This season’s first auction of blowfish, a traditional winter delicacy in Japan, has been held at Shimonoseki City in the western prefecture of Yamaguchi.
The first auction takes place at the city’s Haedomari market after the beginning of the fishing season on September 1. The market is known for handling the largest amount of wild tiger puffers in Japan.
On Thursday, around 250 kilograms of wild tiger puffers were put up for auction. They were caught in the Sea of Japan off Yamaguchi and in the Pacific off the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi.
With the ringing of a bell at 3:20 a.m., buyers and brokers started negotiating deals in the traditional style. They grasped each other’s fingers inside a cloth sleeve to conceal the bidding.
The biggest fish at the auction weighed around 5 kilograms.
The highest bid was 19,000 yen, or around 130 dollars, per kilogram. That’s down roughly 20 dollars from last year, due partly to a large haul off Miyagi.
The president of the market operator, Goda Yuichiro, said the prices were relatively high compared with recent years, although they were down from last year. He expressed hope that consumption will go up as the hauls increase.
The blowfish purchased at the first auction will be mainly shipped to Tokyo and Osaka.