An enormous 535-pound bluefin tuna offered for a document 510 million yen ($3.2 million) on the first public sale of 2026 at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market.
The highest bidder for the prized tuna on the predawn public sale on Monday was Kiyomura Corp. whose proprietor, Kiyoshi Kimura, runs the favored Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura, who has received the annual motion many occasions prior to now, broke the earlier document of 334 million yen ($2.1 million) he set in 2019.
Kimura later instructed reporters he hoped to pay a bit much less for it, however “the worth shot up earlier than you knew it.”
Kim Kyung-Hoon / REUTERS
The public sale began when the bell rang, and the ground was full of torpedo-shaped fish with their tails reduce off so bidders might look at meat particulars reminiscent of shade, texture and fattiness whereas strolling across the rows of tuna.
The dear fish was caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, a area broadly regarded for producing a few of the nation’s best tuna.
“It is partly for good luck,” Kimura mentioned. “However once I see trying tuna, I can’t resist … I have not sampled it but, however it’s acquired to be scrumptious.”
Lots of of tuna are offered every day on the early morning public sale, however costs are considerably increased than ordinary for the Oma tuna, particularly on the celebratory New 12 months public sale.
The large tuna was taken to Sushizanmai’s headquarters, then sliced up and distributed to its eateries nationwide, the Reuters information company experiences. The tuna dishes will probably be offered to clients at their ordinary worth, Kimura mentioned.
As a result of reputation of tuna for sushi and sashimi, Pacific bluefin tuna was beforehand a threatened species resulting from local weather change and overfishing, however its inventory is recovering following conservation efforts.
