Tsukiji Outer Market & Sushi-Making Masterclass

Tokyo's central wholesale fish market moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the Tsukiji Outer Market, the retail streets that grew up around the old site, is still one of the best places in the city to see and taste seafood, and it's busiest early, before the day-trip crowds arrive.

The morning starts with a walk through the market's narrow lanes, where stalls sell everything from sea urchin and tuna to Japanese omelette and dried goods. Your guide chooses stops based on what's freshest that day, tamagoyaki, the sweet layered omelette eaten as a snack, grilled skewers, and, most often, a taste of fresh tuna or uni straight from a specialist stall. The market rewards arriving with an appetite still in reserve for what comes next.

From the market, the group moves to a nearby cooking studio for the sushi class. A trained chef demonstrates the basics: how sushi rice is seasoned and cooled, how a knife is used to slice fish cleanly rather than tear it, and the hand movements that shape nigiri without crushing the rice. You then make your own, working through several types of nigiri and a hand-rolled maki, using fish sourced that morning from the market you just walked through.

The chef corrects technique throughout, rice temperature, the angle of the knife, how much pressure to use when shaping each piece, and by the end most guests have made a plate of sushi they're proud of, alongside a few they'll laugh about. This is a hands-on class throughout, not a demonstration watched from a bench.

A guided sake tasting runs alongside the meal, three or four sakes chosen to complement different styles of sushi, with your guide explaining the basics of how sake is graded and how to read a label, useful information for ordering confidently later in the trip.

The class is suitable for complete beginners, no previous cooking experience is assumed, and knife skills are taught from scratch. Vegetarian substitutions can be arranged with advance notice, using vegetables and egg in place of raw fish.

The best time for this experience is any morning the market is open; it's closed on most Wednesdays and Sundays, so we confirm the schedule when booking.

The experience lasts around four hours, from market walk to the end of the sushi class and tasting. An expert food guide, market tastings, the sushi-making class, all ingredients and a sake tasting flight are included.