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-kg 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. 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. 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 were discouraged from dining out and restaurants had limited operations. — AFP