Tokyo: A blue fin tuna, prized by sushi aficionados as a high-end treat, sold on January 5 for a record price of nearly $400,000 in the year’s first auction at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market.
With the ringing of bells well before dawn, an auctioneer launched into a rapid chant as rubber-boot wearing men signaled subtly with their hands.
In moments, the 342 kg (754 lb) tuna sold for 32.49 million yen ($396,700), the highest price for a single fish since record-keeping began in 1999 — which breaks down to a whopping 95,000 yen ($1,157) per kg.
Tuna is one of the fish dearest to Japanese hearts, and blue fin one of the most prized of tunas, with Japan consuming over half of the world’s blue fin even as supplies dwindle and fishing quotas are tightened.
