築 地 市 場　(tsukiji market) 

photographs of tsukiji fish market and nearby.
when i first visited japan in the early ’nineties, one of the first recommendations i receved was to visit tsukiji. the recommendation then was based on tsukiji’s still being the fully operational central fish market for tokyo and the adjacent prefectures. the fish market itself was not open to the public. known as ’inner tsukiji’, it was restricted to buyers and traders for tokyo’s huge restaurant industry.
’outer tsukiji consisted of restaurants and smaller traders adjacent to the official market (whose history stretches back into the edo era, before the meiji restoration. their adjacency to the market proper, and popularity with the sushi masters who bought their day’s supply there gave these restaurants a reputation for authenticity, freshness of produce, and a superior quality of food, particularly dishes based on raw fish; sashimiand sushi.
in 2018 the operations in the main market were moved, because of demands on space, to the new toyosu market, located on one of the newly reclaimed pieces of land in tokyo bay, the area known as koutou ward. nevertheless the publically accessible outer tsukiji with its shops and restaurants remains, sustained now largely by tourism and weekend visitors from tokyo and beyond.