Japan's "Tuna King" Pays More Than $600,000 For A SINGLE Fish. See Photos

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Japan's "Tuna King" Pays More Than $600,000 For A SINGLE Fish. See Photos

Japan's self-styled "Tuna King" has done it again -- paying more than $600,000 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-kilogramme (467-pound) fish.

At that price a single piece of fatty tuna sushi would cost roughly $85, or 25 times the $3.4 that 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.

Later in the day, Kimura and his fellow sushi chefs sliced up the giant fish with special knives resembling a Japanese sword at its main restaurant near the market, as hundreds of sushi lovers waited for a taste or two.

"As always, I want to buy the best one so that our customers can have it. That's all," Kimura said when asked about the auction result.

He 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.

He paid a record $1.8 million for a bluefin -- a threatened species -- at the New Year auction in 2013, outbidding a rival bidder from Hong Kong.