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Specialities

Fuju (Blowfish)

The one thing that you won't find people preparing at home is fugu (blowfish). This is truly a Japanese delicacy, in fact almost a fetish. That's because, prepared incorrectly, it can prove fatal as the fish is highly poisonous. In order to cook fuju, all sushi chefs must be trained by the Harmonious Fugu Association and pass their exams to get a license.

To reiterate how dangerous a delicacy this is, prior to fuju preparation being government controlled, over 300 customers died every year from badly cleansed fish. All poisonous parts of the fish are legally required to be put into a box. The box is then locked and disposed of at the market. Any cat or dog that comes across the scraps will be dead soon afterwards.

The blowfish season runs from the end of September to the end of March but you can eat it year round in Oita for $60 a plate. Typical dishes are Tashini-style fugu, which is cooked with a few spring onions and then dipped into ponzu sauce, which has some finely shredded spring onions mixed through it; tetchiri is a dish in which pieces of blowfish and vegetables are cooked in a pot; and tessa is a plate of thinly-sliced raw blowfish. The flavor of the fish is subtle and has an unusual texture.

Fuju tessa - thinly sliced blowfish

Tsukemono

Tsukemono, Japanese pickles, are present in most Japanese meals as an accompaniment to rice. They are meant to stimulate the appetite and enhance the flavor of cooked rice. Pickles are named according to their ingredients, the length of time pickled, and the pickling base. Kyoto is particularly renowned for its pickles and a good place to view them is the Nishiki-koji Market, also known as Kyoto's Kitchen. This market has been going since the 1300s and is full of many colorful varieties of pickles. Kurama, just north of Kyoto, has a famous decades old pickles shop called Watanabe Ki-no-me Honpo which specializes in pickled shiitake mushrooms, kelp and sansho (prickly ash pepper).

Mizo-zuke are various vegetables pickled in miso soya bean paste. Nara-zuke (pickles made with sake lees) are made using processes dating back 1,000 years. Tsukudani are pickled vegetables, mushrooms, fish, shellfish, seaweed or locusts simmered in a broth of shoyum mirin and sake until the liquid is reduced to a treacle-like paste.

Exotic Sandwiches

Many western foods have been absorbed into modern Japanese cuisine but a sandwich in Japan is not a sandwich as you might know it elsewhere. If you find yourself in a sandwich shop in Japan, it may look like any other one in the world but once you've taken your first bite you will quickly realise that the flavours and textures are not what you expected.

Wheat is not grown in Japan and yet there is a big bakery industry producing high quality bread. It has been suggested that some Japanese baked French bread is better than that bought in Paris. They have even challenged the preconception that a sandwich should be built between two slices of bread and one of the alternative options you may find on the menu is a potato sandwich where fillings are placed between two slices of potato.

For fillings, you may find noodle sandwiches on the menu as they are something of a national obsession. Other fillings include rum and raisin, Korean pickled cabbage, whipped cream and fruit, mashed potato and tuna, mashed potato and corn, curry, and sweetened bean paste.

Matsusaka Beef Production

In Matsusaka, in the Central Honshu Mie prefecture, farmers have taken the art of beef production to new heights. Although only twelve percent of the land here is exploitable for agriculture, it is suitable for intensive farming due to high rainfall and good soil, and the Japanese will pay top dollar for perfect beef. A fresh cut of the Matsusaka beef is very tender, highly marbled, and will set you back by about $500 a pound.

The luxury lifestyle that the cows live here is unbelievable but goes some way to explaining why the meat is so expensive. The cows in Matsusaka are fed on apples and beer, they are brushed daily, and they even have a regular massage in sake! The purpose of the massage is two fold: by massaging the animal you are tenderizing the meat while it's still on the animal and the sake helps to prevent ticks and fleas. The rationale behind the cows beer swilling is that this stimulates their appetite so they will become as big and fat as possible.

Expensive exotic fruits

It's traditional in Japan to give fruit as a gift but it can prove to be an expensive affair. The Japanese are well known for their appreciation of aesthetics, the more perfect something is the better. Finding the perfect fruit is part of an elaborate, formal tradition of gift-giving among the Japanese.

There are two main gift-giving seasons, Oseibo in the winter and Ochugan in the summer. Both last roughly six weeks and involve formal gift-giving. Fruit is specially packaged and a perfect cantaloupe melon or two perfect mangos could cost you as much as $120.

A lot of the exotic fruits - like melons, apples and pears - are imported from America while other seasonal fruits, such as rambutan, are grown more locally. It's not necessarily the type of fruit that dictates the price but the quality and the occasion.

The eating of fruit is also quite formal. It is only eaten in the evenings and not with, or as part of, a meal. You would never consume a piece of fruit on the go. Instead it is usually peeled and chopped up.

Sake

Sake, probably the most famous of Japanese specialities, is the nation's favourite tipple. It's a combination of rice and water which is brewed like beer but has the sophistication of wine. Younger sake has a yeasty, spicy, sweet taste; as it is aged it turns from pale into a more yellow color and the yeasty taste gives way to more fruity flavors. The temperature at which the sake has been aged at and its serving temperature will also affect the flavor.

The process of sake-making dates back to the third century a.d., but since World War Two just two types of sake have been produced. During the war the yield of rice crop dropped and alcohol had to be added to the sake to increase the volume, so today you can either drink sake with or without additives.

To see the sake making process visit the Sakahan Brewery in Katano city near Osaka. Run by the Daimon family since 1826, it lies at the foot of the scenic Ikoma Mountain Range. The foremost gaijin expert and master brewer here is Philip Harper - surprisingly a Brit. He can explain the intricacies and skills required in traditional sake-making.