Japanese sushi chain Kiyomura paid a record $1.76 million for a single bluefin tuna at an auction in Tokyo on Friday

Bluefin tuna populations are dwindling and while the Japanese eat 80% of the blue fin tuna caught the United States and Europe are catching on.

Environmentalists are requesting stricter ocean laws of bluefin harvesting but who is going to enforce them? Worst of all the bluefin could be just another natural resource that could lead to hostilities between Japan and China:

This snippet from Quartz, a site I read twice a day for I fine it better than the Wall Street Journal and contains more analysis:

Kimura’s Kiyomura ultimately outbid a rival sushi chain, Itamae Sushi Japan, which is owned by Taste of Japan Group, based in Hong Kong. Itamae said its highest bid for the tuna was 151 million yen. The Tokyo-Hong Kong competition was viewed in the context of heightened tension between China and Japan over control of islands near Taiwan.  

“There are some political difficulties, but Japanese customers and Chinese customers come to our restaurant, and what we want is for everyone to enjoy our sushi,” Kimura told reporters. 

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