Travel

Foreign tourists watch a tuna auction at the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Monday. (Mainichi)

The tuna auction viewing area at Tokyo's Tsukiji Market reopened to visitors on Monday after being suspended for about a month.

The tuna auction site had been closed to the public since early April, as a result of market workers' complaints that they couldn't perform their work properly due to a surge in the number of foreign sightseers. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has limited the number of daily visitors to the auction site to 140, on a first come, first served basis.

Registrations began at 4:30 a.m. on the same day at the Osakana Fukyu Center office near the fish market in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. About a dozen people could not take part in the tour due to the limit on the number of participants, but there was no major confusion.

Participants were divided into two groups of 70 people each, and entered the tuna wholesale area wearing yellow vests and observed the auctions.

A 26-year-old visitor from the U.S. expressed an understanding for the registration system, saying it is reasonable considering the fact that too many visitors in the viewing area could make it difficult for them to enjoy the experience comfortably. While another American participant aged 56 said that he is against the system which keeps people away from the unique experience and that the market should secure a larger space for sightseers.

The vice chairman of the tuna wholesalers association at the Tsukiji Market said, "To tell the truth, I don't want any tourists to enter the auction site due to safety concerns."