Top tuna sold for record price

At Tokyo’s Toyosu Market on January 5—the day the market re-opened after the New Year holiday—the top bluefin tuna sold for 2,268,000 yen per kilogram, according to the Japanese-language price-reporting webpage of the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market.

The 243 kilogram fish, landed at Aomori’s Oma Port, was sold for approximately JPY 510 million (USD 3.2 million, EUR 2.9 million) to Kiyomura Corp., which operates the Sushi Zanmai chain. The price is the highest amount ever, topping the JPY 333.6 million paid by the same buyer in 2019.

In recent years, the bidding has been dominated by Kiyoshi Kimura, President of Kiyomura Corp. and a combined effort of a restaurant operator, the Onodera Group, and a seafood wholesaler, Yamayuki. Kiyomura stepped back from bidding during the period from 2021 to 2025, and this is the first time he has taken the prize since 2020.

While the eye-popping price is widely reported, making it a good publicity investment, it bears little relation to the normal price of tuna, and is not indicative of supply and demand. Rather it is a common gimmick in Japan, especially for luxury foods. For example, on the same day, a tray of white “uni” or sea urchin roe was sold at Toyosu for JPY 37.8 million yen making it more expensive than Kimura’s tuna on a weight basis.

While Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) was formerly listed as “Threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), its status has improved to “Near Threatened”. Atlantic bluefin is now "Least Concern," while Southern bluefin is "Endangered."