Word: tsukiji
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Atlantic bluefin tuna is considered a delicacy from Osaka to Omaha; at Tokyo's venerable Tsukiji fish market, a single giant blue tuna can fetch up to $100,000 in auction. But the sheer popularity of the fish among consumers of sushi and sashimi has caused populations of the bluefin tuna to plummet, with its total numbers down more than 80% since 1970. We are literally eating the bluefin tuna to death...
...their bellies. One bidder raises his hand with an offer that the auctioneer weaves into his mantra: "4-5, 4-5, 4-5." That's 4,500 yen - about $50 - one of many offers made for every kilo of the frozen fish on the block that morning. At Tsukiji, the world's most famous fish market, tuna are sold at prices equivalent to Ivy League educations. In one of hundreds of stalls, wholesaler Keisuke Morishima dismantles a fresh 271-lb. (123 kg) bluefin snared off Oma, a small Japanese town. Bluefin can live for decades, growing more than...
...over 74% since the late 1950s, with the steepest drop occurring in the past 10 years, while the western population dropped over 82% between 1970 and 2007. The Pacific bluefin, whose habitat spans from the West Coast of the U.S. to Japan, is officially in better shape, but one Tsukiji auctioneer estimates the number of tuna coming in these days is down 60% to 70% from what it used to be. Japan's Fisheries Agency does not believe its local tuna are overfished and has steadfastly refused to impose a quota on its tuna fishermen. But in August, Masayuki Komatsu...
...bluefin, inspired him to become a chef. For Honda, it's the only tuna there is. "Once you experience our natural maguro, you cannot go to a conveyor-belt sushi place anymore," he says. In 2001, when the yen was still rolling, Honda helped auction a Pacific bluefin at Tsukiji for about $220,000. It was one of the most expensive fish ever sold in Japan. "Maguro," Honda explains, "has a power to move people." (Watch TIME's video "Bluefin Tuna Catch...
...favorite places when I lived in Tokyo was my neighborhood sushi bar. I'd take a seat, and the chef would prepare fish fresh from the Tsukiji market in central Tokyo. A specialty was the raw octopus, delivered on a bed of lightly vinegared rice. I liked sushi before I moved to Japan; now I love...