Kiyomura Co.'s President Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs the sushi restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, poses with a 535-pound bluefin tuna auctioned for a record 510 million yen ($3.24 million) at the first auction of 2026 at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market, at his sushi restaurant in Tokyo, on Jan. 5, 2026. Kim Kyung-Hoon / REUTERS

A massive 535-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record 510 million yen ($3.2 million) at the first auction of 2026 at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market.

The top bidder for the prized tuna at the predawn auction on Monday was Kiyomura Corp. whose owner, Kiyoshi Kimura, runs the popular Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura, who has won the annual action many times in the past, broke the previous record of 334 million yen ($2.1 million) he set in 2019.

Kimura later told reporters he was hoping to pay a bit less for it, but "the price shot up before you knew it."

The auction started when the bell rang, and the floor was filled with torpedo-shaped fish with their tails cut off so bidders could examine meat details such as color, texture and fattiness while walking around the rows of tuna.

The pricey fish was caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, a region widely regarded for producing some of the country's finest tuna.

"It's in part for good luck," Kimura said. "But when I see a good looking tuna, I cannot resist ... I haven't sampled it yet, but it's got to be delicious."

Hundreds of tuna are sold daily at the early morning auction, but prices are significantly higher than usual for the Oma tuna, especially at the celebratory New Year auction.

The enormous tuna was taken to Sushizanmai's headquarters, then sliced up and distributed to its eateries nationwide, the Reuters news agency reports. The tuna dishes will be sold to customers at their usual price, Kimura said.

Due to the popularity of tuna for sushi and sashimi, Pacific bluefin tuna was previously a threatened species due to climate change and overfishing, but its stock is recovering following conservation efforts.

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