Monday, December 13, 2010

Nakaminato (harbor)

It was very warm last Saturday, and the high was about 17 degrees Celsius. So I decided to go to a harbor to buy some fish and have sushi. The prefecture I live in is called Ibaraki, and basically people in Japan have an easy access to the sea wherever they live. 

Please click this link to see where Ibaraki prefecture is. I had to drive just 2 hours or so to come here. And God of weather was on my side on this day.

Basically people were selling fish that were caught around this area, but I could see some foreign fish as well.

 As you can see so many kinds of fish were available. The reddest fish in the upper center is called "Kinmedai" or alfonsino. Its price was about 35 us dollars.

 This is "Zuwai Gani", and considered a very expensive crab that can be caught around Japan. People eat its arms and legs mainly, and those limbs are often put in a pan with hot water. The pan is called "Nabe" in Japanese.

Japanese amberjack. We boil it after dipping pieces of it in soy sauce with sugar. And the dish is called "Buriteri". "Teri" is the same word off the well-known Japanese word "Teriyaki".

 The cut-opened fish on the right is called "Hokke". It is easy to eat fish like this when it is opened and its guts are removed.

 One thing we can enjoy at Japanese seasides is of course "sushi". This restaurant was Kaiten-zushi-styled, and I had heard all the sushi of this restaurant was so fresh.

Do you know the lever of a fish called "Ankou"? This lever has an alias "The steak of the sea", and its taste is so thick. This dish cost only 300 yen, but the taste was better than any Ankou lever I had tasted. I suppose the English name for "Ankou" would be "sea toad". 

This was nothing like the renowned seafood market in Tokyo called "Tsukiji", but nevertheless I enjoyed looking at so many kinds of fish. I did see some foreign people as well here.