Chinese tourists, who tend to have a big appetite for shellfish, have increasingly pushed up prices for Ise-ebi (Japanese spiny lobster) in Okinawa fish markets to the point that many local residents can no longer afford the delicacy.
At the Makishi Public Market in the prefectural capital of Naha, foreign tourists constantly flow along the narrow passages lined with shops selling a range of seafood. Around tanks filled with lobsters, tourists haggle daily over prices with calculator-toting vendors.
The average market price of spiny lobster rose to ¥4,215 ($40) per kilogram in 2017, about double what it was in 2010, official data showed. The lobster catch totaled 5,933 kg, compared with only 102 kg in 2010, according to data provided by the Okinawa Fisheries Foundation.