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Record-breaking tuna sells for $3.2m at Tokyo auction
A massive bluefin tuna weighing 243 kilograms became the most expensive fish ever sold at Tokyo's Toyosu market on Monday, fetching 510.3 million yen ($3.2 million) in the year's first auction.
Who bought the prized fish?
The winning bid came from Kiyomura Corp, the company behind the popular Sushi Zanmai chain, which operates restaurants across Japan and internationally. Company president Kiyoshi Kimura, known as the "Tuna King," has a history of paying top dollar for bluefin tuna at New Year's auctions.
Kimura told reporters he was taken aback by the final price. "I thought we might get it a little cheaper, but the bidding shot up before I knew it," he said, according to AFP.
A tradition of sky-high bids
Kimura has set multiple records at Tokyo's tuna auctions over the past decade. In 2012, he paid 56.5 million yen for a bluefin, followed by 155 million yen in 2013. His 2019 purchase-a tuna sold for 333.6 million yen ($2.1 million)-stood as the previous record. Despite calling that bid "excessive" at the time, he has now surpassed it.
Last year's first tuna sold for 207 million yen to Onodera Group, another sushi chain operator, which distributed the fish across its restaurants.
Why the high prices?
New Year's auctions at Toyosu are steeped in tradition, with the first tuna of the year believed to bring good fortune. The pre-dawn bidding frenzy has also become a major tourist draw, with Monday's auction starting at 5:00 a.m. local time (20:00 GMT Sunday).
"The year's first tuna brings good luck," Kimura said, as quoted by Kyodo News.
From auction block to sushi counter
Within hours of the sale, the record-breaking tuna was being prepared for customers at Sushi Zanmai locations. One diner told AFP they felt "lucky" to start the year by eating such an auspicious dish.
