ASIA / PACIFIC
January 16, 2017
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Bluefin tuna goes for $632,000 in first Tsukiji auction of ’17
AUCTION ACTION. A prospective buyer in-
spects the quality of frozen tuna before the first auc-
tion of the year at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, on
January 5, 2017. A Japanese sushi chain boss bid a
winning 74.2 million yen ($632,000) for a 466-pound
bluefin tuna in what may be Tsukiji market’s last auc-
tion at its current site in downtown Tokyo. Last year’s
New Year auction was supposed to be the last at
Tsukiji’s current location, but the shift to a new facility
on Tokyo Bay was delayed due to soil contamination at
the former gas plant site. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
By Elaine Kurtenbach
AP Business Writer
OKYO — A Japanese sushi chain
boss bid a winning 74.2 million yen
($632,000) for a 466-pound bluefin
tuna in what may be Tsukiji market’s last
auction at its current site in downtown
Tokyo.
The winning bid for the prized but
imperilled species was the second highest
ever after a record 155.4 million yen bid in
2013 at the annual New Year auction. This
year’s price was $2,981 per kilogram,
compared with about $7,930 per kilogram
for the 2013 record-setting auction price.
Kiyomura Corp. owner Kiyoshi Kimura
posed, beaming, after the predawn New
Year auction with the gleaming, man-
sized fish, which was caught off the coast of
northern Japan’s Aomori prefecture. His
company, which runs the Sushi Zanmai
chain, often wins the annual auction.
Last year’s New Year auction was
supposed to be the last at Tsukiji’s current
location. The shift to a new facility on
T
Tokyo Bay was delayed due to soil
contamination at the former gas plant site.
Japanese are the biggest consumers of
the torpedo-shaped bluefin tuna, and
United Arab Emirates says five
diplomats killed in Afghan blast
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United Arab Emirates
(UAE) says five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in
Kandahar, Afghanistan. The UAE said it was flying the nation’s
flags at half-mast in their honor.
Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
the UAE’s prime minister and vice president, said on Twitter
that “there is no human, moral, or religious justification for the
bombing and killing of people trying to help” others.
Afghan officials previously said the blast killed five people
and wounded 12. Among the wounded were Kandahar governor
Homayun Azizia, as well as UAE ambassador Juma
Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi.
The Taliban issued a statement saying they did not plant the
bomb, instead blaming an “internal local rivalry” for the attack.
surging consumption of sushi has boosted
demand, as experts warn the species could
go extinct.
A report by the International Scientific
Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like
Species in the North Pacific Ocean last
year put the population of bluefin tuna at
2.6 percent of its “unfished” size, down
from an earlier assessment of 4.2 percent.
The Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries
Commission
tightened
international limits in 2015 as the species
remained under threat, halving the catch
of bluefin tuna under 30 kilograms from
the average caught between 2002 and
2004.
But overfishing has continued and in
some areas bluefin are harvested at triple
the levels considered sustainable.
Murakami’s new book to be released February 24 in Japan
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Haruki Mura-
kami’s new book has a title,
though its content remains
a mystery.
Kishidancho Goroshi, which
means “Murder of a Knight
Commander,” will hit Japanese
bookstores February 24, the book’s
publisher, Shinchosha Publishing
Co., said. Overseas availability isn’t
yet known. Shinchosha said the
book will have two parts, subtitled
“Emerging Ideas” and “Moving
T
world peace and nuclear energy. He
began writing while running a jazz
bar in Tokyo after finishing college.
His 1987 romantic novel Norwegian
Wood was his first best-seller,
establishing him as a young literary
star.
His most recent novel, Colorless
Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of
Pilgrimage, was released in Japan
in 2013, and a collection of short
stories, Men Without Women, was
published in 2014. His million-
seller 1Q84 in 2009 was one of his
longest novels.
Metaphor.”
The esoteric titles suggest a
contrast from the past works by the
acclaimed best-selling writer.
“The titles perhaps give you an
impression that is different from
Murakami’s past works, don’t they?
What is its content like?” Shincho-
sha said in an e-mail. The publisher
would only say more hints would
come
later.
Murakami
has
described it as a very strange story.
Murakami, 67, usually shies
away from the limelight, although
he has spoken out on issues such as
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