Tuna Auction
Tsukiji Fish Market is a very popular sightseeing spot among foreign people.
The main purpose is to watch the tuna auction.
The number of visitors to tuna auction has been limited since May 10th in 2010.
If you want to watch tuna auction, you need to sign up for it.
The first 140 people are allowed to go in the auction area.
You can obtain a reservation at Fish Information Center from 4:30AM.
Unfortunately, tuna auction is not held every day.
You better check out the schedule in advance.
Those 140 people are divided into 2 groups, which are the first half and the latter half.
70 people in the first half group observe the tuna auction from 5:00 to 5:40.
The other 70 people in the latter half group observe the tuna auction from 5:40 to 6:15.
You can see more than 200kg tuna lying on the ground.
Tuna's tail is cut off in order to see how fresh it is.
As for big tuna, the nick is put in the body.
The intermediate wholesalers decide to buy tuna or not
by touching with their own hands and watching with their own eyes.
They are very serious because there's chance to get huge loss unless they check tuna carefully.
At last, they have tuna cut into the arbitrary size with a big cutter.
The intermediate wholesaler's area is next to the tuna auction area.
Do you want to visit the intermediate wholesaler's area too?
Visitors are allowed to enter the intermediate wholesaler's area from 9:00AM.
For this, no reservation is required.
Many vehicles move around the market, and so it's very dangerous.
Be careful and follow the guidance given by the security guards in Tsukiji Fish Market.