Yōkoso! to Tsukiji Market no more.
One of Japan´s favorite attractions are banning foreign tourists to visit it. The famous Tsukiji Market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind will shut access to tourists for a month and there are some talks that will probably extend the banning forever.
TOKYO — Tourists will be banned from pre-dawn tuna auctions at the Tsukiji fish market for at least a month, officials said Wednesday. “We have decided on a total ban as visitors are taking pictures with flash and touching tuna, which gets in the way of bidding,” said Akiko Ueyama, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo metropolitan government. “The market is not a visitor attraction but a place for fish bidding.”
Local authorities have long overlooked hundreds of people, mostly foreign tourists, flocking every day to Tsukiji market to see the tuna auctions. But the metropolitan government will now deploy guards to enforce the ban, which is due to begin on Dec 15. It will notify embassies, hotels and travel agencies of the move.
“We are also considering if we should continue it indefinitely,” Ueyama said.
The market, the source of fresh sushi and sashimi flown daily to top restaurants the world over, has long topped must-see lists for first-time visitors to Tokyo.
Source: Japan Today
It is really sad, but tourists virtually asked for it. I dont know if they are using this as an excuse to shut the doors to “gaijins” or just the tourists don´t know how to follow instructions. (I think there are signs in english or other languages, or english translators staff). I just hope they reconsider the measure or at least instruct the tourists and employees how to deal with the situation because tourism is really decreasing with this kind of news and the global economy crisis.
Guess the only way We will watch this market now is visiting their website or watching videos at youtube!
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That is definitely an unfortunate development, but I understand the reasoning behind it. While Tsukiji makes for an awesome tourist attraction (and a personal favorite of mine), it is after all a place of business.
I’ve seen several situations where foreign tourists were getting in the way of business or otherwise being a hindrance, and the inherent lack of order of that environment, combined with the language barrier, made it difficult to work things out.
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