Someone explain this to me.... "Tuna fetches ¥193 million in New Year's auction"

Boat Guy

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https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/05/national/tuna-new-years-auction-tokyo-toyosu-market/

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...-tuna-great-for-publicity-bad-for-the-species

Kiyoshi Kimura, who calls himself the “Tuna King,” purchased a 608-pound bluefin tuna at a New Year’s auction at the Toyosu fish market in Tokyo earlier this week

Kimura, who made the purchase on Jan. 5, purchased the gargantuan tuna for 193 million yen, which is currently worth about $1,780,811,

"bluefin tuna big enough to serve up about 10,000 pieces of sushi"

So, putting aside for a second the ethical issues of a vulnerable species, the math works out to about $178 / piece .....That's just the fish costs....Who the hell is buying sushi at these price points?
 
That's just silly. Wholesale Tuna only runs about $20 / pound, and even that's silly.
 
That's just silly. Wholesale Tuna only runs about $20 / pound, and even that's silly.

Tuna in japan is like caviar. It's graded to extremely high standards. The guy who bought that fish will sell minuscule amounts to uber rich Japanese for insane dollars. The tuna fish you bought at Krogers is not the same.
 
Tuna in japan is like caviar. It's graded to extremely high standards. The guy who bought that fish will sell minuscule amounts to uber rich Japanese for insane dollars. The tuna fish you bought at Krogers is not the same.

Fair enough. I guess that's why they call it "stupid money"
 
Tuna in japan is like caviar. It's graded to extremely high standards. The guy who bought that fish will sell minuscule amounts to uber rich Japanese for insane dollars. The tuna fish you bought at Krogers is not the same.

I'm from Hawaii, if you want to explain to me how the tuna off Japan is better than the tuna in the middle of the Pacific and bought off the boat, I'm all ears. If the uber rich in Japan want to believe it's worth it, more power to them....There was a time when people would sell 12 acres of land for a single tulip bulb (wikipedia).
 
Tuna is graded fish by fish for it's fat content. Tuna that's B+ and better melts in your mouth. The tuna we catch off the coast of New England sticks in your throat and suitable for cat food. $10 a pound is about the usual value.
 
It’s a status thing for rich Japanese. Plus it’s not the normal tube we see in the fish case.

it’s roughly the equivalent of people going to Vegas and ordering bottle service at a club. $2000 per bottle of vodka or champagne that you can get in the store for $60 or $100. Order multiple bottles that are poured out or opened and unused. Conspicuous consumption as a status symbol.
 
It’s a status thing for rich Japanese.

it’s roughly the equivalent of people going to Vegas and ordering bottle service at a club.

^^ This right here.

It's similar to the shark fin soup elitism in China, or buying ground chuck versus A5 Wagyu.
 

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