Tokyo
AP
—
At the first auction of 2026 at Tokyo’s Toyosu Market, a giant bluefin tuna weighing 243 kilograms (535 pounds) sold for a record 510 million yen ($3.2 million).
At Monday’s pre-dawn auction, the highest bidder for the precious tuna was Kiyomura Shoji, a company run by Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of the popular Sushi Zanmai chain.
Kimura, who has won many annual action races in the past, broke the previous record of 334 million yen ($2.1 million) set in 2019.
Kimura later told reporters that he had hoped to buy it a little cheaper, but “the price shot up before I knew it.”
When the bell rang, the auction began, and torpedo-shaped fish with their tails cut off were lined up on the floor, allowing bidders to wander through the rows of tuna, examining the meat’s details such as color, texture, and fat.
The expensive fish is caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, widely known for producing Japan’s finest tuna, and costs 2.1 million yen ($13,360) per kilogram ($6,060 per pound).
“It’s also for good luck,” Kimura said. “But when I see tuna that looks delicious, I can’t resist…I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sure it’s delicious.”
Hundreds of tuna are sold every day at early morning auctions, but the price of Oma’s tuna is much higher than usual, especially during the New Year’s auction.
Thanks to the popularity of tuna for sushi and sashimi, Pacific bluefin tuna was once threatened with extinction due to climate change and overfishing, but its stocks are recovering as a result of conservation efforts.
