Officials say they want to redevelop the market’s approximately 50 acres of land — valued in the billions of dollars — into high-rise apartment buildings and a tunnel that would connect Tokyo to the islands that will house new Olympic sites. They, and many who work at the market, also say the move is necessary to keep up with changing times, as the same fast-food chains and supermarkets that have changed Tokyo’s urban landscape have increasingly shunned Tsukiji as too expensive and slow.

Opponents counter that the relocation is yet another example of the skewed priorities of Japan’s development-happy bureaucrats, who they say want to tear down what has become one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations to enrich big construction companies and real estate developers.

“Tsukiji was the beating heart of the sushi culture that spread across the world,” said Kazuki Kosaka, a former local assembly member who opposed the relocation. “And now it will be redeveloped into condominiums.”

When moving Tsukiji was first proposed 14 years ago, it spurred widespread opposition, even leading to rare street protests. They were led by so-called middle wholesalers, the traditional middlemen who buy from big wholesalers and sell to restaurants and other retailers; they feared the new market would allow large corporate wholesalers to squeeze them out. In 2001, the plan appeared doomed after the discovery of toxic contaminants at the new site, which had housed a refinery for converting coal into natural gas.

But city officials were undeterred, chipping away at opposition by offering subsidies to help pay for the move. Last year, the union representing the middle wholesalers, who number about 700, switched its position and came out in favor of the move, which is considered a done deal barring some last-minute reprieve.