V+S+D :)

The Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji shijō), supervised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (東京都中央卸売市場, Tōkyō-to Chūō Oroshiuri Shijō) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. It was also one of the largest wholesale supermarket of any kind. The market opened on 11 February 1935 as a replacement for an older market that was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. 

The market was located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo between the Sumida River and the upmarket Ginza shopping district. When the inner wholesale market was operational, it offered only restricted access to visitors. After the inner wholesale market closed, the outer retail market, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores remain operational and the area is still a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors.

The market is located near the Tsukijishijō Station on the Toei Ōedo Line and Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line. There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The inner market (jōnai-shijō) was the licensed wholesale market, where approximately 900 licensed wholesale dealers operate small stalls and where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place. The outer market (jōgai-shijō) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants.

Most of the shops in the outer market closed by the early afternoon. In the inner market visitors were only allowed in by 10.00 am (11.00 pm by the time the market was moved), by which time the activity in the market had reduced significantly or almost ceased. A small number of visitors however were allowed into the inner market in the early morning to see the tuna auction.

The land on which the fish market sat was created during the Edo period by the Tokugawa shogunate after the Great fire of Meireki of 1657. It was created through land reclamation on the Tokyo Bay, and the area was therefore named Tsukiji (築地), meaning constructed land or reclaimed land. The fish market however was not sited here until the 20th century.

The market handled more than 480 different kinds of seafood as well as 270 types of other produce, ranging from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar, and from sardines to 300 kg tuna and controversial whale species. Overall, more than 700,000 metric tons of seafood are handled every year at the three seafood markets in Tokyo, with a total value in excess of 600 billion yen (approximately 5.4 billion US dollars in August 2018). At Tsukiji, around 1,628 tons of seafood worth 1.6 billion yen ($US14 million) may be sold on a typical day. There were around 900 licensed dealers at the market, and the number of registered employees varied from 60,000 to 65,000, including wholesalers, accountants, auctioneers, company officials, and distributors.

It closed on 6 October 2018 and moved to the new Toyosu Market, 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) away.



STREET FOOD ON TSUKIJI:


THE TUNA KING in Tsukiji: