A 243-kilogram bluefin tuna has fetched a record 510 million yen — about $3.2 million — at Tokyo’s first fish auction of 2026. The sale happened early January 5 at Toyosu Market during Japan’s annual New Year tuna auction, where top wholesalers and sushi chains compete for the year’s most prestigious catch.
Although the fish will eventually be served to customers, the opening auction is largely symbolic. Buyers pay extreme premiums for prestige, publicity, and the honor of starting the year on top.
The winning bid came from Kiyomura Corp., owner of the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain, led by Kiyoshi Kimura. The purchase broke Kimura’s own previous record from 2019, when he paid 334 million yen, around $2.1 million, for another bluefin tuna.
Even with rising prices in recent years — including a 207 million yen sale in 2025 — nothing came close to the scale of this year’s auction. At this price, the tuna worked out to roughly $13,000 per kilogram.
The eye-watering figure reflects marketing power more than market value, with record bids acting as global advertising for restaurants rather than a true measure of the fish’s worth. Still, it’s a remarkable price for an equally remarkable catch.