News On Japan

Salmon nets highest price in 5 years at this year's first auction

SAPPORO - This year's first salmon auction at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market saw the highest prices in 5 years and salmon sizes overall larger than last year.

About 230 salmon from the brand "Ginsei," mainly caught along the Pacific coast of Hidaka, were put up for auction, with prices climbing to 23,500 yen, the highest in five years.

Naoki Kawai, from Takahashi Fisheries, commented, "We are expecting a good harvest similar to last year, so we anticipate that prices will decrease accordingly in the future. We have high hopes for that."

Starting next week, fishing is expected to begin in the Sea of Japan and along the Okhotsk coast, marking the full onset of the autumn salmon season.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."

The rainy season ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions on July 20 as strengthening high pressure brought intense heat across Japan, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 C in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, and Kofu.

Severe heat spread across Japan on July 20 as a Pacific high-pressure system covered much of the country, pushing the temperature in central Tokyo to 35 degrees Celsius for the first time this year.

Apple has raised prices for iPhones sold in Japan, with the top-end iPhone 17 Pro Max now costing more than 210,000 yen, as the prolonged weakness of the yen increases the local cost of products priced and managed in US dollars.

Japan is likely to face increasingly long and dangerously hot summers as global temperatures continue to rise, with advanced climate simulations also pointing to more frequent torrential rain, rising seas and accelerating ice loss by the end of the century.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Food NEWS

Kura Sushi has opened its second premium conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Tokyo, introducing a menu of higher-grade seafood and same-day deliveries from Hokkaido by bullet train as the company seeks to stand out in Shinjuku’s fiercely competitive dining market.

A single bunch of Ishikawa Prefecture's premium Ruby Roman grapes sold for 1 million yen at the season's first auction in Kanazawa on Friday, putting the price of each grape at about 30,000 yen.

The average cost of preparing curry rice at home fell for the first time in two months as lower rice prices offset rising pork costs, while potatoes and onions are also expected to become cheaper.

Japan’s breakfast market is gaining new momentum, with Starbucks launching morning offerings at some locations in May and a growing number of newcomers entering the increasingly lively sector.

The first Pacific saury of the season landed in Hokkaido fetched a record 1.112 million yen per kilogram at an auction in Sapporo on July 10, with one fish later displayed at a retail price of 216,000 yen.

Wasabi, a food ingredient native to Japan, has long been valued not only for enhancing the flavor of other foods but also for its reported antibacterial and antioxidant properties, making it an essential part of the Japanese table.

Mos Food Services, operator of the Japan-born hamburger chain Mos Burger, is riding a strong recovery, with sales surpassing 100 billion yen for the first time in the year ended March 2026 and both revenue and profit reaching record highs.

A Nepalese manager of a busy Indian restaurant in Kodaira, Tokyo, says he fears for the future of his business after Japan tightened the requirements for foreign entrepreneurs seeking to stay in the country under the business manager visa.