"Even considering that Ooma tuna is a prestige brand, its tuna might normally sell for about ¥4,000 to ¥5,000 per kilogram," a seafood trader tells Nikkan Gendai (Jan. 8). "At ¥700,000 per kilogram, you're looking at a magnitude of scale of not one, but double digits. For a fisherman it's like winning the Takarakuji lottery."
At Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, the 2013 business year commenced on Saturday, Jan. 5. And before the day was over, practically everybody was talking about what had transpired at this year's hatsu-seri ("first auction").
A fresh hon-maguro (Pacific bluefin tuna) from Ooma-cho, a small fishing town on the Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, weighing 222 kg went up for auction. The bidding continued, in increments of ¥10,000 per kilogram, and finally the gavel fell to Sushi Zanmai, operator of the Kiyomura chain of sushi restaurants, which agreed to pay ¥700,000 per kilogram. In the case of this fish that came the princely sum of ¥155.4 million.