Trucks transporting ice, fish and produce traverse a maze of narrow alleys, threading their way through throngs of visitors.
The concrete walls, said to contain asbestos, are beginning to chip, and rusty pipes run bare across the ceilings below the buzzing crowds of tourists scouring the warren for its famed eateries and fresh fare, and the auctioneers selling off giant frozen tuna for millions of yen.
This is the current state of Tsukiji, Japan's largest, busiest and best-known fish and vegetable market, on the waterfront east of Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district. Run-down, yes, but beloved and also besieged.