A bluefin tuna was sold for 193 million yen ($1.8 million) in the first auction of 2020 at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market, for the second-highest price ever paid. The weighing of the fish which was captured by a boat that was operating around the port Oma in the northeast of the archipelago is 276 kilos. The price per kilo is 700,000 yen ($6,500), as reported by Efe news.
The owner of the restaurant chain called Sushi Zanmai which is headquartered in Tokyo, Kiyoshi Kiyomura, bought the fish on Sunday.
"I'm even more happy as this was the first auction in Reiwa," said Kiyomura, as cited by Kyodo news agency, in reference to the new imperial era that the country entered in May last year with Emperor Naruhito's arrival to the throne.
Kiyomura has been the highest bidder in eight of the first nine auctions of the year that have been held since 2011.
He holds the record for forking out the most ever on a tuna - 333.6 million yen ($3.1 million), which he paid at the 2019 edition of the New Year auction.
The tuna he managed to acquire Sunday will be served at his restaurant in Tsukiji, where the fish market was formerly located, according to the company.
