TOKYO —
Japan’s self-styled “Tuna King” has done it again—paying more than 74 million yen for a single fish.
Sushi entrepreneur Kiyoshi Kimura paid top price at the first auction of the new year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market on Thursday, bagging a prized bluefin tuna for an eye-watering 74.2 million yen ($636,000).
The head of the Sushizanmai chain is now the proud—if temporary—owner of a 212-kilogram fish.
At that price a single piece of fatty tuna sushi would cost roughly 25 times what Kimura charges for the product at his 51 stores across Japan.
“I feel it was a bit expensive, but I am happy that I was able to successfully win at auction a tuna of good shape and size,” Kimura said.
Kimura has built his successful chain into a national brand by paying big money at Tsukiji’s first auction every year—he has now won for six straight years—essentially using the event for publicity.
