Sunday Special: Herring buyers quickly pack up the herring they purchased at the local wholesale auction this morning in Otaru. Typically, fish auctions don’t happen on Sundays here, but they make an exception during herring season. Today’s auction only took three minutes– herring season is winding down and the daily catch is getting smaller. During the peak of the season, they’d auction off about around 60 tons of herring per day. (KCAW/Rose)

KCAW’s Katherine Rose continues her assignment in Japan this week, where she’s looking into the industry and culture of herring. Today, Rose tracks the herring to an early-morning wholesale auction in the city of Otaru, where, in a lightning-fast process that lasts under four minutes, buyers stake their claim to thousands of boxes of hatchery-produced herring – all of which will be processed and retailed in Japan.

Rose’s trip is a project of KCAW and the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism.