When I was a boy, I had some issues when it came to fish. I lived on the East Coast of the U.S., and for some reason, going to the beach in the spring in Maryland meant seeing (and smelling) hundreds of dead fish that would wash up on shore, not really something the Beach Boys would be likely to sing about. Never one to give up easily, I remember going out into the water to try to swim, and feeling all those dead fish bumping against my body as I moved through the water, a trauma that pretty much turned me off of eating fish for the next twenty years. Happily, I came to Japan, a country that takes a lot of good things from the sea, and was able to develop a real appreciation for all types of fish, from sushi and sashimi to the many kinds of broiled fish eaten as part of Japanese cuisine. When going drinking with friends, I’m apt to pick an izakaya that offers really fresh fish — there’s nothing like everyone gathering around a delicious hokke (which the Internet tells me is atka mackerel – I can never remember its name in English) and grabbing the soy sauce-dabbed fish with chopsticks. To me, the pinnacle of fish enjoyment is a sushi restaurant called Edokko, located in Narita City, near the airport. If you’ve ever got a layover there and want to try the freshest fish in Japan, with neta (the fish part of sushi) that’s so big it falls off the rice, head to Narita Station and ask any taxi driver where Edokko sushi is. We were there last weekend and I can still taste it.
I just love izakaya food.
