It's a fun cultural experience when you compare it to the throngs of folks waiting for a random sunday brunch in SF or NYC, and the omakase menu was utterly outstanding.
I've also had the great fortune of securing a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi Hills (the son of "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"). The meal was extraordinary, but the formality of being watched during every bite (and scolded for holding my chopsticks at a angle instead of perfectly horizontal) meant that Sushi Dai was actually a more enjoyable experience even with the wait.
Just my two cents.
He then walked us a block away to a place he recommended, which had exactly two open seats and very good sushi. It also offered us the guilty pleasure of being the only white people in the place. :)
Personally I'd be okay with waiting 1 hour for Sushi Dai, but that's way below average wait time. The standard wait time is about 4 hours these days. Daiwa is about 45 minutes iirc. Regardless, it's 90% foreign tourists these days anyways, and it's a win-win scenario for the tourists and the restaurants imo. It's like a Velben good -- the longer the wait the more memorable the experience? :P
Agreed that there are plenty of great random places to eat in the outer market. Might be hard for the average visitor to glean which one to visit though.
[1] do they still charge a flat 20,000 JPY for dinner regardless of how much or little you eat?
>...
>The market is worth visiting, especially if you're coming from the US, meaning the jet lag will have you wide awake at 3am your first morning. Embrace it and head on over.
But what's the point if you can't visit the inner market? Is there a big difference between the inner and outer market?
As a tourist I actually wouldn't bother getting to the market before 5am. Skip the tuna auction (there are a million videos on YouTube). The subways start running at 5, so catch one then and start with an early bite. Lots of places selling onigiri, find one. If you need caffeine, find a vending machine selling canned hot or cold coffee (often with Tommy Lee Jones staring at you) or try ordering from one of the small coffee shops in the market.
Wander the outer market—there are some interesting stores there. Head outside the market to Shin Ohashi Dori and find a food stall for breakfast. Depending on how much time you've killed, the inner market may be open or you can take a stroll over to Hama Rikyu Kien, a large garden next to the market. Head back after 10 and see the inner market. At this point it's mostly people cleaning up or taking a rest. There's still some business but it's mostly done for the day.
I think Hama Rikyu is better appreciated at the end of the experience, once you're tired enough and the little tea room is open. There is something indescribable about drinking tea in slow movements, looking out on the garden (or the bay) from the tatami room, resting your tired limbs, in a very quiet setting after several hours spent in crowded and noisy surroundings.
I went there almost 10 years ago (just me and wife, no kids) and it was an early highlight of my first trip to Japan. HRK itself is not the best garden, the tearoom is not the best tearoom, the tea is not the best tea... but after the hustle and bustle of Tsukiji, the HRK combo can be otherworldly.
Did you know that there is 2 tons of contaminated fish buried at the corner of the Tsukiji Fish Market? The meanwhile perhaps forgotten incident happened in 1954, when a boat was in the fallout zone from the test of the Bikini Atoll. As a result of the incident in total 460 ton contaminated fish was buried countrywide, spreading panic.
At Tukiji you can see the commemorative plate https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%94%E7%A6%8F%E7...
There is a museum in Shinkiba exhibiting the boat http://d5f.org/en/
It felt very much like I was on a conveyor belt myself.
Sushi Dai is good but not worth standing in line for an hour. There are dozens of restaurants along Shin Ohashi Dori with local specialities and no tourists. For my money, I'd rather get a lunch reservation at Kyubey or Sushi Iwa than stand in line forever to get squeezed (literally) into Sushi Dai or Daiwa Sushi. There's a great coffee place a couple blocks away called Turret Coffee, ironically tucked behind a Starbucks.
And please, don't bring a suitcase. I honestly cannot believe the throngs of tourists I saw last time bringing in full-size roller suitcases. The market was not built as a tourist attraction—watch where you're going, accept that your shoes will get dirty and don't bring bags. Or touch the fish.
The market is worth visiting, especially if you're coming from the US, meaning the jet lag will have you wide awake at 3am your first morning. Embrace it and head on over.