Michelin-starred restaurant chain buys 276-kilogram tuna carcass "fat as a cow" for $1.3 million at Japanese auction: what is special about it and what it looks like

A fish was recently sold for 207 million yen ($1.3 million) at a traditional New Year's auction in Japan, making it the second most expensive such purchase in the history of similar auctions. This is a 276-kilogram tuna carcass. According to Japanese tradition, the first tuna of the year to be bought brings good luck to its owner.

Kyodo News reports that the giant fish was jointly purchased by an intermediate wholesaler and the Michelin-starred sushi restaurant chain Onodera Group during a New Year's auction at the popular Toyosu fish market in Tokyo on January 5.

"The year's first tuna brings good luck. We want to make people smile with food," Onodera Group spokesman Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction.

The purchased tuna became the second most expensive fish in the history of the New Year's auction at the Toyosu market, which has become one of the main tourist destinations in the Japanese capital in recent years. It was caught off the coast in the town of Oma on the morning of January 4, and the next day at 5:10 a.m. it was already on display at the fish market.

"It was as fat as a cow. It's like a dream. I'm always worried about how many more years I can do this job, but I'm incredibly happy," said 73-year-old fisherman Masahiro Takeuchi, who caught the giant.

The most expensive fish in the history of the Toyosha auction remains a bluefin tuna sold for 333.6 million yen (about $1.6 million) in 2019 to the owner of the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain, Kiyoshi Kimura. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shapt collapse in bluefin tuna prices - in 2021, the most expensive fish was sold for 20.8 million yen, in 2023 - for 36 million, and at the New Year's auction in 2024, the most expensive tuna was sold for 114.2 million yen, which was also purchased by the Onodera Group.

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