Tsukiji Fish Market Tour: Best Food Walking Tour in Tokyo
Tokyo Fish Market Tour: Enjoy delicious Tsukiji Sushi, Tuna and Street Food with the Best Walking Tour in Tokyo!
Enjoy Tsukiji Fish Market (Tsukiji Outer Market) with the best food walking tour in Tokyo!! Sushi, Tuna Cutting Show, Street Food..etc, this is my best experience at Tsukiji with Tokyo FooDrink Tour by Japan Wonder Travel!!
Guided tours are one of the best ways to explore Japan as you can lean the culture and the history much deeper with local expert guides, and simply make your trip much more fun and interesting. Numbers of travel agencies organize various interesting tours and activities, and food and drink tours are especially popular since Japanese food and its culture is a top attraction of the country.
In Tokyo, the top destination for foodies is Tsukiji Fish Market whose inner market has been relocated to Toyosu in 2018, yet it’s still the best place to explore the deep Japanese food culture and try authentic and high quality Japanese food. Several food tours are held at Tsukiji area, and it’s highly recommended to join one since you can learn about the neighbourhood in-depth, discover hidden spots and try authentic local food.
I have recently joined a popular food tour in Tokyo, FooDrink Tour at Tsukiji Fish Market hosted by Japan Wonder Travel, and had a truly truly awesome time. If you are interested in Tsukiji Fish Market or Japanese food culture, I bet you’d love every minute of the tour. But first of all, please let me share with you guys my wonderful experience at Tsukiji with this amazing food tour!
– Meeting at Tsukiji Honganji
The meeting point of the “Tokyo FooDrink Tour at Tsukiji Fish Market” was in front of Tsukiji Honganji Temple which is located just outside the Tsukiji Market area. The temple is huge and it was very easy to spot and access. The tour guide was standing right in front of the temple with the sign board “Tokyo FooDrink Tour” waiting for us! Our guide for today’s tour was Kazu, the experienced tour guide who is fluent in English, knowledgeable Tsukiji and Japanese food culture. He also seemed very funny and friendly!
After introducing ourselves, he briefly explained us the schedule of the tour and we moved on to Tsukiji Outer Market! Let’s Gooooo!!
– Tsukiji Outer Market (Tsukiji Jogai Shijo)
As some of you know, the inner fish market of Tsukiji had been relocated to Toyosu in autumn 2018. However, the Outer Market of Tsukiji (Tsukiji Jogai Shijo, 築地場外市場) stays in the same place, and many shops, stalls and restaurants remain their operation just like before. Many travellers now might be wondering “Is it still worth visiting Tsukiji Outer Market??” or “What’s in Tsukiji after the relocation?’’. In fact, as a result of the relocation to Toyosu, the number of visitors to Tsukiji has been dropped significantly, and it is actually a real shame since Tsukiji is still a very interesting place to visit. I thought that strongly especially after joining the tour!
A day in Tsukiji starts very early in the morning, and as we arrived there around 8:30 am, most of shops were open and the atmosphere was already lively and bustling. There were many people on the streets shopping and enjoying foods. Our guide Kazu explained us that the most of shops at Tsukiji open around 5 am a closed around mid day.
Speaking of Tsukiji Fish Market, I thought it was mostly about seafood products, but in fact, the market deals with wide variety of food products. You can find all kind of food ingredients including meat, vegetable, fruit, dried food, snacks, alcohol drinks, etc. Some of products you may have never seen or you might not be able to guess how to use them. While walking down on the streets, Kazu stopped by at several shops and explained about food and ingredients. He seemed very passionate about Japanese food, and had a lot of knowledge about Japanese cuisine and cooking.
Tsukiji is not only the place for eating but also for shopping, especially if you are into cooking. Just like their own cuisine, Japanese kitchen utensils are very special, and fascinate professional chefs and cooking lovers worldwide. Many traditional and amazing quality kitchen tools can be found at shops at Tsukiji Outer Market including knife shops.
Kazu also showed us several shops that he recommended to eat/shop particular items. He really knows many shops in Tsukiji Fish Market (it seemed like he was a friend with every shop owner we’ve been passing!!). Sometimes he took the backstreets to take shortcuts which was I felt pretty rare and exciting. He can definitely show you Tsukiji Fish Market area deeper, and you wouldn’t be able to see as many things as you’d see during the tour in such as short time. We stopped for the popular street food in Tsukiji, Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette). It was sweet, fluffy and juicy, and I totally loved it 🙂 Kazu took us inside the Tamagoyaki shop and showed us how they make the omelette which was very interesting too!
We also visited Tsukiji Uogashi (築地魚河岸), which was opened in Tsukiji in 2016. Kazu told us that some shops from Tsukiji Inner Market did not move to Toyosu Market, and decided to stay at Tsukiji area, so they now have shops inside this building and sell fresh food products which are brought from Toyosu Market in early morning. Over 50 shops (fish market and groceries) are located inside the building and visitors can purchase fresh seafood just like the former Tsukiji Inner Market.