First tuna auction at Japan’s ‘new Tsukiji’ market

The cries of the raucous predawn tuna auction rang out for the first time at Tokyo’s new fish market Thursday, just days after the world-famous Tsukiji site closed the door on its 83- year history. The location may have changed but the ritual remained the same: huge whole tuna laid out on the ground, bells tolling to sound the start of the auction and a loud and bewildering system of bidding understood only by those taking part.

“There we go. We’re off,” said Kiyoshi Kimura, one of the celebrities of the sushi world, who owns the Sushi Zanmai chain and has previously paid record prices for tuna at New Year auctions. “We won’t get the same prices today,” he said with a smile before bidding began in an auction that didn’t set any new records. On Sunday, after an emotional final tuna auction the previous day, the Tsukiji market’s famed “turret trucks” -- one-man flatbeds with a barrel-shaped steering column at the front -- began the exodus to the new site.

However, the move was a lengthy and controversial process. Few would contest the fact that Tsukiji was past its prime, and there were concerns about outdated fire regulations and hygiene controls. In contrast, the new market, located around two kilometres to the east at Toyosu, boasts state-of-the-art refrigeration facilities and is nearly twice as big again as Tsukiji, already the world’s largest. But Toyosu is located on the site of a former gas plant and the soil was found to be contaminated, forcing local authorities to spend millions of dollars to clean it up and delaying the move.