Market sushi: Toyosu & Tsukiji, eaten right

Two markets, two moods

In 2018 Tokyo's wholesale fish trade moved from Tsukiji to a vast modern facility in Toyosu. The auctions and the legendary early-morning sushi counters went with it. But the Tsukiji Outer Market — the warren of stalls, knife shops, tamagoyaki vendors and sushi bars around the old site — stayed, and it still thrives. So you now have two experiences: the working market at Toyosu, and the street-food sprawl at Tsukiji.

Toyosu: sushi at the source

Inside Toyosu Market, Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi are the names people queue before dawn for — chef's-selection omakase of fish bought metres away. Expect a line, an early start, and a counter seat that's worth it. Take the Yurikamome line to Shijo-mae Station.

Tsukiji Outer Market: graze and go

Tsukiji is for wandering. Tsukiji Sushisei, founded in 1889, serves classic Edomae sets in comfort; Kaisendon Marukita piles rice bowls high with uni, toro and whatever landed that morning. Add a skewer of grilled scallop, a slab of tamagoyaki, a cup of matcha, and you've eaten the market.

How to do it well

• Go early. Market food is breakfast and lunch; many shops close by mid-afternoon.
• Cash helps, though more places now take cards.
• Queue politely and have your order ready — counters move fast.
• Eat where you buy — don't walk and eat through narrow lanes; stand at the stall.
• Dip the fish, not the rice, and eat each piece while the rice is warm (see our sushi etiquette guide).

Pure seafood-and-rice, market sushi is naturally pescatarian; it is not gluten-free (soy sauce contains wheat).