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| Fish for sale at Tsukiji market in Tokyo |
The world's largest fish market, which produces fresh sushi and sashimi flown daily to top restaurants the world over, has been in Tsukiji for seven decades, long topping must-see lists for first-time visitors to Tokyo.
But Governor Shintaro Ishihara, re-elected in April with an overwhelming mandate, is set on evicting Tsukiji, where fishmongers rub shoulders with business commuters at the subway stop.
Ishihara, an outspoken nationalist known for his political determination, believes the market is an anachronism and wants to send the fishmongers packing by 2012 to a new waterfront development in Toyosu, a few kilometres (miles) away.
He believes the land in cramped central Tokyo could be better used. He has proposed making the former fish market the main media centre for a potential 2016 Tokyo summer Olympics, the governor's pet project.
"The site is narrow, dangerous, not really clean, and asbestos is used in various spots in the facilities, although they are sealed up," Ishihara said in a recent news conference.
"What happens if a natural disaster occurs and asbestos scatters in the air? We have to deal with this issue by considering these problems."
But many fishmongers are up in arms, saying that even if the new location is cleaner and more spacious, the move strikes at the heart of culture in the land of sushi.
Source: Sawf News