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Japan's first tuna auction of the new year, the highest price for one fish was 350 million won.

There is also an analysis that the price that has more than doubled in a year is a sign of economic recovery, but the problem of high prices and low wages is still so high that even the Japanese prime minister asks for a raise.



Correspondent Park Sang-jin from Tokyo.



<Reporter> This



is the first tuna auction of the new year at the Tokyo Fish Market.



If you win a bid for high-quality tuna at the first auction, large sashimi restaurants flock to it because of good luck.



This year, one 212kg tuna was sold for about 350 million won of our money.



[Sakagami/Tuna winning company official: There was a period of stagnation due to corona, but I hope I can give you happiness on this occasion.]



In the case of the New Year's tuna auction, the highest bid price for one tuna in 2019 rose to 3.3 billion won, but the corona As the price plummeted due to the spread, it fell to 160 million won last year.



The price has more than doubled in a year, and it is interpreted as a signal of economic recovery due to the mitigation of Corona 19.



However, the problem is that the high price situation is still the same as last year.



The price of more than 7,000 items including food and beverages will increase by April this year.



[I tried to buy cucumbers (too expensive), but gave up.]



On the other hand, real wages have declined by 3.8% compared to a year ago, and wages have not risen in line with rising prices, raising complaints that the livelihood of ordinary people is getting more and more difficult.



Prime Minister Kishida is even asking the business world to raise his salary.



[Kishida/Prime Minister of Japan: Please make sure to raise wages that exceed the inflation rate.]



While high prices are expected to continue for the time being, there is also a prospect that if real wages do not rise, consumption will contract and hinder economic recovery.



(Video coverage: Han Cheol-min · Moon Hyun-jin, video editing: Choi Eun-jin, CG: Choi Jae-young)