A top price was achieved at the New Year’s auction at the Toyosu Fish Market in Tokyo. Sushi restaurant operator Onodera paid 207 million yen (about 1.28 million euros) on Sunday for a 276-kilogram bluefin tuna.
This is the second highest price ever achieved at the annual auction.
Good luck charm for the new year
The Onodera Group, which has been awarded one Michelin star, has paid the highest price at auction for the past five years. The size and weight of the auctioned fish roughly corresponds to that of a motorcycle. “The first tuna is something that should bring good luck,” Onodera representative Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction. “We want people to eat this and have a wonderful year,” he added.
Since 1999
Last year, Onodera paid 114 million yen for the most expensive tuna. The highest price to date at the New Year’s auction in Tokyo was achieved in 2019 by a bluefin tuna weighing 278 kilograms. Self-proclaimed ‘Tuna King’ Kiyoshi Kimura, operator of the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain, paid 333.6 million yen at the time.
The data has been collected since 1999. During the Corona pandemic, tuna prices at the annual auction fell sharply due to the associated restrictions on the catering industry.
Source: Krone
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