Japan was abuzz after a prized bluefin tuna weighing 489 pounds was
Japan was abuzz after a prized bluefin tuna weighing 489 pounds was sold for a record $1.76 million at the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market yesterday. Kiyoshi Kimura, who is president of Kiyomura Co. and the Sushi-Zanmai sushi restaurant chain, bought the massive fish at $3,600 per pound.
Remarkably, the price paid by Kimura was well more than twice the amount he paid last year for a larger bluefin tuna. The 593-pound tuna Kimura purchased a year ago cost him $736,000, or roughly four times the U.S. median price for existing homes. What’s next, a $2 million tuna?
The Associated Press reported that Kimura said “the price was a bit high,” but that he wanted to “encourage Japan”, according to the Kyodo News agency.
Watch as Kimura escorts the fish to his restaurant amid a horde of media before cutting it up and serving the sushi-starved patrons: