This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Asia from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

On January 5th, the owner of a Japanese sushi franchise bought a Bluefin tuna that was THIS big. No. Really. It weighed 488 pounds. No. Really. And the guy who bought it paid 155.4 million yen or about 1.76 million bucks for it. This fish story took place at the traditional New Year’s auction at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fish market. Unlike other Asian countries, Japan celebrates the same new year as we do in the West. Anyway, at the fish market, restaurant owners from all over Asia bid against one another for the honor of purchasing the year’s first tuna whose meat, according to sushi lore, is highly esteemed by sushi aficionados. Never mind that Bluefin is seriously overfished, this Bluefin was caught in Oma, a town known for the deliciousness of the tuna caught there. And if you think this tuna was expensive, you should’ve seen the one that got away.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.