Fish Market Extreme

This blog is dedicated to our grandchildren.  I hope they will read it.

And it is a continuation of our trip to Maruoka Castle and Eiheji Temple.

On our way home, we stopped at a huge rest stop.  It turned out to be a fish market.  What an interesting cultural experience that was!

Note yellow fins on the sides.

After cutting off the tail, he opened the mouth of the tuna
and put the tail in the mouth.
Can you see it?

 We watched and Lee filmed as they beheaded and de-tailed a yellowfin tuna, about three feet long, and then cut it down the middle and started the process of making it into sushi.  Fun to watch and we got yummy samples.


















As we walked around in the aisles of this huge market, people would call out to us and hold up samples of things I had never seen, much less tasted.  I decided to be a good sport and give them a try. 

Here I go.  Wish me luck!

Whatever is inside the shell to eat, I wonder how long it's been sitting there.

Doesn't this look yummy?
Can you identify it?
I can't.

This is baby shrimp.  I've seen shrimp in every size imaginable.
Some of the shrimp I've seen in rice dishes is half an inch long
and smaller around than a toothpick.

Dried squid, above and below.
2800 yen for the set, about $35.

These are in better shape, $12.50 each.

A huge bowl of caviar, or fish eggs.

More dried fish, with holes where the eyes were.

Most samples were pretty good.  But I finally got something filled with wasabe.  It's like eating a jalepeno whole.  As I fanned my mouth, the lady offered something else that she indicated would cool my mouth.  I took it and things got worse.  I had just consumed some green slime that was downright disgusting. I stopped sampling after that.  Later Lee told me that one of the things I had sampled had been soaked in sake.  I wasn't aware of that, but it had to have been better than my last two samples.

Fresh fish, ready to eat, maybe.
Only about $16 for three.

Sardines, I think.

More shrimp.  This is the kind I bought.

We bought some shrimp, about as big around as a pencil and about 5 inches long.  They had a light coating of tempura on them and had been cooked, but it was the whole shrimp, eyes and all.  They were fairly good, but after eating a few of them and thinking about their little black eyes, they seemed less appetizing.  I gave them to our Japanese elder in the office and he was delighted. We also grabbed a soft ice cream cone on the way back to the bus.  Nice to have something "normal."

Now this crab, I could enjoy.
10,000 yen is about $128.00

Octopus.  $21, but not on my shopping list.

If there is something in here, I don't want it.

Here's what is in them.
Butterscotch pudding.  (Just Kidding!)

Once again, we don't know for sure what this is.
Could it be the tentacles of squid?

More shrimp.  I wonder if they eat them like this.
If you know, let me know.

Little fishies, whole and smoked,
including their eyes and maybe everything else.

Two kinds of fish in a nice arrangement,
and it looks like people were buying.

These guys are being skewered and barbequed.
Japan has wonderful sauces for this.

These last two pictures are of a marlin (above) and a stingray (below)
were hanging on the side of one of the little fish shops.
It looks like they are not only dried, but petrified.
Kind of gross.

Doesn't this little guy remind you of ET?

We feel very blessed to have the opportunity to not only live and work in Japan, associate with great people and awesome missionaries, but to also take an occasional tour and see this beautiful country.

So, in conclusion, here are two more beauty shops:  (Honest!)  "Cut in Face" and "Hair Ants"