Hopes that Japan is on the road to recovery from the pandemic have risen after the price of a single bluefin tuna topped 36 million yen (£226,000) at a new year’s auction in Tokyo, more than doubling the highest bid last year.
The value of the prized fish is widely seen as a barometer of the health of the restaurant and wider food industry. The Japanese believe that getting the best bluefin tuna is a sign of good fortune.
The price of the 467lb fish was the sixth highest since 1999, but far below the pre-pandemic record.
This year’s auction was won by the wholesaler Yamayuki and the restaurant operator Onodera Group, which runs sushi outlets in Japan, China and the US. The event was held at Toyosu market, which took over the functions of Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji market in 2018.
Yukitaka Yamaguchi, president of Yamayuki, told Kyodo News: “I wanted to create some positive news as the coronavirus pandemic gradually eases. The price is just right for the first sale of the season.”
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Yamaguchi has inherited the mantle of tuna king from Kiyoshi Kimura, a businessman who became known for always outbidding rivals for the “biggest and best tuna” at the annual sale. In 2019, Kimura paid a record 333.6 million yen (then £2.4 million) for a 613lb bluefin tuna. Last year he said he was more interested in quality than in high prices.
The world’s biggest consumer of Pacific bluefin tuna, which can reach almost 10ft in length, is Japan, where it is used widely for sashimi and sushi.
The Japanese food service industry was hit hard by the pandemic as diners stayed away, and needs all the exuberance it can get. The restaurant industry suffered 715 bankruptcies in the year to March 31, 2021, the third-highest number in two decades. Of those, family-run restaurants and 16 big chains closed 810 outlets, about 9 per cent of the total, between December 2019 and July 2022, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank. Other chains shifted away from “izakaya” pubs and family restaurants to fast-food outlets.
