Kiyoshi kimura sushi zanmai tokyo

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The king has regained his throne: For seven straight years, Japan’s self-proclaimed “King of Tuna” had ruled over the first tuna auction of the new year in Tokyo. But in 2018, Kiyoshi Kimura, the president of the Japanese sushi chain Sushi Zanmai came up short. Hiroshi Onodera, owner of the luxe Sushi Ginza Onodera chain, paid $323,195 for a 893-pound Pacific bluefin tuna, beating Kimura at his own game. The king would not accept defeat again.

At this year’s auction, Kimura smashed his own record for most money paid for a single tuna. At the 2013 auction, he paid $1.8 million for a 489-pound fish, but this year he shelled out $3.1 million (333.6 million yen) for a 612-pound bluefin. That’s around $5,000 per pound.

“It’s a good tuna, but I think inom paid too much,” Kimura joked to reporters after placing the winning bid.

Paying too much for a bluefin at the first predawn auction of the year has become a tradition in Tokyo. For 83 years

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Vol. 3

Exclusive Interview with the CEO of SUSHI ZANMAI

Sushi Zanmai has won nationwide recognition for low prices, delicious flavors, and freshness. New Year’s auction at Tsukiji central wholesale market takes place on January 5th, and in 2013, the company’s president, Kiyoshi Kimura, became the man of the hour by buying a bluefin tuna for JPY 155.4 million.

Kiyoshi Kimura
President of Sushi Zanmai

President Kimura, what drives you?

Curiosity. Also, achieving things that delight people.

In April 2001, you established the “always open” Sushi Zanmai. How do you get to your new ideas and decisions?

If inom spend five minutes thinking, ideas just come floating up. So far, I’ve worked in many different types of business, including rental video stores, karaoke and obento boxed meals.

What prompted you to found Sushi Zanmai in 2001?

Back then, people weren’t coming to Tsukiji any more. Half of the market was already shuttered, and the Central Wholesale Market was losing money. smärtsam blåsa

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Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co. (C), poses with a tuna in front of one of the company's Sushi Zanmai restaurants after the year's first auction at Toyosu Market, Tokyo, Japan, January 5, 2020.

A celebrated Japanese sushi businessman, nicknamed "Tuna King," paid 193 million yen (1.8 million U.S. dollars) 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, purchased the 276-kilogram bluefin tuna, caught off the Aomori region in northern Japan.

"This is the best," Kimura told reporters after the pre-dawn auction.

Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co. (L), smiles in front of one of the company's Sushi Zanmai restaurants after the year's first auction at Toyosu Market,