Tsukiji & Toyosu 築地

The wholesale fish market left Tsukiji for Toyosu in 2018, and the surprising thing is how little changed for a visitor. The Outer Market, the 400-odd shops and counters that grew up around the old wholesale halls, stayed where it was and remains the best breakfast in Tokyo: grilled scallops with butter from a stall, a bowl of sea urchin over rice, rolled omelet on a skewer, a bag of dried bonito flakes shaved while you watch. The knife shops and ceramic dealers on the market’s edge supply the city’s restaurants, and the Tsukiji Hongwanji temple across the road, a stone building with domes borrowed from ancient India, is a reminder that the whole district was reclaimed from the bay.

Toyosu, two kilometers east on the Yurikamome line, is where the trade happens now, in sealed, air-conditioned halls. The tuna auction can be watched from a glass corridor from around 5:30 a.m., and a lottery gives a few dozen visitors a floor-level viewing platform. Upstairs, the sushi counters that moved from Tsukiji serve the same fish at the same early hours, and the teamLab Planets museum nearby makes the trip worth it even for those who sleep in.