The noisy clanging of bells that had once sounded at the famed Tsukiji market marked the first tuna auction for fishmongers at the Toyosu wholesale market Thursday at a newly built facility in Tokyo’s Koto Ward.
The new market sprawls over some 40 hectares and its facilities are state-of-the-art, a sharp contrast to the gritty atmosphere of the Tsukiji market, which was around half the size of the Toyosu site and saw its 83-year run come to an end on Saturday.
The long-awaited opening of the market comes after a two-year delay following controversy over soil and ground water contamination at the new site, previously a gas plant, that led the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to take additional safety measures to deal with the problem.