At the daily fish auction at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market, a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor reached a settlement to share a giant lug of a fish for the price of $153,000 US back in early January.
The premium tuna was caught off the northern coast of Oma, known for providing lots of meaty fish.
"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Tsukiji's Takashi Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December.
Half of the trophy tuna went to a posh sushi bar in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district (Kyubey), which counts Steven Spielberg as a client.
Kyubey is the kind of place where the chef asks you how you personally want your sushi served (brushed with soy?). The resto was serving single slivers of the special bluefin for $22 US.
Japanese cuisine has been gaining ground over the past decade. Try checking out these previous articles: Sushi in the Land of Samba, Kyoto Cuisine, Ramen Noodles, Eating Japanese: Do's and Don'ts, Iron Chef Morimoto's Cookbook and Muskoka Sushi.
NO PROFIT MADE
Itamae Sushi, a Tokyo branch of a Hong Kong chain, was the other victorious dining establishment. It had a poster declaring: "We bid successfully - for a whopping 9.6 million yen!"
The rather downscale resto offered up the prized tuna in a lunch set, which included chopped tuna, soy sauce-soaked tuna and tuna maki rolls - 10 pieces for $32 US, offered to the first 20 customers of the day until the restaurant ran out.
It seems neither restaurant made much of profit off their cherished catch.
Bluefin tuna is considered by gourmet sushi eaters to be the best. However, due to the exponential burst of sushi restaurants around the world, there are worries about a bluefin shortage.
As a result, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent. You might want to check out the book The Sushi Economy, by the way, by Sasha Issenberg.
The highest price ever paid appears to be $219,755 US for a 202-kilogram bluefin, paid by a Japanese restaurant back in 2001.
THE WORLD'S LARGEST FISH MARKET
Tsukiji is also the biggest fish market in the world. It recently allowed tourists back in after a month-long ban.
Market officials had accused tourists of ignoring its hygiene rules and had caught a few of them licking, hugging and riding a huge frozen tuna back in December.
Access to the tuna auctions were restricted on Dec. 15, 2008, the start of the market's busiest trading period. And starting Jan. 19, tourists were allowed back in.
The daily tuna auctions regularly attract hundreds of visitors, especially foreigners.
Officials say guards will be handing out strict guidelines to visitors from now on.
