Hiroshi Nakajima, an executive of Tokyo seafood wholesaler Hohsui Corp. He was referring to 3 million yen a month the company is paying in electricity bills for a state-of-the-art freezer at the Toyosu fish market that remains empty because the relocation plan from Tsukiji has been put on ice. (Asahi Shimbun)
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We built the best refrigeration facility in the world, but the electricity to the freezer cannot be turned off now because it would damage the equipment.
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Moonraker
I think I would only have switched it on at the last possible moment and definitely after it was completely sure the move was going ahead.
Alfie Noakes
Send the bill to Shintaro Ishihara. He's got loadsofmoney!
JeffLee
If merely switching it off "damages the equipment" then it probably isn't "the best refrigeration facility in the world."
Speed
A freezer you can't turn off the electricity for. Sounds pretty "advanced".
kurisupisu
No worries! They could use it to store dead bodies or something!
It is about time that people began to think outside the box for goodness sake.....
M3M3M3
@Moonraker
Easier said than done. If you build a massive freezer like this, you cannot resist turning it on and freezing something at the first available opportunity. Especially if it's the middle of summer.
Strangerland
I found it interesting enough to tell my wife about it after reading it (and I usually don't do that).
It shows how someone has gotten screwed in a big way by this whole Toyosu fiasco, and how it's costing them an ongoing 3 million yen/month. That's as much as many people make in an entire year, and it's entirely wasted as the freezer is doing absolutely nothing.
John Montgomery
It's not designed to be turned off because there shouldn't ever be any need to turn it off in a busy marketplace. It should be permanently full of fish.
MsDelicious
Well, I hope their back up generators are someplace way up high, because when the inevitable tsunami comes along, it will definitely flow over that low lying reclaimed island.
I really do not understand given the high probability of a huge earthquake coming along and the accompanying tsunami, does Tokyo and other coastal areas keep building on reclaimed bay land.
Strangerland
Ridiculous - the government has been saying for over a decade that the fish market would be moved to Toyosu. Then the built the market and set dates for the move, and told everyone that they would have to be out of Tsukiji by a given date.
Building a new freezer isn't a bet, it's doing exactly what they were told as a business. They got screwed over because it turns out the government screwed up with the new location and didn't properly take care of the pollution issues.
Why not? They got screwed as a company, and it's costing them 3 million yen/month as a result.
Alex Einz
nobody asked em to turn it on... it was most likely a cost cutting measure - hence the bet and the loss
smithinjapan
Strangerland: "It shows how someone has gotten screwed in a big way by this whole Toyosu fiasco, and how it's costing them an ongoing 3 million yen/month."
Yes and no. It also sounds like someone jumped the gun, and also built a machine that they can't turn off for some reason -- or maybe that they actually CAN turn off but feel that if they complain about it they might pressure the people in charge enough to do as they want.
I echo what the above have said: if you can't turn it off without damaging it it is not that great.
Strangerland
That sucks. Sounds like a lawsuit about to happen.
Alex Einz
so honsui bet and lost.. no tears there