The Market, Then Japan's Biggest Cooking School

Three hours in two parts, with the transfer between them included.

You meet at the main gate of Tsukiji Honganji, a Buddhist temple that looks South Asian because the 1934 rebuild was modelled on ancient Indian architecture. It has burned down and been destroyed twice, once forty years after it was first raised in 1617 and again in the 1923 earthquake. The temple interior is not part of the tour, so come early if you want to see it.

Then the outer market. Tsukiji handled over two thousand tonnes of seafood a day before the wholesale operation moved to Toyosu in 2018; what is left is a walking and eating market, and the guide shows you how to work it. You may spend around seventy minutes there.

The class is at ABC Cooking Studio, which is the largest cooking school in Japan with more than ninety branches and teaches Japanese people to cook rather than visitors. You make sushi rolls and other home-style dishes with an instructor, and rolling maki tightly enough that it holds without crushing the filling is harder than it looks the first time.

Aprons and drinking water provided.

Up to six guests, English-speaking guide, minimum two people for the tour to run. Minimum age nine and minimum height 130 cm. No strollers or luggage. Ingredients change with the season and may differ from the photographs; alternatives can be requested. Photographs taken during the class may be used by the operator.