January, 2025
With a range of tuna on the block, the lively auction began at 5:10 a.m. at Toyosu Market, which has become one of the capital's top tourist attractions in recent years.
The 276-kilogram tuna, caught off the coast of Oma in northeastern Aomori Prefecture, was bought jointly by a wholesaler and a company that operates the Sushi Ginza Onodera restaurant chain.
"The first tuna of the year brings good luck. We want to make people smile with food," said Shinji Nagao, the sushi restaurant's president.
In 2019, a bluefin tuna fetched 333.6 million yen, the highest price since comparable data became available in 1999, at the first New Year's auction since the iconic Tsukiji fish market was relocated to Toyosu.
But with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the price for 2021 dropped to 20.8 million yen.
The price then rose to 36.0 million yen in 2023 and 114.2 million yen in 2024."It was as fat as a cow," said 73-year-old fisherman Masahiro Takeuchi, recalling the moment he saw the giant tuna caught on a long line on Saturday morning.
"It's like a dream. I always worry about how many more years I can do this job, but I'm incredibly happy," he told reporters in Oma.