Record $3.2 Million Tuna: Tokyo’s “Tuna King” Smashes Auction Price

At Tokyo’s prestigious annual New Year fish market auction, sushi entrepreneur Kiyoshi Kimura, known as the “Tuna King,” paid a staggering record $3.2 million (510.3 million yen) for a 243-kilogram (536-pound) bluefin tuna, smashing the previous high set in 2019.

The giant fish, caught off Japan’s northern coast, was quickly butchered and served as sushi in Kimura’s restaurant chain, selling for about $3 per roll to eager customers who celebrated the auspicious start to the year.

Conservationists from the Pew Charitable Trusts noted that the high price coincides with encouraging news of recovering Pacific bluefin tuna populations, which were once “near collapse,” and they are urging international fisheries managers to establish a long-term sustainable plan in 2026 to secure the species’ future.