Appears to be the outer market:

Some more photos and videos here.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...market-9089160

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK835Q0BK83UTIL02Q.html

Yes, the fire was at outer market where a lot of small shops are located, not the fish market itself. Up to seven buildings/houses were burned, small wood houses standing next to each other. No injuries nor death reported at this moment. The fire department asked an electric company to shut down power during the fire, so area business had no electricity for few hours during the incident. One of building burnt housed a popular ramen restaurant Inoue, eat standing up on a sidewalk street but popular (least among Japanese) and often line forming from early in the morning (opening 4:30 a.m.).

Fire raged for 8 hours. Seven buildings damaged, 935 sq. m.

Given the uncertainty of Tsukiji's future even before this fire I wonder if this is the death blow for the outer market.

Visiting Tokyo during a quick one night stopover and staying at Ginza courtyard this weekend, if I'm awake at 3-4am in the morning, is the auction and/or sushi dai worth going?

Also, do I need a jacket and jeans for the auction or is t shirt and shorts ok, temperature wise.

When is your trip? Obviously, fish market is closed on Sunday, no tuna auction. Fish market is closed on about half of Wednesdays, too, no tuna auction. So if planning a visit on Wednesday then better check. Also, fish market is closed on Japanese holidays.

If you are talking about wake at 3-4 a.m. on Saturday morning then it is go. If you are wake at 3-4 a.m. on Sunday morning then it is no go.

Yes it will be Saturday morning, I've checked the calendar and it's open. I'm just wondering how cold the auction and what to wear/pack.

Word is that Tsukiji will remain open until at least next June. But the replacement Toyosu site is now also dealing with a severe mold issue, so who knows yet what will actually happen.

I'm comforted by the fact that mold can thrive there. The site may be less toxic than I thought.

Fungi can grow anywhere.

Hmm. It seems you're right.
Well, perhaps they should allow some myco-remediation of the site.

I hope so. I want to visit the original before they move to this new place. Not going to the tuna auction, but just to meander around and stuff. Plus, it's slightly more convenient to get to than the new location.

DW thinks the fire was intentionally started to force a move to the new location. lol

IT's cold, but they give you only about 15 minutes in the auction area. The rest of it you're waiting inside the auction holding area, which is packed with people and therefore rather warm. A light jacket probably will be enough, unless you're very sensitive to cold, and even just what you're wearing anyway is likely okay.

I did it a couple years ago. Not sure the auction is worth it. If you could drop in anytime, sure, but not worth getting there as early as you have to. I do think a trip to the market is worth it, but you can just show up later in the morning and scope it out.

So...I managed to get to the market and the entire time it was raining heavily. 2+ hours wait in the room and then 15 minute to see the auction/fish behind boxes.

I thought there would be dedicated person to explain the in and out, and that we'd also tour other parts of the market (from some videos I saw, but I now realized those are private tours)

The temperature was ok, not cold enough for jacket. Given the wait time of 2 hours on the floor, I don't think it's worth going.

https://i.imgur.com/T3K5Bf5.jpg

Thanks for the picture. About what I expected. As I don't speak Japanese, I expect the experience won't be noticeably better than just watching on YouTube. 2 hour wait for 15 minutes is pretty crazy. I don't wait that long for Disneyland rides (although I heard it can get that way at the Tokyo Disney parks).