TOKYO, Jan 23 — After 80 years of selling fish and seafood of all types, the site of Tokyo’s world-famous Tsukiji market will become an international conference centre under plans proposed today by the city authorities.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government wants to divide up the 23-hectare site near the swanky Ginza neighbourhood into space for international conferences and exhibitions, as well as hotels and restaurants.

The site will first serve as a transportation hub during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The plans are expected to be finalised in March after gathering views from local residents.

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Tsukiji — the world’s biggest fish market and a popular tourist attraction in an area packed with restaurants and shops — moved in October to Toyosu, a former gas plant a bit further east.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike had suggested the site could be transformed into a kind of culinary theme park, commemorating the market’s colourful history.

But she backed off from the idea after business operators at Toyosu expressed strong opposition, according to local media.

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Opened in 1935, Tsukiji was best known for its pre-dawn daily auctions of tuna, caught from all corners of the world, for use by everyone from Michelin-star sushi chefs to ordinary grocery stores.

The ritual of tuna auctions continues at the new Toyosu market. Early this month, a Japanese sushi entrepreneur paid a record US$3.1 million (RM12.82 million) for an enormous 278-kilo tuna at the New Year’s auction. — AFP-Relaxnews