Japanese sushi chain pays record $3.24 million for bluefin tuna at Tokyo auction

Kiyoshi Kimura once again turned Tokyo’s New Year tuna auction into a headline that reached far beyond the sushi trade. The Kiyomura Corp. president, whose Sushi Zanmai brand won the bid, paid 510.3 million yen, about $3.24 million, for a 243-kilogram bluefin tuna at Toyosu fish market on January 5, 2026.

For tuna anglers, the number matters less as a stunt than as a signal. The fish came from Ōma in Aomori Prefecture, one of the best-known bluefin grounds in Japan, and the sale drew global attention because it sat at the intersection of scarcity, prestige and public appetite. The price was not just a restaurant purchase. It was a public statement about how valuable a single Pacific bluefin still is in the market, even as fisheries observers say stocks have moved up from conditions once described as near collapse.

Kimura said he hoped the economy would improve this year and said the tuna would be sold to customers at standard prices. That is the key detail for anyone who fishes bluefin or follows the fishery: the auction theatrics are partly promotional, built to generate attention for the brand as much as to reflect the true cost of a fish on a plate. The spectacle does not change bag limits or open up new access on the water, but it does keep bluefin in the public eye, where conservation pressure and market demand are always tied together.

The bid shattered Kimura’s own previous record of 333.6 million yen, set on January 5, 2019, when Kiyomura bought a 278-kilogram bluefin at the first auction after the market moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu in Koto, Tokyo. The 2026 sale came in at roughly 1.5 times that 2019 benchmark and later earned Guinness World Records recognition as the most expensive tuna ever sold at auction.

For the tuna community, that is the real takeaway. A record price at Toyosu does not mean every bluefin is suddenly worth millions, but it does show how a fish that once symbolized decline has become a trophy of recovery, management and market theater all at once. As Pacific bluefin stocks continue to rebuild under close scrutiny, Kimura’s annual headline remains a reminder that every big fish still carries weight on the dock, in the marketplace and in the debate over how this fishery should be managed next.