Kiyoshi Kimura with the bluefin tuna that he bought for $1.8 million.
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 on Sunday.
Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs a successful sushi restaurant chain, paid 193 million yen ($1.8 million) to purchase a 276-kilogramme (608-pound) 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 $3.1 million to win a 278-kilogramme (612-pound) 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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)Click for more
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