2013 highlighted the decline in Japan's fishery resources, with baby eel trading at ¥3 million per kilogram — more expensive than silver — and the catch quota of bluefin tuna being slashed at the December meeting of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.

Quite a lot of species are at risk of extinction.

"Japan has left overfishing unchecked, which led to a population decline in fish. Although we were aware of the severity of the situation, we didn't really get the message out to the public," a former official of the Fisheries Agency said with a sense of guilt.