This tuna is worth savouring: It cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
A bluefin tuna caught off north-eastern Japan fetched a record ¥56.49 million, or about $736,000, today in the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market.
The price for the 269-kg tuna beat last year's record of ¥32.49 million.
The price translates to ¥210,000 yen a kg, or $1,238 a pound also a record, said Yutaka Hasegawa, a Tsukiji market official.
Though the fish is undoubtedly high quality, the price has more to do with the celebratory atmosphere that surrounds the first auction of the year.
The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, President of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he wanted to give Japan a boost after last year's devastating tsunami.
Bluefin tuna is prized for its tender red meat.
The best slices of fatty bluefin called “o-toro” here can sell for ¥2,000 ($24) per piece at Tokyo sushi bars.
A Sushi-Zanmai shop in Tsujiki was selling fatty tuna sushi from the prized fish for ¥418 ($5.45) apiece today.