Sea Bream

2024/04/22

Ken Nishizawa

Former President of Kawagoe Mita-kai, 1964 Commerce

At Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine, which is the guardian shrine of our town Kawagoe and widely known as a deity of matchmaking, two types of sea bream-shaped fortune slips (omikuji) are gaining popularity. One is the general fortune slip "Ichinen Antai Mikuji," and the other is the "Ai-tai Mikuji," which specializes in romantic fulfillment. In both cases, the fortune slip is inserted into the tail of a papier-mâché sea bream.

What is unique is how you draw them. It takes the form of fishing for the many sea bream swimming in a tank using a small bamboo fishing rod. Worshipers take aim and work hard to catch the sea bream they want, but this is quite difficult. The line doesn't drop exactly where you intend. When I asked Chief Priest Yamada of Hikawa Shrine about this, he said, "That itself is the divine will." I see. I used to think that one's fortune was measured by the content of the chosen slip, but the very fact of "which slip you are able to catch" is already a connection guided by the gods!

According to Japanese mythology, Susanoo, the deity of Hikawa Shrine, was originally a god responsible for ruling the seas. Please come and enjoy sea bream fishing in Saitama, a landlocked prefecture.

Kotaro Kashiwabara

Chairman of Japan Gastronomy Association, 1986 Economics

Akasaka "Tsuyama" is a Japanese restaurant (kappo) famous for being loved by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is also a Keio University alumni. While most kappo restaurants these days only offer omakase courses, Tsuyama stubbornly sticks to an a la carte menu, which I appreciate because I can order what I like. I have been going there since I was young.

The signature dish to end the meal there is Tai Chazuke (sea bream with tea over rice). It became famous after being featured in the media because former Prime Minister Koizumi loved it so much. I love it too, and even when I'm wondering what to have for the final dish, I always end up choosing the Tai Chazuke.

Tai Chazuke is made by marinating fresh wild sea bream in a sauce and eating it with tea poured over it. At Tsuyama, the sauce is so delicious that I usually put two-thirds of it on top of the rice to eat as a bowl (donburi) and turn the rest into chazuke. They add carefully ground sesame to a soy sauce base, and the Tsuyama style is to add a pickled plum (umeboshi). This adds a refreshing touch to the sesame sauce, which can tend to be heavy, creating just the right balance. For the final chazuke, while many shops use sencha or dashi broth, Tsuyama uses hojicha. This has a wonderful aroma that makes me think, "I've truly come to Tsuyama."

Koji Kurosaki

Representative Director of Kurosaki Sengyo Co., Ltd., 2000 Commerce

In Toyama, many red sea bream are caught during the month from April to May every year. Following the firefly squid, the plump red sea bream make one feel the changing of the seasons from spring to early summer.

The red sea bream caught by fixed nets located about 10 to 20 minutes from the fishing port are landed early in the morning, shipped in a fresh state, and can be eaten within the same day.

However, due to rising sea temperatures caused by global warming, things that should normally be caught are not being caught. For example, mahi-mahi, which is in season in summer, is caught in fixed nets even in December. Yellowtail (buri) that could be called "Kan-buri" (winter yellowtail) is caught in Hokkaido in October. Such things are happening every year.

How will the red sea bream be this year? Rather than lamenting that things used to be a certain way, I believe the most important thing is to pursue the seasonal flavors of today.

Please come to Toyama and taste the seasonal flavors of today.

Ryujiro Hagiwara

Teacher at Keio Yochisha Elementary School

At Yochisha, when a class wins at a sports day or school tournament, the homeroom teacher treats the students to Taiyaki (sea bream-shaped cakes). This custom was started by Mr. Hiromichi Kawamura, also known as Kawasenn. When I asked senior alumni who were Kawasenn's students about its origins, I found out that he started distributing Taiyaki around 1955.

At first, he distributed them whenever something celebratory happened in the class, but it seems it later changed to a reward for winning the sports day. Kawasenn would distribute five to each household and seven to each relay runner, including substitutes, totaling about 250 for his class. It was all Kawasenn's treat, and his Edokko-style generosity was very typical of him.

During the war, Kawasenn was in charge of food procurement for the Yochisha evacuation school, and even when society became affluent, he never allowed a single grain of rice or a single drop of soup to be left over from school lunches. Regarding the Taiyaki, he would tell us to cut them up and distribute them to the whole family, and that we should eat what was left at the end. One of Kawasenn's famous quotes is "Tradition should not be protected, it should be created," but I feel it is okay to keep protecting the Yochisha Taiyaki culture.