Buyer splashes out 207m yen for Tokyo new-year tuna
It is the second-highest price paid at the prestigious opening auction of the year in the main fish market there since 1999
THE top bidder at a Tokyo fish market said that they paid 207 million yen (S$1.8 million) for a tuna on Sunday (Jan 5).
Michelin-starred sushi restauranteurs the Onodera Group said that they paid the amount for the 276 kg bluefin tuna, roughly the size and weight of a motorbike.
It is the second-highest price paid at the prestigious opening auction of the year in Tokyo’s main fish market since comparable data started being collected in 1999.
The powerful buyers have now paid the top price for five years straight – winning bragging rights and a lucrative frenzy of media attention in Japan.
“The first tuna is something meant to bring in good fortune,” Onodera president Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction. “Our wish is that people will eat this and have a wonderful year.”
The Onodera Group paid 114 million yen for the top tuna last year.
But the highest-ever auction price was 333.6 million yen for a 278 kg bluefin in 2019, as the fish market was moved from its traditional Tsukiji area to a modern facility in nearby Toyosu.
The record bid was made by self-proclaimed “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura, who operates the Sushi Zanmai national restaurant chain.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the new-year tunas commanded only a fraction of their usual top prices, as the public was discouraged from dining out and restaurants had limited operations.
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