Buyer splashes out $1.3 million for Tokyo new year tuna

A bluefin tuna from Oma, Aomori Prefecture, which was purchased earlier in the day for 1.3 million USD, is presented to the media following the first tuna auction of the New Year at Tokyo’s Toyosu Market on January 5, 2025. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) 

TOKYO — The top bidder at a Tokyo fish market said they paid $1.3 million for a tuna on Sunday, the second highest price ever paid at an annual prestigious new year auction.

Michelin-starred sushi restauranteurs the Onodera Group said they paid 207 million yen for the 276 kilogram (608 pound) bluefin tuna, roughly the size and weight of a motorbike.

It is the second highest price paid at the opening auction of the year in Tokyo’s main fish market since comparable data started being collected in 1999.

READ: Record $3.1 million paid in New Year’s tuna auction at Japan’s new fish market

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 official 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.

READ: Japan tuna goes for $145,000 as pandemic dampens New Year auction

But the highest ever auction price was 333.6 million yen for a 278 kilogram 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 were discouraged from dining out and restaurants had limited operations.