No, no, no offense taken. I and don't think you're hypocritical. You probably consume far less tuna over the course of a year than an average Japanese individual. The sad thing is, the population as a whole here is completely unaware of the tunas' plight. There's a conspiracy-theory level lack of coverage of the issue in the media here.

Case in point, a few weeks back the media reported about the first tuna auction of the year at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, where traditionally people overbid on the largest tuna caught as kind of "good luck in the coming year" tradition. Except, the highest bid this year (as well as the fish caught) was much smaller than the last two years.

I read two different Western newspaper articles on the topic and they both went into great detail about how tuna catches are way down due to overfishing and how the size of the fish being caught is much smaller because only the juveniles are left (the more adult fish have already been caught). Both mentioned Japan consumes 80% of the worldwide tuna haul.

Then that night I go running at my local gym and watch the Japanese nightly news and they have a brief 30-second bit about how the first Tsukiji auction of the new year took place and how the person who won was the same as last year.

That's it, end of coverage. I literally laughed out loud on the treadmill, more in bitterness than anything else.

That's why in my Media English classes at the university I teach, the first newspaper article of the semester is always an English newspaper article about the tuna fishing situation. The kids are shocked at the statistics and they tell their friends about what they read. Most claim they're going to stop eating tuna. I have no idea if they actually do or not, but it's all I can really do to try to change attitudes here.

From what I read he just wanted to use his wealth to invest in the local economy and as a bit of a PR stunt for his chain of Sushi restaurants.

Bloomberg's coverage of it was good: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-06/the-sushi-auction-that-cheered-japan-the-ticker.html

I mostly just question the ethics of using the fishing of an endangered fish for consumption as a PR move, but Japan feels differently about some things than other parts of the world and that's their right.

Either way, if you ever find yourself in Japan, definitely swing by the Tsukiji fish market where the sale of this fish took place. The market itself is a crazy sight to behold, there's nothing else like it in the world.

I live in Japan. There are a couple of explanations for the huge price.

First, this happened close to New Year's, which like Christmas in the U.S., gets a little extravagant. In particular the first market of the New Year in Tsukiji people tend to overbid--it's kind of a tradition.

Second, with sushi eaten around the world and blue fin tuna supplies dwindling, they are getting harder to catch. Furthermore, there are restrictions in place about the size and number of fish that can be caught to prevent overfishing. But demand is higher than ever, so basic economics is also in effect and pushing the prices up.

Third, the size of this tuna is extreme--the businesses who bought it (it was a combined bid by a Hong Kong and a Japanese sushi restaurant business) are going to be able to turn it into a ton of sushi and probably make a decent profit off of it.

I will mention that quality sushi here is amazing and well worth the price. I've eaten at some of the restaurants in Tsukiji--the sushi you get was brought in that very morning and is usually the quality cuts. When prepared by an experienced chef, it's absolutely a completely different experience and taste from anything you can get anywhere else in the world. Well worth the coin you will drop, but it may (as it did for me) make sushi anywhere else taste like crap.

>> ^Mcboinkens:
How is whaling still legal? This is sickening.
Commercial whaling IS illegal.
Japanese don't call it whaling!
All of their ships have huge RESEARCH letters painted on them. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Nisshin_Maru.jpg
The Japanese fleet consists of a factory ship, two spotter vessels, and three harpoon boats. The whalers say that lethal research is needed to accurately measure the whale population, health, and response to global warming and is essential for the sustainable management of the world's cetacean stocks. Australia and New Zealand have started a non-lethal whale research program to show that the Japanese lethal research program is no longer necessary. Sea Shepherd and other environmental groups dispute the Japanese statement of research "as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned." Meat from the hunt is available at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market and Japanese restaurants.