Tsukiji Outer Market

When Tokyo's wholesale fish auction moved to gleaming Toyosu, everyone asked what would become of Tsukiji - and the answer was that its outer market simply carried on being wonderful. The tight grid of lanes remains one of the world's great food browses: knife smiths sharpening blades priced like jewellery, sweet tamagoyaki omelette stands passing warm slices on sticks, dried bonito and seaweed merchants, strawberry daifuku, grilled scallops in the shell, and sushi counters serving fish-market breakfasts from early morning. It is compact, chaotic in the friendliest way, and the classic first-morning-in-Tokyo destination for jet-lagged appetites.

What you actually see

• A sushi or seafood-bowl breakfast - the classic market morning, queues moving fast.
• Tamagoyaki on a stick - the sweet layered omelette from the famous specialists.
• The knife shops - Japanese blades and unhurried browsing among professionals.
• Street snacks lane by lane - scallops, wagyu skewers, mochi and whatever is in season.

When to go

A morning place, roughly from early breakfast to early afternoon, when shops begin shuttering - many stalls close by mid-afternoon and some rest on Sundays and Wednesdays. Weekday mornings are the calm version; weekends double the crowds in the narrow lanes.

Honest expectations

The famous tuna auction is not here anymore - that spectacle lives at Toyosu with its own viewing arrangements - so come for the street food and shops, not the auction. Lanes are narrow: eat standing where you buy rather than walking, keep bags close in the crush, and carry cash for the smaller stalls. Queues at the celebrated counters are long by nine; going at opening solves everything.

Nearby

The Hama-rikyu gardens border it, Ginza is a walk away, and the Toyosu market with its auction viewing is a short train ride.