A bluefin tuna in Japan weighing 276 kg (607.2 pounds) recently sold at a record 207 million yen ($1.3 million) on January 5, 2025. This is the second highest live price since the start of record-keeping in 1999. 

The auction for the giant fish took place smack on the 2025 tuna season opener at the Toyosu Fish Market in Tokyo. 

Bid-winning sushi restauranteur Onodera Group linked buying the season’s first giant fish as a bringer of good fortune.

And this good fortune will undergo distribution in meat chunks across the Onodera chain of restaurants across the country.  This according to Shinju Nagao, an Onodera officer, speaking to AFP press. 

The group has been winning tuna auctions of late, including the top price in 2023 of 114 million yen ($723,222). 

Rich Source of Sea Monsters

The motorcycle-sized fish came from the Aomori Prefecture of northern Japan, where tuna, scallop and other seafood abound.

Aomori is the meeting point of the Sea of Japan, the Tsugaru Strait and the Pacific, hence its cold and warm currents.  In this respect, Aomori’s coastline compares well with the distant Tokoyama coastline on the Sea of Japan, famous for red snow crabs. 

One of Aomori’s ports, Oma, has become the key source of bluefin tuna in Japan and has acquired the nickname “Oma tuna.”

Oma Aomori provided the most expensive bluefin tuna on record, a 2019 catch that restauranteur Kiyoshi Kimura bought at 336.6 million yen (3.1 million). At 278 kg or 613 pounds, the fish was almost the same size as the 2025 winner. 

The size of these delectable monsters are usually so massive that even the fishermen themselves wonder at them. After the 2025 catch, 73 year-old fisherman, Masahiro Takeuchi recounted how the tuna was “as fat as a cow.” 

Finally, the 2025 record purchase is a sure sign that Japan’s sushi/sashimi-loving culture is still capable despite a lagging economy.  As the statistics below show, Japan’s bluefin sector contributes much to the sushi economy.

Japan Bluefin Tuna Statistics 

Japan represents almost 90% of the global bluefin tuna trade, mainly imports, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Much of the tuna supplies from local and import sources end up in sushi-style restaurants. Because of dwindling supplies at sea, tuna ranching methods now supply 20% of sushi or sashimi bluefin tuna. Ranching describes either juvenile farming of small bluefin tuna species or discriminating fishing of large species at sea.

How much bluetuna tuna can fishermen catch in Japan? 

In December 2024, Japan upped its annual fishing quotas of large bluefin tuna from 5,614 tonnes to 8,421 tonnes. This is even as 30 kg-sized small bluefin tuna quotas increased from 4,007 to 4,407 tonnes, according to Japan Times. 

Is Japan a major importer of bluefins? 

In 2022, Japan emerged third in Atlantic and bluefin tuna imports at $5.84 million after Malta and Türkiye, according to OEC.

How high is bluefin consumption in Japan? 

Almost 80% of all bluefin tuna consumption in the world takes place in Japan. As a whole, Japan accounts for 1/4 of the world’s all-tuna consumption total. 

How is bluefin sold in Japan? 

Roughly 100% of fresh bluefin catches in Japan sell through auctions while 70 to 80% of frozen bluefin products sell in normal markets.