So far we have kept away from this theme, in order to avoid guessworks. But recent massmedia reports gave us some useful parameters to review the matter.

The Asahi Shimbun: Tsukiji traders struggle for survival [Cached] 

The Japan Times (JT): Busy auctions mask Tsukiji decline [Cached]

Today, if any journalist had reported on status quo of Palestine without mentioning its conflict with Israel, his or her description would be regarded as including some bias not to be accepted straightforwardly. The same thing can be said about these two articles, which hilight Tsukiji fish market without mentioning its controversial relocation plan.

Both of the Asahi and JT articles emphasize eclipse of the traditional Tsukiji fish market, as if they had eaten sour grapes to represent the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) which is going to fail in relocation of the market due to its unscientific procedures, as questioned by Nature.

One can wonder about such deceptive descriptions as below.

Asahi:
A little after 4 a.m., the work is done and a truck departs for the supermarket's distribution center.

"We cannot wait for the auctions if we are going to deliver fish before the stores open," said a spokesperson for Maruto, which began the service about 10 years ago.

Most of consumers prefer to buy fresh fish or sashimi for their dinner late afternoon or in the evening, as the freshness determining taste is assured by minimising the time between purchase and intake. So, it is pointless "to deliver fish before the stores open." Retailers can sell freezed, defrosted, dried or salted fish early in their daily service.

Asahi:
Many middle traders have been left in dire straits. Their numbers have fallen from 1,000 to 738 over the past 20 years.

This described decrease of numbers of middle traders can lead to an exaggerated impression, if one ignores the fact that total quantity handled at Tsukiji shrinked by about 10 percent in recent 10 years, as we have already pointed out, in context with our protest to the TMG's assertion that Tsukiji is so short of space as to require the relocation.

As for the middle traders, "who traditionally bought from the wholesalers at auction and sold on to shops and restaurants" (Asahi), the reporter mentions none of two most important facts: (1) they play a role in the decision of fish price, and (2) their majority is core members of the protesters against the relocation of Tsukiji fish market.

"Big supermarket chains often prefer to operate outside the personal connections of the traditional auction system or outside markets" (Asahi), that is, big capitals want to decide fish price by themselves. Also, they prefer a new and vast truck center at Toyosu to the traditional market at Tsukiji. So much so, the middle traders are nothing but an obstacle for structual change in fishery distribution led by the big capitals.

However, the big capitals' way to maximise their profits by minimising cost price makes fishers poorer, as is already seen in some local areas of Japan. Similar phenomena are well observed in some tropical countries, where children know no taste of chocolates while they work at cacao plantations. Instead, it is the fair trade that is traditionally kept by the middle traders at Tsukiji, buying fish at maximum price and selling it at minimum one, along with their professional evaluation.

Also, the big capitals want to introduce an electronic trading system at Toyosu. But their modern practice to decide price without seeing actual items is doubtful for dealing fish, of which individual specificities are often significantly great.

The Asahi article is concluded as follows:

While local fish cooperatives increasingly sell to supermarkets directly, an Oita prefectural group trying to spread word of its ribbonfish, a local specialty that is eaten as sashimi, has chosen Tsukiji as the focus of its promotional efforts.

"If it gets appreciated at Tsukiji, where many restaurants buy, it will give it a (high) status," an official said.

The status would make no sense, if it would be not accompanied by higher price marked by middle traders than by big capitals.

To: Tsukiji and Structural Changes in Distribution [II]