Tsukiji wholesale market dead at 11:30?

Hi there. We went to tsukiji wholesale at 9:30 and there people there told us that we can only come in at 10:00, we went from there to the outer market and came back at 11:30 only to find out that it's completely dead. Everything was closed... So are all the stands really working at 10 am? Because I would like to go there...

It is an early morning market. Say 5am.

9:30 or 11:30 is way too late. Everyone would have packed up and gone home by then.

Oops, just relized you mentioned "wholesale."

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html

The info here suggests the whole area is open after 10am to tourists. Clearly the wholesale areas isn't the same as the fast paced auction area in the morning.

Probably good to follow the details in the guide and aim for the morning auctions.

Hi

does it make sense if I am going around 6am as a tourist but not going for the auction. Will it be opened ?

Did you read the response before yours or click the link provided?

The guide itself doesn't provide a clear answer... From your experience, is 10 am a reasonable time to come to the wholesale market?

You can see a little bit of the wholesale market, and get a little bit of the feel, at 10am, but unless you're actually buying fish wholesale, it's somebody else's workplace, and it's not their responsibility to entertain tourists. I imagine that you'd be surprised if thousands of tourists started showing up at your workplace during the working day and getting in your way when you were trying to work.

"tourists are not allowed into the wholesale area before 10am"

Seems pretty clear to me. And yes, 10 is a best time to go as there will still be some action going on as the stalls start to wind down for the day. As you've seen, it wraps up pretty quickly from there as the stalls start to clean up and shut down.