TOKYO: A celebrated Japanese sushi businessman, nicknamed “Tuna King”, paid $1.8 million for a giant tuna at New Year’s auction at Tokyo’s main fish market yesterday.
Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs a successful sushi restaurant chain, paid 193m yen ($1.8m) to purchase a 276kg bluefin tuna, caught off the Aomori region in northern Japan.
“This is the best,” Kimura told reporters after the pre-dawn auction.
“Yes, this is expensive, isn’t it? I want our customers to eat very tasty ones this year too,” he said.
Media-savvy Kimura regularly pays top price at the first auction of the year at the Japanese capital’s main fish market, making himself and his business a fixture in national news during this season.
In last year’s new year auction, Kimura paid a record $3.1m to win a 278kg tuna.
The traditional auction is now being held in a new market in an area called Toyosu.
The world-famous Tsukiji market, which had long served as a popular tourist attraction in an area packed with restaurants and shops, closed in 2018.
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