525-pound mammoth bluefin tuna sells for as much as $800,000 after being snapped up by a sushi chain at auction in Tokyo
- Bluefin tuna weighing almost 525 pounds was sold at Tokyo's largest fish market
- It was purchased by wholesaler Yamayuki and a sushi chain for almost $800,000
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A bluefin tuna weighing almost 250 kilos has sold for almost US$800,000 at Tokyo's largest fish market.
The most expensive piece of seafood at the Japanese capital's fish market was bought by wholesaler Yamayuki and sushi chain Onodera for almost $800,000.
This means that they have now been buying the most expensive fish on the market for four years in a row.
“If we were going to do it, we wanted to win,” Yamayuki President Yukitaka Yamaguchi told reporters after the prestigious auction.
According to The Japan TimesThe tuna will be used by the exclusive Michelin-starred restaurant Onodera, located in Tokyo's glamorous Ginza district.
This bluefin tuna, which weighs more than 500 pounds, was auctioned for a price of 114.24 million Japanese yen (approximately $857,731). It is seen here after the first tuna auction of the new year at the Toyosu Wholesale Fish Market on January 5, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan
The giant catch is checked and toned down by staff after being unloaded outside the main store of Sushi Ginza Onodera in Tokyo's Omotesando on January 5, 2024.
The most expensive piece of seafood at the Japanese capital's fish market was bought by wholesaler Yamayuki and sushi chain Onodera for almost $800,000. This means that they have now been buying the most expensive fish on the market for four years in a row.
A worker cleans the frozen tuna on display as wholesalers and buyers attend the first tuna auction of 2024 in Tokyo
Sales of the bluefin tuna, worth nearly $1 million, are raising hopes for a revival of Japan's fish prices, which have fallen in the wake of the pandemic. Pictured: Tuna Tuna is on display as wholesalers and buyers attend the auction
Fishermen view bluefin tuna during the first auction day of the new year at Toyosu Market in Tokyo, Japan on January 5, 2024
The huge price for the huge fish is the fourth highest sale since records began at the Toyosu Fish Market in 1999.
The record was set in 2019 when Kiyoshi “Tuna King” Kimura, the owner of a Japanese sushi restaurant chain, paid 333.6 million yen ($3.1 million) for a 613-pound bluefin tuna at that year's auction.
However, Kimura, who runs the Sushi Zanmai chain, reportedly admitted he paid five times more than he expected.
“The tuna looks so delicious and very fresh, but I think I did too much,” Kimura commented after the 2019 auction.
“The quality of the tuna I bought is the best,” he added at the time.
The sale of the bluefin tuna, worth nearly $1 million, offers hope for a revival of Japanese fish prices, which had fallen due to the pandemic and its impact on Japan's tourism and food and hospitality sectors.
According to the country's National Tourism Organization, the number of foreign visitors to Japan has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with the number of tourists exceeding 2 million for six consecutive months.
Although the price paid for the tuna is the highest since Kimura's record four years ago, Japan saw its biggest contraction in gross domestic product since the pandemic hit in the third quarter of 2023.