Tokyo's famous fish market holds last auction before controversial site move
Often cited as one of the most engaging sights in Japan’s bustling capital, Tsukiji fish market has sold its last tuna ahead of a controversial move to Tokyo Bay.
A series of setbacks – including concerns over tainted soil and reports of exorbitant costs estimated at around 392.6 billion yen (£2.65 billion) by some sources – have resulted in an almost 17-year wait for the move, but the world's largest fish market finally shut its doors over the weekend to make way for a transport hub. Though a fire broke out at the site in 2017, the move has been planned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government since 2001.
"I'm almost crying," retired seafood auctioneer Hisao Ishii told the AFP news agency.
"Today is a sad day of goodbyes. Tsukiji tried to meet the times, but it is getting older."
The market, on its current site for 83 years, has long been popular with tourists. Telegraph Travel’s Tokyo expert, Danielle Demetriou, previously advised travellers to “make the most of the inevitable jet lag and rise before sunrise to experience one of the most unusual urban pilgrimages: a visit to the world's biggest fish market".
“Arrive before 5am to register for entry to the famous tuna auction; if you're determined to see this, it's best to get there by 3am to be on the safe side, as it can be very busy. Or simply wander and admire row after row of unidentifiable maritime creatures. But the best bit? Tucking into the freshest sushi breakfast possible in one of the restaurants on the fringes of the market," she said.
Last year, at the traditional New Year auction, a wealthy restaurant owner paid more than £500,000 to snap up a gigantic tuna at Tsukiji. The bid for a 210kg Pacific bluefin tuna was made by Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Corp, which owns the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain, who paid a whopping 72 million yen (£504,000) for the fish.
But it’s not just the rich that head here to pick up the finest of the region’s seafood. The market attracted as many as 42,000 visitors a day and on the average day, just over 1,600 tonnes of around 480 types of seafood passed through its doors.
The fish market and the surrounding area have been associated with the fishing trade from as far back as 1657, meaning the move to the man-made island of Toyosu in Tokyo Bay, not far from the prestigious Ginza shopping district, has been met with mixed feelings.
Hiroyasu Itoh, chairman of the seafood wholesalers' association, told reporters: "I am very grateful and happy that we could have continued business smoothly all these years until today. I would like to thank Tsukiji from the bottom of my heart.”
Some businesses have chosen not to relocate with the internationally-famed market when it opens its doors in Toyosu on Thursday this week and will simply close after generations of trading. The space that the market leaves will possibly be be turned into a transport hub to cater for the 2020 Olympics.
"It may have been a long time coming but Tsukiji's final closure definitely marks the end of an era for the city", says Demetriou. "Tsukiji has long been one of the city’s most iconic attractions, with jetlagged visitors more than happy to rise at ungodly pre-sunrise hours to wander among the surreal rows of often unidentifiable maritime creatures and watch the famous tuna auction, before eating a deliciously fresh sushi breakfast.
"The new market space, located on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, is nearly double the size and yet is completely different in atmosphere – modern, bright, spacious (and, according to some critics, “antiseptic”)", she continues.
"Regardless of aesthetics, its opening marks a new chapter for Tokyo’s urban evolution as a string of major developments come to completion. These are likely to redefine the contemporary face of Tokyo as it moves into the future – and the fish market is no exception".
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