Kiyoshi Kimura shows his record-priced tuna – Screengrab/Social media X.
Kiyomura Corp owner will serve millionaire fish at standard prices nationwide.
Tokyo’s New Year fish auction is a traditional event held in the Toyosu fish market, the biggest in the world.
On Monday (5) the owner of a Japanese sushi chain shattered all records by paying $3.24 million (510 million yen) for a single bluefin tuna.
Yes, you read it right: over 3 million dollars.
Fox Business reported:
“The top bidder for the prized 536-pound tuna was Kiyomura Corp., the Tokyo-based operator of popular sushi restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai. The bid broke Kiyomura’s previous record of $2.1 million (333.6 million yen) in 2019.
Kiyomura owner Kiyoshi Kimura told reporters that he did not expect to pay so much for the fish, but ‘the price shot up before you knew it’.”
A Japanese sushi restaurant bid $3.24 million (510 million yen) for a single bluefin tuna, the highest price ever paid, at the annual New Year auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market https://t.co/qhK9vTK2CU pic.twitter.com/a6BnLuyRjb
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2026
“’I thought that (the winning bid) would come in a little bit lower, maybe around 400 million or 300 million yen, but it turned out to be over 500 million’, Kimura, known as the ‘Tuna King’, told reporters.”
The record-prize fish was caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, famed for producing the country’s best tuna.
The prize is equivalent of $13,360 per kilogram, or $6,060 per pound.
“It’s in part for good luck,” Kimura said. “But when I see a good-looking tuna, I cannot resist … I haven’t sampled it yet, but it’s got to be delicious.”
VIDEO: ‘Tuna King’ pays record $3.2 mn for bluefin at Tokyo auction
A Japanese sushi entrepreneur has paid a record $3.2 million for a giant bluefin tuna at a prestigious annual new year auction in Tokyo’s main fish market, smashing the previous all-time high#AFPVertical pic.twitter.com/vJD071u9yN
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 5, 2026
Read more:
PETA Tried to Guilt People on International Sushi Day, But Community Notes Sliced and Diced It Instead
The post MILLIONAIRE CATCH: Bluefin Tuna Sells for Record Price in Japan’s New Year Auction – Sushi Chain Owner Pays Over $3 Million for ‘Good Looking’ Fish appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.