Smack in the middle of the
Pacific, Earth's deepest and oldest ocean, Japan serves what may be the world’s
most diverse and toothsome selection of seafood. Sushi
(a catgory of vinegared-rice treats that do not necessarily contain fish)is
wildly popular
Every sushi connoisseur knows about the many grades of ultra-pricey toro (fatty tuna belly):
A lesser-known delicacy is engawa. The first definition of engawa
in a Japanese dictionary is the traditional corridor in the Japanese home, but
calling for engawa at a sushi bar
will yield crunchy elongated bits of fluke scraped from the fin's edge.
Seafood has always been a prominent feature of Japanese culture and things oceanic are gulped with gusto, from refined salt to seaweed to fish so tiny a hundred or so fit in a thimble-sized bowl:
Each Japanese port has a seafood specialty, none more prized than those of the cold northern islands like
Hoya, with its salty taste and cuttlefish-like texture, is a sea squirt, a family of gorgeously-ugly blobs ranging in color from screaming yellow and lurid
purple to painfully bright blue.
A four-ounce salt-grilled shioyaki-style ayu costs
about $1 an inch – it was so lip-smackin’ sweet I’d gladly pay double.
While even fiercely-spiked
lion fish
He's not for sale but they'll sell you just about anything else, plus a bucket of glowing coals so you can cook for yourself: