A huge bluefin tuna with a weight of 276 kilograms, sold at the Tokyo Fish Market on Sunday, sold for 193.2 million yen (about 1.8 million dollars) in the first auction on the market during the new year 2020.
The price of a kilogram of the fish was 700,000 Japanese yen ($ 6,475), and the auction won the Kimura company, which runs the sushi chain "Sushi Zanmai".
In a statement to reporters, the company's president, Kiyoshi Kimura, expressed his satisfaction that he won the first auction during the Reiwa era, referring to the new imperial era that started last May.
Tuna is caught in Oma on the northern tip of Honshu Island, the largest island in Japan, which is one of the best fishing areas for tuna in the country, and the auction is the second highest price paid for tuna in Japan since the authorities began setting records in 1999.
The highest record price for a tuna was at an auction last year, when Kimura paid himself 333.6 million yen (about 3.1 million dollars) for a tuna weighing 278 kilograms.
It is reported that the Japanese are among the most consumers of bluefin tuna in the world, and the over-fishing of this species has caused worldwide criticism of Japan.