Getty Image / Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
The main fish market in Toyko, Japan, the Toyosu fish market, has a long history of putting the first prized bluefin tuna of the year up for auction and bidders spend extravagant amounts on it in hopes of bringing good fortune in the year ahead. It often turns into a bidding war with the seafood and restaurant industry’s biggest players trying to outspend each other for notoriety.
In 2019, Kiyoshi Kimura aka the ‘Tuna King‘ of Japan set a record after buying a 613-pound bluefin tuna for 333.6 million yen and he just smashed his own record.
‘Tuna King’ of Japan Smashes Bluefin Tuna Record At Auction
When the Toyosu fish market opened in Tokyo, the Sushi King of Japan, Kiyoshi Kimura who operates the Kiyomura Corporation which owns an international chain of Sushi Zanmai restaurants, forked over $3.2 million for a 535lb bluefin tuna. This smashed the record for the most ever spent on a single tuna at the Toyosa fish market. The next year the first tuna would sell for only $1.8 million.
After winning the auction, Kiyoshi Kimura told media outlets “the year’s first tuna brings good luck.” Adding that he thought the final price would actually be a bit lower, saying “I’d thought we would be able to buy a little cheaper, but the price soared before you knew it.”
I’m all for superstition and I am on board with the idea that some mystical gift toward the industry can possibly bring good luck upon everyone… But then, do you eat it? They have a special sword for carving up the prized tuna so it definitely gets eaten.
But to spend $3.2 million on a fish in pursuit of good luck and then eat that fish seems odd to me. Is it a gift to yourself? Or an offering to the cosmic powers in pursuit of good fortune? W
Well, the annual auction began promptly at 5am local time and within hours the fish was being served at Sushi Zanmai restaurants across Japan, according to the BBC. So that answers that.
Getty Image / JIJI PRESS / AFP
The prices fluctuate drastically year over year. In 2025, the Toyosu fish market opened with a winning bid of 207 million yen or about $1.32 million USD. So it was nearly a $2M jump year over year.