Japanese restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai secured Tsukiji fish market’s prize 212-kilogram bluefin tuna at the first fish auction of the New Year with a winning bid of JPY 74.2 million (USD 636,548, EUR 606,363).
While this year’s price was the second highest ever paid at the celebrated first auction of the year, it was some way below the record JPY 155.4 million (USD 1.4 million, EUR 1.3 million) winning bid in 2013.
The sale could, however, represent the star lot at the last New Year's auction to be held at the famous downtown Tokyo market, which is to be relocated to make way for infrastructure needed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The tuna was caught off the coast of northern Japan's Aomori prefecture.
