TOKYO, Jan. 6 — As major wholesale markets across Japan held their first auctions of fruits and vegetables on Jan. 5, seven Takarabune treasure boats carrying colorful vegetables were auctioned at Tokyo’s Ota wholesale market.
Two giant boats and five large boats were put on auction and the giant boats were sold for 500,000 yen each and the large boats for 150,000 yen each, the same prices as last year.
In an address to buyers, Kota Kawada, president of major wholesaler Tokyo Seika Co., said, “The business environment is expected to remain challenging in 2025, but the Ota market will take on a central role in leading Japan’s food scene.”
Intermediate wholesaler Funasho Group bought one giant boat and three large treasure boats.
The first auction of the year for cherries grown in Yamagata Prefecture was also conducted on the day and Funasho put in a winning bid to purchase 500 grams of Sato Nishiki cherries — each measuring 25 millimeters or more in diameter and placed in a box made of paulownia wood — at a record high price of 1.5 million yen.
Many items were traded at higher prices than in an average first trading day of the year.
A case containing eight cabbages from Aichi Prefecture, weighing 10 kilograms in total, was sold at 6,480 yen, five times the price posted in last year’s first trading.
A wholesaler of Tokyo forecasts that the trend of high prices, reflecting vegetable shortages brought about by the recent low temperatures and lack of rain, is likely to continue throughout this month.
Treasure boats decorated with vegetables are displayed for the first auction of the year at Ota wholesale market in Tokyo’s Ota Ward on Jan. 5.