The Air Rushes Out of Blowfish Market

Blowfish, a costly and potentially deadly delicacy beloved by Japanese gourmets, is tumbling in price as the recession bites into corporate entertainment budgets.

Top-quality live fugu fetches $105 a pound in Yamaguchi district markets, down from $140 last year.

Part of fugu’s attraction for gourmets seems to be flirting with the certain death that follows consumption of its liver and ovaries, which contain tetrodotoxin.

All fugu chefs must pass a tough government test to ensure they know how to eliminate the poisonous organs.

In March, a businessman died and two bar hostesses were hospitalized after eating small pieces of fugu at a sushi bar in Nagasaki.