Would you pay $50,000 for a goldfish?
Mar. 12th, 2009 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerThe lunchtime public TV show usually visits somewhere in Japan -- furusato, which is kind of hometown, or home country. But today we had an auction. With huge koi.
And the centerpiece was the sale of one that went for 5,600,000 yen -- which is roughly $50,000. The winning buyer was from Singapore, talking on a cell phone to someone while bidding. The bidding on that fish started at about $8000 and quickly went up.
Mitsuko and I pondered briefly whether the fish would get a first class seat or just business on the way to Singapore. It is kind of interesting thinking about how you transport a fish like that.
And the centerpiece was the sale of one that went for 5,600,000 yen -- which is roughly $50,000. The winning buyer was from Singapore, talking on a cell phone to someone while bidding. The bidding on that fish started at about $8000 and quickly went up.
Mitsuko and I pondered briefly whether the fish would get a first class seat or just business on the way to Singapore. It is kind of interesting thinking about how you transport a fish like that.
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Date: 2009-03-13 03:33 pm (UTC)It sounds like the guy was buying it for his client back home anyway. A rich client.
Honestly tho, I do think some people are quite serious about 'koi'...as it symbolizes good luck and all that.
Imagine if you'd spent few millions in building this awesome Chinese Garden (http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com/)... I think 50k is a small price to bring that garden to the next level. I'm sure the owner could even make some cash off tourists visiting the garden just for that huge 'lucky' koi.
Last time I went to one in Vancouver, I really did stare at the ponds filled with koi for good 10 minutes. Something about tranquility...sorta like Japanese Zen garden I want to visit someday.