For years, I have been waiting for the Toyosu Fish Market to open.
For those who have read my visit to the old Tsukiji Fish Market, I have gone to Tsukiji Fish Market (Inner Market) and say my goodbyes but each time, things were delayed.
But on October 11, 2018, Toyosu Fish Market opened while completion of the area is expected around 2022-2023.
So, what can people expect at this new fish market?
- Toyosu Market will be a modern facility and there will be three buildings. Two for wholesale seafood and another for wholesale fruit and vegetables. The location is almost double the size of Tsukiji Fish Market.
- Admission to Toyosu Fish Market is free.
- The auction is no longer available for the public to see. You can see from afar from a window on the observation deck, looking towards where the auction taking place but it will no longer be like it was before, for those who took the tour.
- The auction will start at 5:30 a.m. and will last an hour. No sign-up needed.
- Sanitation is a priority, so fish with the price tags will be behind windows. People can no longer get close to the fish like it was in Tsukiji.
- No entry for tourists until 10:00 a.m.
- Visitors can no longer buy directly. You can only purchase at a restaurant.
Originally, Tsukiji Fish Market was supposed to move back in November 2016 but it was delayed by soil contamination.
The Toyosu Market will be located at a 40-hectare man-made island in Tokyo Bay which was previously occupied by a plant operated by Tokyo Gas. According to reports, toxic benzene were at levels 100 times above government-set safety limits while ground water also contained arsenic and cyanide.
Senior officials of the Tokyo Administration were punished and had to take a pay cut for their botched work of decontaminating the site.
But after 3.5 years, Governor Yuriko Koike said the move was on track. The new market has modern sanitation and refrigeration control, a move away from the open-air, Tsukiji Fish Market and now, a few days ago, the Toyosu Fish Market celebrated it’s first anniversary.
I have been excited about this, so I had high expectations.
Let’s start out with the main area to watch where the auctions take place…
The first thing you will learn is the communal feeling of Tsukiji is non-existent at Toyosu Fish Market. A lot of buildings and the crowds are few.
The first step is to get a badge that allows you to walk inside the fish market area. Next to the table is a basket where you will drop the visitor badge when completed.
Once you get your badge, it’s time to go inside! And what you will discover is information about the Toyosu Fish Market and the location. As well as the kind of tuna sold at the fish market.
Probably the statue which many try to take pictures of is a bluefin tuna caught in Japanese waters in 1986 and is one of the largest traded at the original Tsukiji fish market.
The Bluefin caught was 496 kg (1,093 pounds) and 2.88m in length (9.44 feet).
You can learn about the facility, but unfortunately with no access to that area, you can just look too how things are in pictures.
One thing that was interesting is to find out about Maguro (Tuna) from all over the world and how Bluefin tuna is rated as the finest and lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Southern Bluefin tuna is also regarded as a higher grade, while bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna and albacore are found in more vast areas of the ocean.
A touchscreen guide to the facility in Japanese.
In tomorrow’s post, I will showcase the tuna auction location.
It’s such a big difference from Tsukiji. The excitement of others wanting to see the fish market is not there. What you see is quite limited and because it’s separated from everywhere else, it’s quiet. That makes me worried for the restaurant owners, because you want to entice people to come visit, to come eat your restaurant. But the main lobby area is not the most exciting place to visit.
But of course, the purpose of the fish market was to have a clean area with better refrigeration. And that is what Toyosu Fish Market provides, so that is the major plus. But as for this central lobby before walking to see the fish selling area, while informative, it’s a quick look that will keep you busy for 10-20 minutes or so.
I’ll be back for tomorrow’s Toyosu Fish Market blog post.
