Visitors to Tokyo this Christmas will have to skip the predawn auction at the world's biggest fish market after complaints that the crush inside the main auction hall has become a distraction and risks causing a serious accident.
Tokyo city government announced yesterday that tourists would be banned from Tsukiji's hugely popular tuna auctions for a month from December 15.
Until a few years ago, Tsukiji traders went about their business largely unnoticed, but the global sushi boom has turned the market into one of Tokyo's most popular tourist spots. On a busy day up to 300 people pack into the auction area, according to market officials.
Tsukiji handles more than 700,000 tonnes of produce a year worth about 600bn yen (£4.4bn). More than 400 varieties of seafood, from tiny whitebait to enormous tuna worth millions of yen, are bought and sold there every day.
Access to the auction area has been restricted since April after traders complained that their hand signals were being obscured by flash photography and that some tourists were compromising hygiene by prodding the fish.
Local media reports pinned the blame for the ban on misbehaving foreign tourists, but market officials said the ban would also apply to Japanese visitors.
"This is not about restricting access to a particular group," said Kazuta Yamada, a Tsukiji spokesman. "The market gets very crowded at this time of the year so we don't want anyone to get in the way." Guards will enforce the ban, which could be extended indefinitely.