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The online magazine HIGHLIGHTING JAPAN

MAY 2023

SEA BREAM: JAPAN'S AUSPICIOUS FISH

Cover May 2023

INDEX

  • The sea bream has been a very familiar presence in the Japanese people's diet since ancient times. As an auspicious fish, in particular, it is often served at festive occasions such as New Year's Day and wedding receptions. In this month's issue of Highlighting Japan, we introduce this fish that is so special to the Japanese people. You find the examples included its fishing grounds, how it is served in cuisine, traditional events featuring sea bream, and sweets shaped like one.

FEATURES

  • An interview with Yoshida Munehiro, Professor Emeritus at Kansai University

  • Prized for its exceptional taste, the Akashi Sea Bream is popular as a high-end fish.

  • We interviewed the 15th generation head of one of Kyoto's most famous traditional Japanese-style restaurants about the use of sea bream in Kyoto cuisine.

  • A dish of a whole sea bream okashira-tsuki is served at the Japanese traditional ceremony okuizome (literally "first meal"), which is performed on the 100th day after a child's birth.

  • Delicately-flavored tai-meshi (sea bream rice) is served at wedding receptions in a venerable Tokyo hotel.

  • In sumo, Japan's national sport, on special celebratory occasions, such as when a wrestler wins a championship or is promoted to yokozuna (grand champion), he poses for a commemorative photo holding a large sea bream.

  • Every July, Minamichita-cho in Aichi Prefecture holds Tai Matsuri (Sea Bream Festival), in which huge sea bream floats are paraded along the seashore and through the town.

  • Taiyaki is a Japanese baked sweet in the shape of a sea bream (tai).

Also