Good news, everybody! The Tsukiji Market's tuna auction has been reopened for tours!

The massive earthquake on March 11 was centered on the northern Tohoku region, but it still shook Tokyo pretty hard. The weeks to follow also saw a number of hardly comparable but somewhat substantial aftershocks. Out of safety and liability concerns, the Tsukiji Fish Market decided on March 14 to close its famous early morning tuna auction to tourists. Now, some months on and without any major aftershocks, the doors have reopened to those of you energetic enough (or jet lagged enough) in the morning to get up at the break of dawn and make your way down to the market. Some of the details have been altered, so let me give you a breakdown below:

Number of Visitors
The number of visitors permitted has been changed from 140 to 120 per day, on a first come, first served basis.

Reception
Reception is still handled at the Fish Information Center 1st floor (near the Kachidoki Bridge entrance), but the time has changed from 4:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Tour Operation
Visitors will be broken into two groups of 60. The first group will be taken into the auction from 5:25 - 5:50 a.m. and the second group from 5:50 - 6:15 a.m.

As always, the rules like no touching the fish and no flash photography (taking pics without flash OK, of course) apply. The market welcomes you to visit but also asks you to keep in mind that this is a (very busy) place of business and its workers' bread and butter, so please remain mindful and respectful if you decide to check it out.

For more info about visiting, here's the official site:
http://www.shijou.metro.tokyo.jp/english/market/tsukiji.html

Sunrise Tours that visit Tsukiji (outer market, not the tuna auction):
http://www.japanican.com/tours/list.aspx?kw=tsukiji

Hotels in Tsukiji:
http://www.japanican.com/hotels/List.aspx?ar=A03&sar=130108&so=c