Fishmongers at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji tuna auction are feeling the heat as the aging market’s air conditioners struggle to keep up with a heatwave blanketing the country. The dilapidated market is due to close later this year, and will relocate to a new, modern site. But in the
Fishmongers at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji tuna auction are feeling the heat as the aging market’s air conditioners struggle to keep up with a heatwave blanketing the country.
The dilapidated market is due to close later this year, and will relocate to a new, modern site. But in the meantime, wholesalers have been forced to take measures including keeping their pricey produce in cool trucks until moments before auction.
“We can’t replace the aging air conditioners as we’re relocating very soon, and it’s been so hot that it’s hard to get the temperature down,” an official at the market told AFP.
The auction space is usually kept at 15 degrees Celsius to keep the treasured tuna cool, but an “unprecedented” heatwave meant the mercury hit as high as 20 degrees in July, the official said.
