S/ Naito Mika, NTV Reporter / The starting bell has rung. The year’s first auction has begun.

This year’s first fish auction began at Toyosu Market shortly after 5 a.m. on January 5.

A bluefin tuna from Oma, Aomori Prefecture, weighing 243 kilograms fetched a record-breaking 510.3 million yen.

Kiyomura, a company that operates the Sushizanmai sushi restaurant chain, had the highest winning bid in the New Year fish auction for the first time in six years.

This year’s figure easily exceeds the previous record of 333.6 million yen, also set by Kiyomura in 2019.

S/ Reporter / How did you feel during the auction?

S/ Kimura Kiyoshi, Kiyomura President / It went up, up, up. Ahhh. Sushizanmai will also work, work, work and go with full energy.

The fish will be served at Sushizanmai’s restaurants across Japan at the usual price from the afternoon of January 5.

The fisherman who caught the tuna shared his thoughts.

S/ Reporter / How did you feel when you were told the tuna fetched the highest price?

S/ Ito Toyokazu, Fisherman / I was sleeping because it was early in the morning. It felt like a dream, being suddenly notified. I was simply surprised.

S/ Reporter / What do you think of the price of over 500 million yen?

S/ Ito Toyokazu, Fisherman / It hasn’t sunk in at all. Compared with normal market prices, the figures are on a completely different scale, so how should I put it, I’m at a loss. From the perspective of regular prices, the amount is so far removed that I’m utterly shocked. I’m like, “Huh?”

The 60-year-old fisherman caught the top tuna two days earlier in the Tsugaru Strait, north of Oma.

This is the 15th consecutive year that a tuna from Oma has fetched the highest price at the New Year auction.

Meanwhile, a 400-gram pack of purple sea urchin from Hokkaido was auctioned off at the highest-ever 35 million yen.

The winning bid was made jointly by two sushi restaurants in Tokyo and a wholesaler.

Last year’s top sea urchin fetched 7 million yen.