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President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura (R), displays a 278kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant in Tokyo on January 5, 2019.
- A 278 kg bluefin tuna sold for a world record $3 million at Tokyo's famous Tsukiji fish market on Saturday.
- The buyer, Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain owner Kiyoshi Kimura, has won the auction in the past.
- He told Japanese TV: "The quality of the tuna I bought is the best."
- However, he admitted he was suprised by the price, adding: "I think I did too much."
TOKYO (AP) - A 612-pound (278 kilogram) bluefin tuna sold for a record 333.6 million yen ($3 million) in the first auction of 2019, after Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market was moved to a new site on the city's waterfront.
The winning bid for the prized but threatened species at the predawn auction was more than double the 2013 annual New Year auction.
The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images
Traders at the year's first tuna auction at the Toyosu fish market on January 05, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.
It was paid by Kiyomura Corp., whose owner Kiyoshi Kimura runs the Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura has often won the annual auction in the past.
Read more: Inside the world's biggest fish market, where a single tuna can sell for millions of dollars
Japanese broadcaster NHK showed a beaming Kimura saying that he was surprised by the high price of tuna this year.
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Kiyoshi Kimura, president of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, tastes a fillet of a 278kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant in Tokyo on January 5, 2019.
According to Sky News, Kimura admitted he may have been a bit carried away by the sale.
"The tuna looks so tasty and very fresh, but I think I did too much," he said.
"I expected it would be between 30 million and 50 million yen, or 60 million yen at the highest, but it ended up five times more."
Still, he said: "The quality of the tuna I bought is the best."
The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images
Kiyoshi Kimura (C), president of Kiyomura Corp, cuts the bluefin tuna on which he bid a record 333.6 million yen at the first tuna auction of the New Year on January 5, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.
The tuna was caught off northern Japan's Aomori prefecture and sold on Saturday.
The market, which opened in October, replaces the old Tsukiji market, one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations.