A saury state: How the price of ‘autumn’s fish’ skyrocketed

The unmistakable scent of broiled fish wafts by means of a crowded outside Tokyo venue on a cloudy Sunday morning in early October.

Dozens of happi-wearing volunteers sit crouched behind rows of glowing charcoal grills, many carrying goggles to guard their eyes from the smoke. They’re flipping over freshly caught and salted Pacific saury — the star of the annual Meguro Sanma Pageant that has lengthy been a well-known autumnal taste in Japan.

“It’s completely scrumptious,” says Kotatsu Yamazaki as he helps his younger daughters chew off items of the small, elongated fish with a silvery bellow generally known as sanma in Japanese and likewise as mackerel pike in English.