It is a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors in Tokyo.

 

Located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo between the Sumida River and the upmarket Ginza shopping district, the area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores. Before 2018, it was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.

 

The market opened on 11 February 1935 as a replacement for an older market that was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. It was closed on 6 October 2018, with wholesale operations moving to the new Toyosu Market.

 

The area where the old market was located was demolished and will be rebuilt into a new economic complex featuring a brand new stadium for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball.

 

The Great Kantō earthquake on 1 September 1923 devastated much of central Tokyo, including the Nihonbashi fish market. The Tokyo government, which already had plans to relocate the market due to its unsanitary conditions considered unsuitable for an area that had developed into a business center, then took the opportunity to move the market to the Tsukiji district.

 

The relocation of the market would be one of the biggest reconstruction projects in Tokyo after the earthquake, taking over six years involving 419,500 workers.

 

After World War II, Tsukiji's transaction increased in volume, and its facilities became narrow and old fashioned. Relocation plans had been considered since the late 1950s. The candidate place was Ohi, current Ohta market. However the plan could not get consensus among stakeholders. There was another plan in the late 1980s to construct provisional market utilizing the vast site of Shiodome Freight Terminal, and rebuild advanced market facilities in Tsukiji area during that period. However the negotiation with Japanese National Railways was unsuccessful.

 

Tsukiji market closed on 6 October 2018, with the businesses of the inner market relocated to the new Toyosu Market between 6 and 11 October.

 

On April 19, 2024, it was announced that the area where the market was located will be redeveloped into a new economic and entertainment area centralized with a new stadium for the Yomiuri Giants. 

 

Because of an increase in sightseers and the associated problems they cause, the market banned all tourists from the tuna auctions on several occasions, including from 15 December 2008 to 17 January 2009, 10 December 2009 to 23 January 2010, and 8 April 2010 to 10 May 2010. After the latest ban that ended in May 2010, the tuna auctions were re-opened to the public with a maximum limit of 120 visitors per day on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitor entry into the interior wholesale markets was prohibited until after 11:00 am. Due to the March 2011 earthquakes all tourists were banned from viewing the tuna auctions till 26 July 2011, from which date it was reopened.