Tokyo - The Japanese passion for sushi is apparently immune to the global economic crisis.
A plump tuna on Monday fetched ¥9.6m at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, the second highest price ever.
This year's first auction took place before dawn at the world's largest fish market, with 730 tunas lined up for bidding.
The top-priced fish was a blue-fin tuna weighing 128kg.
"I just wanted to bid on the best tuna of the day," the winning buyer said, according to Jiji Press. He said he planned to sell the tuna to high-end sushi bars in Japan and China.
The highest price ever paid for a tuna at the market was ¥20m in 2001.
Tsukiji market, the source of fresh sushi and sashimi flown daily to top restaurants the world over, has long topped must-see lists for foreign visitors to Tokyo.
But the auction was closed to tourists last month and may stay shut indefinitely after fishmongers complained that visitors were bad mannered.
- AFP