Motorbike-sized tuna sold to Tokyo sushi restaurateurs for $1.3m

Sushi restaurants in Tokyo have reportedly paid 207m yen ($1.3m; £1m) for a bluefin tuna that is about the size and weight of a motorcycle.

The sale is the second highest price paid at the annual Toyosu Fish Market in the Japanese capital.

Onodera’s team, which was lucky enough to win, said the tuna – which weighed 276kg (608lb) – would be supplied to Ginza Onodera’s Michelin-starred restaurant, as well as Nadaman restaurants across the country.

“The first tuna is something that should bring luck,” Onodera CEO Shinji Nagao told reporters after the sale, AFP news agency reported.

Mr Nagao added that he hoped people would eat the fish – taken from Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan – and “have a good year”.

The group has paid the top price in the Ichiban Tuna market for five years straight.

Last year, it paid 114m yen for premium tuna.

The highest selling price since comparisons began in 1999 was 333.6m yen in 2019 for a 278kg bluefin.

It was paid for by the self-proclaimed Japanese “Tuna King” and owner of a sushi restaurant Kiyoshi Kimura.

Toyosu Fish Market, which opened in 1935, is said to be the largest fish market in the world, and is known for its early morning fish sales.

But tuna wasn’t the only fish on offer on Sunday, Hokkaido sea urchins also fetched a record breaking 7m yen according to the Japan Times.