The world’s biggest wholesale fish and seafood market, Tsukiji, located in central Tokyo, is to move to a new location in two years. The 431 billion yen ($4 billion) transfer to more current facilities will free up valuable Tokyo seaside real estate and allow a modernization plan for the site ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.Yet, it is a controversial move for more reasons than one.
Tsukiji, owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, is currently sandwiched between the Sumida River and the expensive Ginza shopping district.Truckloads of fresh products from all over the world arrive as early as 3 in the morning, within easy reach of wholesalers, food processing firms and large retail chains.
The market handles hundreds of varieties of seafood from sea urchin to caviar to baby sardines, all weighing some 700,000 metric tons a year. About $20 million worth of seafood and other produce is traded in the market on an average day. Among the daily highlights is the auction of the prized, sashimi-grade tuna whose prices hit a new peak each January. Last year a single bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.7 million. The buyer of the 222 kg (489 lbs) fish was Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of a Tokyo-based sushi restaurant chain.
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