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Truth be told, the auctioneer’s
performance at the tuna sale, while
entertaining, completely baffled me.
Whatever he was bellowing went
far beyond what my rudimentary
Japanese language skills could handle.
I turned to my Japanese friend for help.
“What’s he saying?”
“I have no idea,” she replied. Of
course, all of the bidders, many of
whom have been working here their
whole life, knew exactly what was
going on.
After some auctions, two bidders
would approach each other and begin
playing
janken
— what the Japanese
call rock-paper-scissors. Odd time for a
game of that, I thought, until I realized
they were using it to decide the winner
of an auction that had run out of time
and needed to be settled.
The tuna auction
The auctioneers and bidders made fast
work of trading the tuna the morning I
was there, with the floor wiped clean
in little more than 30 minutes. It’s big
business, with some fish selling for
many thousands of dollars.
In the area where the main auction
takes place, you’ll see spread around
the floor both frozen and fresh tuna.
The frozen ones are from waters
far beyond Japan, and if you can
understand the Japanese
katakana
script (it’s surprisingly easy to master),
you’ll be able to read the label on each
of the fish and discover from which
country it came.
You might want to keep in mind
that some of the fish at the auction
may include southern bluefin tuna,
currently listed by the International
Union of Conservation of Nature as
an endangered species. Other types
Top and left: Labels include information,
such as country of origin. Above: Bidders
decide a buy with rock-paper-scissors.
09LKH Smile
Ser 4
068-075 Feature 4 - Osaka.indd 73
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