The annual New Year tuna auction in Tokyo, Japan, saw the first bluefin of 2022 sold for just under JPY 16.9 million (US$ 145,996).
Weighing around 211 kg, the fish was caught off Japan’s northern coast in the Aomori region, news agencies have reported. It was sold at the Toyosu market on 5 January to a joint bid from Yukitaka Yamaguchi, President of Japanese intermediary wholesaler Yamayuki, and the Onodera Group restaurant chain.
The tuna was later taken to a restaurant in Tokyo’s Omotesando district where it was sliced and served.
Japan’s first auction of the year is held at Tokyo’s largest fish market (previously Tsukiji), where fish wholesalers make a tradition of participating in the event in the hope that it brings good luck as well as significant publicity.
The highest price paid for the first bluefin tuna in the auction was JPY 333.6 million ($2.9 million) in 2019, the second-highest price of JPY 193.2 million ($ 1.7 million) was achieved a year later.
