https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/10/4d4b2577e827-tokyos-tsukiji-fish-market-ends-83-yrs-of-business-for-relocation.html

Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, a popular tourist attraction, brought the curtain down on its 83 year-old business on Saturday amid its usual lively atmosphere, with a replacement facility set to open next week in a nearby waterfront district.

The new Toyosu market will open on Thursday following a two-year delay after soil contamination raised safety concerns and additional work was undertaken to deal with polluted groundwater.

Tours inside the Tsukiji market and the shops and restaurants in the outer market have attracted many visitors, but the Tokyo metropolitan government decided to relocate the aging facility due to concerns about sanitation, earthquake resistance and fire safety.

In the Toyosu market, tourists will be behind a glass wall on a second-floor deck.

Shortly after 5 a.m. on Saturday, before the start of the auction of tunas, Takeshi Yoshida, president of "Tsukiji Uo-ichiba" (fish market) gave an address on behalf of all wholesalers.

"Today, Tsukiji finishes its activities after 83 years and carves its name in history," said Yoshida, followed by all members doing "ippon-jime," a conventional Japanese hand-clapping ritual, to celebrate the last day of auctions.

After the bell rang, the auction sites were filled with the usual shouts from all around and the tunas were sold with buyers using their fingers to indicate bidding prices.

"Finally this day has come. Let's take our techniques and judging abilities developed in Tsukiji to the new market," said Yutaka Hayama, chief director of a business group of the Tokyo Fish Market Wholesale Cooperative.