Japan subway

Hi just wondering if the subway runs all night in Tokyo and if not what time does it open up in the morning. You see I am thinking of doing a very early tour of the fishmarkets and was wondering if I could catch the subway that early? Also has anyone done an organised tour of the fish markets and if so was it worthwhile.Thanks in advance.

Subway trains stop running just before or after midnight (depending on which direction), and start again around 5.30.

Hi

I think you should be able to find some information about this on the Tokyo metro homepage. We used the metro quite a lot to get around town when we went there a couple of years back. I have written more about our experience in my trip report with pictures. Maybe you can find some useful info there. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions :-)

If you want to be at Tsukiji for the tuna auction, you will need to take a taxi. We went once by subway at 5:30 and had missed all of the action -- but walking around the market proper as well as the surrounding area was really fun and fascinating. I would not take a tour, but just wander yourself - have breakfast at one of the small restaurants in the immidiate area - the LP Tokyo has some suggestions, but there are others as well. Wear boots, if you have them - or at least some shoes that you don't mind getting wet.

You will need to take a taxi to Tsukiji because the learliest subway gets you there after the action is over.

I would not bother with Tsukiji. I think it is overrrated and not worth doing. There are so many more interesting things to see in Tokyo. For example, see the old city. You can take the green (Chiyoda) Line to Nezu and walk from there to the Clock Museum. The museum itself is not the reason to go, although it is good. This forces you to walk in some of the very quaint back alleys. Taking the old Giza Line to Asukusa and walking to the Sensojii Temple is also interesting.

Skip Tsukiji.

I think the Oedo line, which goes to the Tsukiji area, starts a bit earlier, with the first train leaving the end station at about 4:50 am.

We caught the metro to Tsukijii around 515am. We didn't need an organised tour - just turned up. Important that you respect certain rules though - ie stay out of the tuna auction room and keep out of the way of the fish workers. We found it fascinating, worth while and had a lovely sushi breakfast there too.