Bluefin tuna earns record $3.2 million at Tokyo fish auction

A giant bluefin tuna caused a stir at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market on Monday morning, fetching a record price of 510.3 million yen ($3.2 million; £2.4 million) at the market’s first auction of the year.

The winning bidder for the 243-kilogram fish was Kiyomura Corp, the operator of the popular sushi chain Sushi Zanmai, which has branches domestically and internationally.

“The first tuna of the year will bring good luck,” said company president Kiyoshi Kimura, a familiar figure at the annual New Year’s auction, Kyodo News reported.

Mr. Kimura is known as the “King of Tuna” and is known to bid high prices for bluefin tuna at New Year’s auctions.

The entrepreneur told reporters after the auction that he was “surprised by the price,” according to AFP.

“I thought we could get it cheaper, but before I knew it the price had gone through the roof,” he said.

Mr. Kimura spent 56.5 million yen to buy a bluefin tuna 2012 and 155 million yen 2013 – Set price records twice.

2019 He bought a bluefin tuna for 333.6 million yen ($2.1 million; £1.6 million) – another historic price.

Despite telling reporters at the time that he thought he had “done too much,” Mr. Kimura has now broken his own record again.

The first auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market usually sees fish sold for exorbitant prices.

last yearThe first tuna at the auction was bought by Onodera Group, another food company that owns a sushi chain, for 207 million yen. The company said the fish will be available in restaurants across the country.

The frenetic atmosphere at the fish market during the pre-dawn auction has become a popular tourist attraction in Tokyo. Monday’s auction is no exception, starting around 05:00 local time (20:00 GMT).

The million-dollar tuna was sliced ​​into thin slices for customers to enjoy at Kimura’s sushi restaurant shortly after the auction.

“After eating something so auspicious for the New Year, I feel like the new year has already begun,” a customer at Mr. Kimura’s restaurant told AFP.