HUUP !

EEEEEEE AAAAI IIIII AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

what's money good for, if you can't spend it on fine things?

I don't know if the math is right, but some article on it was saying that it would be cut up into sushi that would go for $50 a piece. It makes me think of Genki Ya, my fav sushi place in Boston. Little hole in the wall in Brookline with no pretension and so silly Caucasian waitresses in kimonos and other nonsense I see in other sushi places that cost far more. The guys behind the sushi bar are skilled and intense. I remember watching one slowly slice a cucumber in a spiral in order to make a long millimeter thin strip which they use in an appetizer roll with smoked salmon and a spicy sauce, topped off with vinegar. The way the man slowly ran the knife along the rolling cucumber showed patience and years of practice honed to real talent.

I don't doubt that this fish will go to some amazing meals. I don't doubt that it will taste amazing. I just doubt it will take as amazing as the full meal I can get at Genki Ya for $50 (for 2 people).

if you're paying $25 dollars per person to eat at a restaurnt you're already paying too much

And obviously the owner of the restaurant is not an idiot. He made a business decision which will probably pay off. The idiots are the ones who are going to pay an absurd ammount of money for a minimal ammount of fish, which has absolutely the same quality as any other fish of the same kind, except it's bigger. ooooohhh.

Some ppl like expensive fish, other people like expensive prostitutes. All just protein.

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.

^ he's right on the money

it's the auspiciousness of the first fish of the lunar new year

at this time, most businesses in asian culture give out yearly bonuses* and as such people are generally flush with cash -- there's also a huge aspect of traditions which supposedly bring good fortune in the coming year, and likewise taboos to avoid

virtually everything costs more during this season: airline tickets almost double (if you can even get a seat); taxis add surcharges; most all hotels and restaurants are booked to capacity, etc

*to their asian employees (one of the few times it sucks to be a western 'barbarian' out here - typically no bonus, but you're stuck with the extra costs of the holiday)

After reading some of the replies I have a tad more respect for this video.

Moving this video to BoneRemake's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by sme4r.

Yeah, this is a celebration type thing: bidding-up the price of the first fish of the season. I hear it was cut up and sold at regular prices, so whoever bought it was probably taking a loss in the name of tradition and good luck.

>> ^BoneRemake:

After reading some of the replies I have a tad more respect for this video.


I hope not too much. Still foolishness.

tradition, good luck, and Advertising for the awesomeness/craziness of their restaurant

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.

iirc, the pacific bluefin tuna is not an endangered fish

>> ^Payback:

>> ^BoneRemake:
After reading some of the replies I have a tad more respect for this video.

I hope not too much. Still foolishness.


Yeah, total fool, making so much money that he can blow cash on a stunt like this... Man, I'm glad I'm nothing like him and don't have a spare half a million pounds lying around. \= )

Incidentally, the figure is in pounds so it's actually 708 thousand USD give or take.