100 Travel Stories
Fishing at Sea of Japan
Daisen Fishing Trip Japan
By Xue Feng
This time my adventure takes place in Daisen, a small town located along the west coast of Japan. Daisen is also the name of the local mountain, elevated at 1700 meters. Having a giant mountain be so close to the Sea of Japan is a rare topographical trait that makes this area so unique.
To enjoy the beauty of the sea and to appreciate nature’s gift, my friend Yabu-chan invited me to go on a fishing trip with local fisherman Mr.Takami.
We arrived at the port before the day got bright.
This is my friend Mr.Takami’s fishing boat.
Fish port at 4:30 am.
This fishing net is roughly 1 km long.
Captain Mr. Takami – Daisen Fishing Trip Japan
Another fisherman fishing solo.
Catching the fish
Fish preparation – Daisen Fishing Trip Japan
I was in disbelief that how can organs be purple! But God, it was a thing of beauty.
Fish with slimy texture and vibrant colour
The outer ring is beautifully designed. Ocean life is super mysterious and amazing. I was already in awe right after I saw them.
Amazing captures – Daisen Fishing Trip Japan
Fisherman at work
Net and fish
Hard work
Creature of the sea
Fish cleaning
Sharks!
Piercing eyes
Mr. Takami’s Old Friend
Shells and corals
Sea stars
Toy-like fish!
This is called Cat Shark. The skin is super hard and rough. I was drawn into the pattern of its flash. One more round of applause to the creator of the world.
Mr.Takami’s wife prepared breakfast for us. These meal combo are ubiquitous in Japan.
Macro shot of cat shark’s tongue
Indecipherable emotion
Mini aquarium for zombie fish
Cleaning, weighing and packing for shipment.
Everything in this blue bucket is our harvest for dinner!
The Dinner Feast
Later on that might we celebrated the adventure at the local fishermen/hunters club. It’s a tiny one story cottage with lots of messages left on the wall from visitors around the world.
The fish was undoubtably fresh, paired with cheese and liquors. I used to dispel fish due to its smelly nature until I was introduced to sashimi (raw fish sliced into pieces). Simply speaking, fresh fish doesn’t smell. If you are like me who’s been rejecting fish for over 15 years, I highly recommend you to try some FRESH ones.
Good luck friend, salmon is a good start.
Here are our celebration feast.
Various of raw fish and squid on top of Shiso leaves scattered on the plates . Cheese string on the bottom right. Miso paste on the top right for dipping.
Vintage whisky from renowned Japanaese liquor brand – Suntory.
Messy but tasty. Did you spot something super wild?
This is the meat from wild pig. In Japanese it’s called Inushishi. It’s very tasty and chewy. Mr. Takami made it into smoked jerky and it’s absolutely amazing.
The wild pig was captured by Mr.Takami one day ago. Our friends here were doing something bloody… (Photo credit: Fujiwara-san)
“One of the reason I love living at the countryside is I know where my food come from.”
Compared to the fast-paced world where we are fed on food-like food, rural’s vegetables, fruits, meat and fish are all locally produced and harvested. Nature and natural food seem so out of reach. Maybe one day the future generations will no longer know what potato really looks like.
Photos are copyright © Xue Feng.
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