On Friday the last auction took place in the Tsukiji market. Tuna fish, barracudas, mussels and octopuses were sold for the last time in the halls in Tokyo's Chuo district in the early morning. After 83 years in the same place, the largest fish market in the world moves to state-of-the-art buildings in the Toyosu district on a land heaped in the sea.

Within five days, the approximately 900 dealers, who sell 480 species of sea animals worth 12 million euros a day, move into the new waterfront neighborhood. On the 11th of October the hammer will fall for the first time in the complex.

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Tokyo's landmark: The fish market is moving

Many traders say goodbye with a heavy heart: More than 80 percent are against the move, as revealed by the survey of Toyosu opponents. "I feel torn," Takako Arai told Reuters, "I grew up here and lose so much of our history as we leave this place." As a child, she played hide-and-seek with her brother in the labyrinth of the fish market, today the 45-year-old runs her family's stall.

Like many others, Arai fears that their customers will not make the two-mile journey to Toyosu. "They say they will buy in markets closer to their restaurants," she says. "What can I say to that? These are also business people." Last Saturday, around 300 dealers and activists gathered in Tsukiji: "Toyosu No No No," they sang, waving banners with "Stop the move."

"We eventually made Tsukiji a famous brand, and now they're trying to destroy it," says Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs one of Japan's largest sushi restaurant chains, Sushizanmai. 17 years ago, he opened his first shop in the market, in 2013 he bought a tuna for 1.4 million euros - one of those record prices that attract tourists and make the market a landmark in the city.

Paradise of the rats

17 years ago, the plan came up to treat the Tokyo fish market to a modern building. Since then he has been repeatedly postponed. The authorities consider Tsukiji's halls and corridors to be dilapidated and unhygienic. One of the problems with the move will be the thousands of rats that used to live well in the canals. "As soon as they realize that something out of the ordinary is going on, they will start massively," says the official who directs the rat fight there.

So that the animals do not invade the noble boutiques and luxury restaurants of the neighboring nightlife district Ginza, the sewer system is closed and three-meter-high steel walls are pulled up before the demolition of the buildings. Within this fortress, the hunters bring 40,000 stickies and 300 kilos of poison to the animals. "That's scary," says the owner of a restaurant. "Some neighbors are already feeding the street cats for defense."

Two years ago, the relocation plans became concrete. As early as November 2016, the new location was to be opened in order to make room for new houses and wide streets in view of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. However, the move to the already completed hypermarkets was delayed because the subsoil of the property in Toyosu was highly contaminated with environmental toxins such as benzene and arsenic despite refurbishment work.

Further sealing and appraisal followed until Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike declared the site safe last July. The hanging over the future of the market made construction plans for the Olympic Games more difficult. Added to this were the high costs. Not only had the city invested funds in the new halls in Toyosu, but also many of the dealers. Yet many remain skeptical as to whether the poisons left by a gas factory at this point are completely removed.

Tsukiji becomes theme park all about food

Even though the sea lairs are swimming in pools in Toyosu in future, the auctioneer is no longer in the district of Ginza raising his voice - the so-called outer market of Tsukiji remains at the old location. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants - including homewares selling hand-forged knives. Within five years, this part will be redeveloped as a tourist destination and become a market with a theme park around food.

For tourists, the new market in Toyosu, which emits initially no special flair, but also an advantage: So far, who wants to watch one of the famous tuna auctions at 4.30 clock, had to be already at two o'clock in the queue. So that visitors did not get in the way of the dealers, their number was limited to 120, the admission regulated with free tickets. Now the three buildings have viewing platforms, from which a larger number of tourists can watch the one-hour spectacle from above.