The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
For food lovers hunting for good food around Tokyo, I’m writing a series of the food we tried (or almost tried) around Ginza, Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku. Look out for our honest reviews. :P First up, what to Eat in Ginza Tokyo? Tsukiji Fish Market Before starting your …
There are many places in Tokyo where you can admire the incredible panoramic views of the city. People usually head to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, Tokyo Skytree or Tokyo Tower. Otherwise, you can go to other sites which include Roppongi Hills, Tokyo World Trade Center, Bunkyo Civic Center and …
Is Tsukiji Fish Market moving? If not, what are the hours? Any good sushi here? Find out more. :)
Tsukiji Market (築地市場) is a wholesale market for fish, fruits and vegetables in Tokyo. This market is the largest of its kind in the world and handles about approximately 2,000,000 kg of marine products each day! Imagine the sheer number of shops and restaurants it distributes across Japan, Asia and beyond. It is definitely one busy market in the morning.
If you heard the news, Tsukiji Fish Market was originally scheduled to move in November 2016. However due to ballooned cost and environmental issues at the new site, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has delayed the market’s move to Toyosu indefinitely. So visit this tourist hot spot while you still can! Currently, the market is still at its 81-year-old site in Tsukiji, Central Tokyo and near to upmarket Ginza.
Start your day very early at Tsukiji Fish market and witness an exciting tuna auction! Buyers bid for fresh tuna early in the morning. The auction typically starts at 5:20 am and ends around 10 am.
Registration begins at 5 am at a first-come, first-serve basis. It will be closed when the maximum capacity of 120 visitors is reached before 5 am. Usually there are many “kiasu” tourists who will arrive way before 5 am, so try to reach Tsukiji Fish Market around 3 am – 4 am to guarantee a spot.
People who have registered will be split into two sessions of 60 people each: 5:25 am to 5:50 am, and 5:50 am to 6:15 am. So be prepared to wait 2 hours for a 25 minute session.
Before auction, buyers will check the tuna’s quality using their tools and fingers. Then the auctioneer rings the bell to start the auction. Buyers signal to show their offered price, and seller mirrors back the hand sign to show the current highest bid. Catch the fast-speaking auctioneer sprouting industry jargon that even native speakers having difficulty understanding. Auctions move from the smallest to the largest fish, with some sessions ending merely in seconds.
As far as I know, you can only get there during the wee hours by taxi or private car. Ask the driver to bring you to Osakana Fukyū Center おさかな普及センター (Fish Information Center, GPS Coordinates: 35.663602, 139.773467). It’s located at Tsukiji Fish Market’s Kachidoki Gate 勝どき門 (Kachidoki Mon), refer to market map below.
p.s. We didn’t go to the auction considering the early hours, long wait and cost to get there. >.<
Photo Credit: www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html
If you are looking at the above map along with google map, rotate this map 180 degrees.
The market reminded me of our own Pasir Panjang wholesale market, except it was seafood galore at Tsukiji Fish Market. Although the map said not to enter certain areas before 10 am, we were at the market about 8:30am. Even then, many tourists were already at Tsukiji Fish Market.
Technically the market “starts work” at 5 pm, receiving fresh shipments from all over the world until wee hours. Then from 3 am to 6+ am, it’s the buzz around tuna auction. After the auction, around 7 am, the middlemen bring their purchases from the auction to their stalls and sell them to purchasers from retail shops, restaurants, etc.
At 8 am, these retail purchasers would have loaded and be on their way back to their shops in town. That explained why the activity seemed tapered down and some shops closed when we reached around 8:30am. Nevertheless, it’s still crowded and busy between 8 am and 10 am. From 11 am to 1 pm, the middlemen starts to clean their stalls and closed for the day.
To be honest, the place is so big and confusing, that the best thing to do is to just walk around and explore. I don’t think we entered the wholesale area because tourist are not allowed before 10 am. We were so lost that we didn’t know where we were!
However, I am quite sure we entered via the off limits area that’s very near to Tsukiji-Shijo Exit A1. We and some other tourists walked across a huge loading bay meant for their goods vehicles. Oops! Even though we were vigilant to get out of traffic’s way, it was still dangerous. Please don’t make the same mistake.
Since the market is primarily still a place for business, try not to interfere with business. Be alert to your surroundings and avoid blocking the traffic. Look out for the mini truck (photo above) meandering in the small alleys of the market. Also, avoid bringing any luggage to the market.
If you like to buy knives, merchandise or fresh produce in portions smaller than wholesale quantity, you can head to the outer market. This area, comprising of small retail shops and restaurants, typically opens from 5 am to 2 pm.
One of the recommended things to do at Tsukiji Fish Market is to have a fresh sushi breakfast or lunch at one of its restaurants. Find these restaurants in the inner and outer markets. They’re usually opened from 5:00 am to noon or early afternoon.
We didn’t eat at Tsukiji Fish Market because we had our fresh seafood at Sankaku Fish Market, Hokkaido. Compared to Sankaku, Tsukiji is way more crowded and expensive.
Nevertheless, if Tokyo is your only stop, you should try and taste the oozing freshness at Tsukiji Fish Market. The more popular sashimi restaurants are in the inner alleys near to the main entrance. In particular, Sushi Dai (寿司大) is the most popular one and you might need to wait for 2 to 3 hours. A set of 10 sushi pieces and one roll should cost you about ¥3,900 (S$49). You can also go for Daiwa Sushi (大和寿司) if the queue at Sushi Dai is too long.
Enjoy your food and have fun at Tsukiji Fish Market!
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Doraemon has been around for decades and still remains popular till this date. So the museum appeals to both children and adults who grew up with the series. I am one of those who grew up watching Doraemon cartoon series! And I love it~ What better way to reminisce it than to visit Doraemon Museum in Japan! Because we planned for this trip in Tokyo, we skipped the Doraemon Waku Waku Sky Park in New Chitose Airport. If you are an avid fan of Doraemon, you now know where you can go next. :)
But for those who don’t know who Doraemon is, it is a robotic cat who travelled from the 22nd century back in time to befriend a group of children. It has lots of gadgets in its kangaroo like front pouch to help the boy protagonist. Go watch the series or movies before heading to the museum!
The formal name of this museum is Fujiko F. Fujio Museum (藤子・F・不二雄ミュージアム) because it’s technically a museum to celebrate and showcase the work of Hiroshi Fujimoto (pen name: Fujiko F. Fujio, “Fujiko”), one of the two Japanese manga artists who created Doraemon. His other partner is Motoo Abiko and the pen name for this writing duo is Fujiko Fujio.
From Mukogaoka-yeun / Noborito Station to Doraemon MuseumThere are two ways you can get from the train station to Doraemon museum:
Address for your google map: 2-chome 8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa Prefecture, 214-0023
We chose to walk! Because we heard there’s interesting stuff to spot along the way. Well, we spotted a few! But probably not worth the time and effort to walk. It took us about 25 to 30 mins to walk because we stopped numerous times along the way to take pictures of the serene neighbourhood.
As you walk, you might find some of the architecture familiar. That’s probably because Fujiko was staying in Kawasaki when the duo wrote and illustrated the Doraemon manga series. We’re all inspired by our surroundings! Also, this explains why the museum is located at this part of the country.
As we walked on, the museum was on our right side. We had to cross a canal and a road to reach it. Be sure you have your tickets ready with you! Tickets are not sold at the museum and you must buy the tickets in advance. The tickets are also limited so that the museum wouldn’t get too crowded for people to enjoy. Do note that you can only buy up to 2 months in advance – on the 30th of each month, tickets are available for purchase for the following two months.
We bought the tickets on the first day we arrived in Japan, at Tokyo Narita airport while making our flight transfer to Hokkaido. We wanted to get it early just in case the tickets for our desired time slot were sold out. We could also buy it from Loppi in Hokkaido.
We wanted the 10am time slot because that’s when the crowd is the thinnest. If we got the later timings, e.g. 12pm, those who came in at 10am can still linger on with the 12pm crowd. That’s true, because we felt the place getting crowded as we left about 12.25pm. We spent more time than our scheduled 1.5 hr in the museum! If we were not going somewhere else, we might have even taken longer.
Don’t be late! Visitors must enter the museum no later than half an hour from the chosen time slot.
We planned to reach earlier than 10am to avoid the queue. The early scheduling was a good thing because the walk took longer than expected and so there was some buffer. In the end we reached at 10am sharp and there was a queue forming outside the museum. But no worries, the staff moved the queue quite fast while the windows of Doraemon minatures will entertain you.
As you enter the doors, you will get a information booklet/map and an English/Mandarin/Korean audio guide upon request. Photography is strictly prohibited at certain areas, especially where Fujiko’s artwork is displayed.
Afraid that the queue will get longer, we went straight up to the Doraemon cafe at Level 3 and took a queue number. It was slow moving at the start, but suddenly the queue numbers jumped quickly to ours. I think because most of those before us went to the outdoor playground thinking it would be quite a wait and missed their turn. We probably only waited for about 5-10 minutes?
But if you are coming in later at 12, 2, 4pm, the queue will be quite a wait and 5pm is their last order. So I suggest you take a queue number first before touring the museum or taking photos at the rooftop playground.
We were well prepared with an empty stomach to dig into our brunch! With all the waiting, we only managed to dig in at 10.40 am. Since it was still early, we ordered one dish of rice casserole with soup (¥1230, S$15.40) to share and a cup of coffee (¥570, S$7.15) for hubby to perk his morning.
I wasn’t expecting the food to be good in such themed restaurants, with their price premium going into cute dish presentation and cutesy everything. Prints of Doraemon and company were everywhere – from utensils to serviettes. We even took back the manga drawn coaster. :) Anyway, the cheese baked rice turned out to be cheesy-licious! The cheesy smell waffled in the air and danced on my taste buds. Don’t expect to find much ingredients though.
Moreover, the dishes were sooooooo cute! To cute to be eaten in fact. Everyone was busy taking photos of them before defacing the Doraemon to eat. :P We requested for a Doraemon latte art but was told that we can’t choose the art… but we still got a Doraemon in the end! Yays!
After our brunch, we went back to Level 1 to start our museum tour. Oh! Because the museum has a limited number of audio guides, the staff didn’t allow us to bring them to the cafe. They took them back and said we could only get these guides again at level 1 just before we start our museum tour.
There are a few exhibitions spanning from level 1 to level 2. Using the audio guide for commentary, we walked around the collection of Fujiko’s work, including his original artwork of Doraemon and other series. There is also a replica of his study room and photos of private family episodes.
(Photography is not allowed here.)
As you exit the exhibition hall, you will come to a section designed for children or those young at heart. There are many gachapon machines for visitors to twist their luck and bring a mini souvenir back home. There’s also activity and play rooms for children to get crazy in and a manga section for Japanese readers to dig into the books.
If you are not interested in these stuff, then go straight to the theater for a short film that’s exclusively shown at the museum. The film is shown every 20 mins.
*Spoiler Alert: What’s amazing was, when the show ended, the screen opened up to an outdoor garden/courtyard for you to exit into. Talk about a holistic experience.*
We need to do some backtracking here. It’s only when we exited the exhibition hall that I spotted a prominent Gian* figurine marked on the museum map with the words ‘Woodcutter’s Spring’. So we went back into the exhibition hall to find out what it is.
There, we found Gian springing out of a well when you keep moving the lever up and down (photo above)! There was a long queue to play with the lever, so we merely took a few quick photos and left.
* Gian is Takeshi Goda, the local bully of the Doraemon series.
At level 3, there’s a mini gift shop that sells Doraemon snacks. Try the vanilla-flavoured Dorayaki ice cream and savour the fluffy pancakes!
More souvenir shopping awaits you at the museum gift shop at level 1. It was crowded and had a long queue at the cashier. With ready fans to grab the merchandise, their buying fuel only increased after the tour. What a good business opportunity. Hee. Even so we became their “victims” and bought a set of cute couple cups. Happy!
The rooftop playground has many life sized characters and scene set up for photo taking opportunities. And you should be familiar with this playground (photo above). It’s one of Doraemon series’s famous scenes – where Nobita hides whenever Gian and Suneo bully him.
We were able to capture this scene with only us because there was a queue for photos. There was a dad who ‘cut the queue’ and allowed his little girl to play around this section. People waiting in line were staring impatiently at him and only after 5 mins he said that it’s a playground, and anyone can play and there’s no need to queue. He left after 5 minutes. It’s interesting because I saw photos from other blogs where children were all over it, above and under – like the dad said – a playground. So it really depends on the crowd when you are there.
It’s fun to relive those Doraemon memories! However, if it’s your first time to Tokyo, you might want to skip this stop, unless you’re a big fan of Doraemon! It’s quite time consuming, you need to cater about 3-4 hours (including travel).
Okay time to say bye bye as I stepped through this pink door! The Dokodemo Door (Anywhere Door) is Doraemon’s commonly used gadgets to transport one anywhere just by walking through. Bye for now!
fujiko-museum.com/english
2-chome 8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa Prefecture, 214-0023
10:00-18:00 (4 entry time slots)
Closed: Every Tuesday except Golden Week (29 Apr – 5 May) and summer holidays (20 Jul – 3 Sep). New Year Holidays (30 Dec – 3 Jan). *We will announce any other special holidays in advance on this website.