Japanese restaurateur buys tuna fish for over $3 million at New Year auction

The owner of a Japanese sushi restaurant chain has set a record by paying more than $3 million for a Bluefin tuna in this year’s auction at Tokyo’s new fish market. Kiyoshi Kimura, who owns Sushizanmai chain had paid half of the amount of  2013. Regardless, organizers revealed that the price of the highest selling tuna highest-selling tuna went was around only 10 per cent of the highest-selling tuna price of 2020, in which a Bluefin tuna was sold at 193 million yen ($1.87 million), the second-highest price in history.

The bidding was the part of a larger New Year fish auction organized at a market in the city of Toyosu. In the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, however, all wholesalers wore masks and sanitized their hands as they examined tuna fishes by touching, smelling and sometimes tasting slices of the fish. In addendum, unlike in previous years, no outside visitors were allowed.

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Speaking to media reporters later, Kimura said that the rather opulent tuna looked “tasty” and “fresh”. But he added,  “I think I did too much.” Elaborating further, he said that he expected it to be between 30 million and 50 million yen or 60 million yen at the highest, but it ended up “five times more.” The Japanese restaurateur had paid 333.6 million yen or 3.1 American dollars for the 278-kilogram tuna fish, which was caught off the coast of country’s Aomori prefecture.

Has been the highest bidder for years

Previously, in 2020, Kimura paid $1.8 million for a 276-kilogram (608-pound) bluefin, and in 2019 he paid a record $3.1 million for a 278-kilogram (613-pound) fish. Kimura reportedly uses these high-cost bidding for publicity and to gain media coverage for his "successful" sushi chain. 

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