See the tuna auction at the Tsukiji fish market

“Since the subway does not run this early we took a taxi on a Wednesday morning at 3 AM and arrived at 3:15 AM just filling up the first cohort of 60 visitors. The auction starts at 5:30 AM and the first group of 60 people walks over at 5:25 AM. [...] At 5:25 AM we were led over into the middle observation zone of the auction area which on some days move 1000 tuna. On the one side one could see mostly frozen tuna. On the other side we could see some fresh tuna. Many discussions happened while the tuna traders walked around and thoroughly evaluated several different tuna. [...] Finally, bells are ringing and several auctions are starting. Numbers are called quickly [...] Following the auction, the sold tuna is quickly carried away on a traditional cart.”

“Make sure to wake up early! And I mean EARLY. The first time we tried, we aimed to arrive at 4:30am and that was too late. A really friendly old Japanese man zoomed us around on his motor cart to help us find the info center. Alas, those carts max out at 20 miles an hour… so we didn’t make it. [...] Once you arrive at the fish info center, you’ll stand in line until the room is full and be asked to wear a vest to identify you as part of the group (neon green for group 1, blue for group 2). Then, the group is herded single file to the auction site to see one entire auction. [...] It gets a bit crowded as the fish market creates this tight lane for tourists and most likely your group will have several photographer enthusiasts, so there is some jostling and elbowing for a good view. The best part, in my opinion, is when the auction is over and you’re let loose out of the warehouse.”