Earlier today (Jan. 5) a time-honored, cash-crazed tradition came to an end: Tsukiji Fish Market’s annual auction of the year’s first bluefin tuna.
Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market supplies the world’s top sushi restaurants with high-grade fish, and every year, buyers place exorbitant bids for the year’s first tuna. This year, one prized fish went for 14 million JPY ($117,590). Only three years ago, one tuna at the first auction sold for nearly $2 million.
This was the last year for the annual spectacle at the market’s 80-year-old home in Tsukiji. In November, the market will relocate to the city’s Toyosu district, in anticipation of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
See photos of the final Tsukiji New Year’s auction:
