Last week, Japan celebrated Setsubun, a holiday where people try to invite good fortune into their homes. Part of the custom has evolved from throwing beans to invite good fortune and ward off evil spirits to eating giant sushi rolls called ehomaki, or lucky direction sushi roll.
In the basement of Shinjuku Isetan in Tokyo, there is a sushi roll that costs 10,800 yen. Named “Tokusen Kaisen Jyuni Hitoe Maki”, this sushi roll is wrapped in gold leaf. It contains 12 main ingredients that has been carefully selected from places across Japan.
It contains tuna, Japanese puffer fish, oval squid, steamed abalone, and raw sea urchin, among other delicious foods. To keep the cost from going out of control, the sushi roll is served in a plastic tray with two pieces of colored tissue paper.