD 1).
Unless you want to go to a specific restaurant I can't imagine having to wait very long - and my choice of random places, even at low prices blew the sushi in my hometown away (near SF and some great sushi/sashimi places there).
As a note - you apparently are not allowed to "eat while walking" - all the places that sell street food have a small area where you are meant to consume what you just bought and not walk around with it

evergrn

Okay well, if you don't think we have to wait for most sit-down places, then we might give it a try. Thanks.