If you think paying $1.8 million for a live ornamental fish was preposterous, wait till you read about yet another mind-boggling fish-related auction. Someone have just coughed out a staggering 336.3 million Yen, or about 3.1 million American dollars, for a stiff tuna. That number there is not a typo, btw. Someone actually paid for a tuna with 3-freaking-million! Holy mother of… that’s hell lot of money for something that is going to end up in the stomach.
The said tuna, which weighs in a ginormous 278 kilograms (612 lbs!), is of an endangered species caught off the northern coast of Japan was bagged by self-styled “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura at Tokyo’s new fish market that replaced the iconic Tsukiji Fish Market late last year. Having said, I wonder how much Kiyoshi-san will be pricing this record price tuna? I’d say likely at a price that everyday people will feel hard to swallow for sure.
Anywho, the auction which was held at pre-dawn on this past Saturday wrote a record amount fetched for a single tuna in an auction and in the process, wiping the previous record of a “paltry” 155 million (about US$1.4 million) set in 2013. Man, that’s quite a start for 2019 for the fish market, isn’t it? In traditional point-of-view, Kiyoshi-san’s bid signified a good start for this newly minted fish market, notwithstanding the controversial move.
If you have not heard, the move was not without controversy as the new location, which is situated around 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) east at Toyosu, was on the site of a former gas plant which was the prime reason of delays in the relocation. Contaminated soil was reportedly the main culprit of the delay. Needless to say, contaminated soil is bad news, especially for a place that will be dealing with raw food and this resulted in local authorities having to spend millions of dollars to decontaminate the soil to state that will be fit for a fish market.
Toyosu Market has been opened for business since October 11, 2018, and it is located on the man-made island of Toyosu in the Bay of Tokyo. It is open on Monday through to Saturday, with exceptions of national holidays and certain Wednesdays, from 5AM-5PM. If you are keen in visiting, you can pick up more information over at japan-guide.com.
Images: AFP.
Source: AsiaOne.
