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Day 3, Kyushu Japan
Yokoso!
10/19/09 - Up and at 'em!
Sasebo City is nowhere near as large as what normally comes to mind with Japanese cities, such as Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, or Tokyo, and not nearly as crowded. It's got an easy-going, laid-back vibe that's a bit different from the normal tourist places I've seen on all my previous trips here. It's like I'm experiencing the real Japan! Nevertheless, the city is still characteristically clean and modern, with tiny cars, super-polite people, efficiency in everything, good food at every turn, and a whole lotta interesting things to do!
By the way, you know I've been calling my wife wifey up to this point, but that's only because we couldn't think of an appropriate knick-name like I, myself have already had since way back in high school. Wifey is beginning to sound so, I dunno, a bit disrespectful? Anyways, from henceforth, I'll be calling her by her real name, which I've already mentioned from time to time, which is Kumi, so don't get all confused. Just sounds better, is all.
Oh my gosh, the ice cream here... Oishii!!! The natural taste of milk and cream is so real, not like some fake, watered-down version created to save time, money, or ingredients.
While in any port city, you always wanna check out the local fish market. In Sasebo, it sure wasn't anything like Tsukiji, which I've been to several times, but still, was fun and full of fresh fruits and fresh seafoods of all kinds. We got there almost at the closing bell, so the action had already subsided to the point where vendors were beginning wrap things up (but not before I got in some shots!):
Japanese aweoweo?
Forgot the name of this crab, but it's supposedly very sweet and delicious, and a local staple around here. There's not too many snow or King crabs down here in Kyushu yet, but these guys are plentiful year-round.
Legendary, these mantis shrimp are. If you ever decide to make a saltwater tank, and your fishes begin disappearing one by one after grabbing a piece of rock or coral from the ocean, you know you've got one of these hidden somewhere in that rock! We once caught one of these creatures about a foot long in the Hawaii Kai marina!
Fresh squid are everywhere in Japan:
Here's the kind that school in the millions:
And these guys were still alive:
Anyone knows you can't have good sushi in Hawaii without hamachi, but not as many are aware of what they actually look like live, yes? These hamachi above weren't from a big aquarium or restaurant, but were actually housed in this mobile beauty:
Like I said on the last page, they take fresh fish seriously here in Japan, and the only way of getting any fresher than this is by slicing them up while still on the boat, out at sea! In Hawaii, fresh means caught that morning; in Japan, fresh means still kicking and screaming on your plate!
But we had more important things to do than check out the city sights, and that was... go fishing! About an hour away was a country-side fishing village called Hirado. Like Kujuu-Kushima, there were huge breakwalls spanning many football fields long to save their ports and harbors from the notoriously restless seas surrounding the islands, all of them making perfect fishing spots for local anglers.
That's Kumi's dad, giving away fish to the neighbors, but only because we were on vacation and didn't have ice to log the fish all the way home. Mom was bummed and disappointed, though, because we could have brought back a bunch of kuro, a kind of damselfish that grows much bigger than our mamo in Hawaii, and are a favorite for anglers here in Japan. They grow to about 5 lbs., and are great cooked in shoyu/sugar or pan-fried. Being a bit early in the season, the fish were much smaller, but still plenty good enough to eat. Our neighbors sure were happy, as we gave them about ten good-sized kuro!
There seemed a great many young people whipping for larger fish, but I haven't seen them pull up any real hauls yet. Others were catching bucket-loads, quite literally, of tiny aji, which are everywhere in Japanese waters. I guess my father-in-law thought aji was too small, but when you catch this many, as some of our neighbors did, it still amounts to a whole lotta dinner!
Hey, better go for now. Yeah, I'm pretty much on the fly, sorry!
Aku
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Comments:
I.S (10/30/09) - So that's where cleaning fish "that way" came from. As I seem to be the only one I know of that cleans fish "that way" and the family that taught me how.
Aku (10/30/09) - Is that a special way to clean or something? Maybe the belly area that's cut out is used for bait? Being so small (the aji), maybe its just easier?
I.S (11/9/09) - Sorry neva reply sooner. Was on vacation. I don't think it's a special way of cleaning fish. Just to see that it's done in Japan as well makes me wonder where that style of cleaning fish started. I usually throw the belly part back into the ocean, like a giving back some as a thank you.
Aku (11/10/09) - No worries, brah - just wondering!
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