Kiyoshi Kimura, the founder of the Sushizanmai restaurant chain, is the featured guest at Japan House Los Angeles on Saturday, September 19, 2026, for a talk and dining program titled “The Global Rise of Sushi.”
Kimura heads Kiyomura Corporation and built Sushizanmai out of Tokyo’s Tsukiji market. He became known internationally as the “Tuna King” for placing the winning bid at the market’s New Year tuna auction eight times between 2012 and 2020. In January 2026, he bought a bluefin tuna for roughly 510.3 million yen, about 3.25 million dollars, a price Guinness World Records recognized as a record.
The program runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Japan House Salon on Level 5 of Ovation Hollywood, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.
According to the schedule, the afternoon opens with welcome remarks, followed by a short presentation on Japanese food trends by Tsunetoshi Tanaka of Mitsubishi Corporation. Kimura’s conversation runs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., with a Q&A afterward. A sushi dining experience catered by Sushizanmai LA closes the program.
Japan House Los Angeles, which presents the event through the Japan House LA Foundation, frames the talk around how sushi moved from an exotic specialty to a fixture of American dining, with Los Angeles as a central chapter in that story.
Tickets are $100 including taxes and are sold through Eventbrite.
Sources
- Japan House Los Angeles event page
- GlobeNewswire, Japan House Los Angeles September lineup, September 9, 2026
- Beverly Press, “Restaurant News,” September 17, 2026
