This Tuna Sold for HOW Much?! Bluefin Nets New Record at Tokyo Auction

Winning bidder Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co. , poses with a bluefin tuna in front of his Sushi-Zanmai restaurant near Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. The bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 155.40 million yen, or about $1,763,000, in the first auction of the year at the fish market. The tuna was caught off Oma in Aomori prefecture. (AP)
A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, blasting last year’s record of $736,000 out of the water.
The 489-pound fish caught off northeastern Japan fetched 155.4 million yen at the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market. That works out to about $3,603 per pound of the glistening pink and red meat.
Winning bidder Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, acknowledged to a Japanese news agency that “the price was a bit high,” but said he wanted to “encourage Japan.” The Japanese eat 80 percent of the bluefin tuna caught worldwide, according to the Associated Press.
Kimura, who set last year’s tuna auction record as well, served the fish to his customers later in the day.

Kimura slices up the 489-pound bluefin tuna he purchased at record price to serve his customers. (Getty Images)
Environmentalists say stocks of bluefin tuna are on a dangerous decline due to overfishing to meet sushi demand.
“Everything we’re hearing is that there’s no good news for the Pacific Bluefin [species],” Amanda Nickson, director of the Washington-based Pew Environmental Group’s global tuna conservation campaign, told the AP. “We’re seeing a very high value fish continue to be overfished.”

A block of meat from a 489-pound bluefin tuna, purchased earlier in the day for a record price, is sliced up for customers at sushi restaurant Sushi-Zanmai near Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market on Jan. 5, 2013. (Getty Images)

A customer selects a piece of fat tuna sushi made from a 489-pound bluefin tuna, purchased earlier in the day for a record price and sliced up for customers at sushi restaurant Sushi-Zanmai near Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market on Jan. 5, 2013. (Getty Images)
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Comments (76)
FISH_BONE
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:34pmWhen the GSA goes to Vegas to spend our money, they buy their tuna by the hour, not by the pound.
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sillyfreshness
Posted on January 6, 2013 at 1:35amUmmmm yum. Radioactive tuna from northeast Japan. My favorite.
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JQuentinEvermann
Posted on January 6, 2013 at 1:34pmIs it just me, or does that sushi look very sloppy?
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Joe_The_Patriot
Posted on January 6, 2013 at 8:24pmLooks like TORO or OTORO to me….. Very delicious…
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MisterSarcastic
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:25pm¥. That’s all I have to say about this story.
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DesdemonasCrew
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:24pmNow there is a guy who knows how to “tune” a fish.
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JQuentinEvermann
Posted on January 6, 2013 at 1:33pmHey oh!
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South Philly Boy
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:19pmSo now I guess I’ll Never get a chance to taste it.
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4PERCENTER
Posted on January 7, 2013 at 12:50amTypical Japanese culture. It’s not about the taste, it’s about the first tuna of the new year. Fat tuna has more taste than lean tuna. Kiyoshi was just showing off! Most Asians like to flaunt their money. But the ones that are humble would not be caught dead pulling a stunt like this. First, sushi is po’ folks’ food! I mean, look at it! Shushi means “on rice”. You only get about 400 grains of rice on a traditional order of shushi (2 pcs.)! The little slivers of food you get on top, was to the Buddhist monks, a DAY’S MEAL! As a good Buddhist, that is all you should desire…right! WRONG!!! They were just PO’ and trying to deny it! They couldn’t even afford FIRE, which is why about half of the stuff that goes on Sushi is RAW! The rest is marinated or slightly cooked. I’ve had 800 lb tuna from off the Carolinas, where there are still MONSTER tunas. It was only about $80,000. A serving was $18, which was high at the time, but it melts in you mouth like butter!!! It is truly a once in a lifetime experience (OK, at $18, more than once in a lifetime)! The serving you see on this sight probably sold for $300 a pop! That covers the cost of the fish, and the extras with the meal are PROFIT! Japanese will spend $600-$1200 easy, just to say they had some, PLUS extras, at least equal to the Super Toro! Kiyoshi made a good business decision, and a KILLING!
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Speak2Truth
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 3:20pm4PERCENTER – historically speaking, lobster was also poor man’s food, something the fishermen would eat for sustenance. Civilized people with money would not touch the stuff. Eventually, spreading demand for this cheap, abundant crustacean led to commercial trapping, reducing the quantity and size of lobsters as they did not get to reach a ripe old age. This drove up the price and a higher price indicated a higher value product and voila! Rich man’s food!
Just like the sushi. Endangered, scarce fish like the tuna in this story are now rich man’s food.
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OlefromMN
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:19pmThat thing has nothing on Charlie. Who’s the best tasting? Yea that’s right fat boy tuna! Who’s your daddy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Wy_BRFElc
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jimmymac1
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:06pmI guess it is all relative, a two square foot condo in Japan sells for the same exact amount.
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Apple Bite
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:50pmMmmm, look at that red juicy tender meat….
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thegodfather
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:49pmOh crap….those failed Whale War pinheads will be trying to protect the tuna next.
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jwpowers41
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 8:36pmwait until bluefin are extinct!!!!!!!!
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lassiegirldawn
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:48pmAfter eating that tuna, you will glow in the dark.
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Bugleboy99
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:36pmHa! I wanted to make Hubby a tuna sandwich for lunch but I used home-canned chicken instead. Mighty tasty and superior to mercury saturated tuna.
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truthnstuff
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:38pmWhen I mix Mayo, onions, celery with the tuna I can’t tell the difference between $1 or $100,000.
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FISH_BONE
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:44pmWhy would you ruin perfectly good food by mixing it with onions and celery?
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psadie
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:28pmYuck, the waters there still have radiation and so do the fish, polar bears and seals.
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redogfirebird
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:49pmHahahaha! Good one PSADIE! I was looking for some where to go to find Polar Bears so now I know I need to go to Japan to find them! You must be listening to the same people that were protesting oil drilling off the coast of Kivilina because they said it would disrupt the Caribou migration! I think only the easily fooled people believe Caribou migrate across the ocean! Maybe they use water wings! Hahaha
On a serious note, I don’t think I would eat Tuna caught off the coast of Japan for a while yet either for the same reason but please don’t go overboard, peace
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RedHarley
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:22pmI agree with not eating the tuna right now……..BUT, a nice Polar Bear tenderloin sounds yummy.
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christhefanatic
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 8:17pmBite of tuna…don’t swallow…return to US…sell on ebay.
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blanco5
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:20pmI could use a tuna fish sandwich right about now.
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LimaBean
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:18pmbleh, don’t like bluefin, the taste is too strong. Prefer albacore.
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WildschweinJager
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:59pmSomething sounds fishy here…..
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WildschweinJager
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:23pm3 grand per pound?
That is insanity.
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The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:57pmMaybe we can get them hooked on a new fish species…like “Welfare-Tuna”…it will have a little more fat than they are used to and a slight bruise below the hairline…but if served with enough soy sauce it should still be quite tasty.
Best part? It won’t cost $5000.00 a pound…in fact, we’ll pay them to take them off of our hands.
We’ll worry about the morals when they are also an “endangered species.”
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lassiegirldawn
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:56pmOff of the coast of Japan, do they realize how much radiation is in that fish?????
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DesdemonasCrew
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:22pmno I don’t, genius. And I’ll bet you don’t know either.
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AmericaMustBeFree
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:21pmThe guy has more money than sense!! Oh well, its his money!
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skimmer57
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:12pmThe only reson this fish is so expensive is that when they cut it open they found it had eaten three pairs of Beck’s$129.99 blue jeans!
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FISH_BONE
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:30pmSKIMMER: You really are an A-hole; however, that comment was funny.
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woodyee
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:14pmI think there is a market for restaurants selling endangered species meat. I mean, there is such profligate LYING about “rare” species – either for the prevention of progress, profit, politics, or false devaluation of property value for expediting faster and/or cheaper sales or any combination of these – and a lot of those species are really quite abundant.
Let’s see – A bag of Sacramento Valley Delta Smelt, dried and lightly salted (sea-salt, of course) crusted in sea-weed, to munch with beer; whole-roasted Spotted Owl braised with a light rosemary-garlic sauce and served on a bed of buttered spinach; Boneless Kangaroo Rat Soup served in a piping hot beef-broth with Asian noodles, and bean-sprouts, basil and lemon slices on the side (add a few drops of Sriracha sauce – mmmmwa!)…
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satotbs
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:31pmMade me laugh out loud. Good job Woodyee. How about some CCC for desert? (California Condor Cookies) with high fructose sugar yum yum.
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redogfirebird
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 3:51pmmaking me hungry! Ha
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Fishmanone
Posted on January 6, 2013 at 5:40amCan I get a bowl of sea turtle soup with that please????
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Stevsea
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:11pmShop Rite’s can can sale this week is selling this stuff for $.59/can.
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stopprintn
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:08pmWonder what they will pay for some canned bullheads ?
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crackerone
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 1:59pmThe tuna and a side of Kobe beef were headed for Hawaii, before the auction ended.
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TJexcite
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 1:56pmWhen Tuna goes for that much, one just has to wonder how much Whale meat or Shark Fin goes for. Have they kept that market so under ground that the price has not gone so far out that you are buying it by the ounce like drugs. Can those that want whale meat can still find it and that market is now small that the cost is not astronomical.
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Tal-El
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:11pmActually whale meat is quite readily available in Japan in season (just about now) for a reasonable price. I’ve had it many times. It’s black and tastes kind of like liver.
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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:40pmI’ve had whale and seal meat. Yuck, they can have it all.
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woodyee
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 1:50pmNice blade (2nd photo from the bottom). I like the thick tang! I wonder how much those 2 slices of sushi sold for?
“Everything we’re hearing is that there’s no good news for the Pacific Bluefin [species],” Amanda Nickson, director of the Washington-based Pew Environmental Group’s global tuna conservation campaign, told the AP. – Well sweetheart, that’s probably because the only bad news we hear comes from you.
What ISN’T the Pew organization involved in?
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Lt_Scrounge
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:27pm<>
Anything productive that will actually improve the quality of life for anyone but themselves?
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banjarmon
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 1:39pmSorry Charlie RIP!!!
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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 2:16pmUnfortunetely, Charlie died of mercury poisioning years ago, even the sharks wouldn’t eat him.
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TIMEBOMB
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 1:36pmAs your Marxist gay ruler I have an aversion to tuna.
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FISH_BONE
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 4:32pmBut you certainly love the sausage.
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TIMEBOMB
Posted on January 5, 2013 at 5:37pmMiles of it yes.
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