Honouring a centuries-old tradition with a modern twist. 

Every summer, people around Japan eat eel to regain energy from the tiring heat. It’s a tradition that’s been around for centuries, with people commonly consuming eel on the Midsummer Day of the Ox, or “Doyo no Ushi no Hi” as it’s known in Japanese, which this year falls on 26 July.

With so many retailers offering eel on this day, many look for ways to stand out, and one bakery in Kochi Prefecture has everyone’s attention with a new product called “Super! Eel Bread“.

At first glance, the new product looks like sushi, but look closer and you’ll see it’s actually a whole eel, wrapped in a strip of nori seaweed around a super soft bread roll.

The eel is the star of the show, grilled over charcoal in the traditional kabayaki (sweet soy-glazed) style by Kitahama Shoten, an eel specialty shop with over 85 years of history. The new bread, which uses locally-sourced eel, is said to combine the appeal of Kochi’s regional ingredients with the playful spirit unique to Komi Bakery.

According to the bakery, the Super! Eel Bread has been three years in the making, born from an idea by the store’s head of bread and sandwich production, with the aim of contributing to the culture of Doyo no Ushi no Hi as a bakery.

▼ Kazuto Nishiyama, Head of Bread and Sandwich Production and creator of bold ideas.

Nishiyama and his team have certainly succeeded in creating an eye-catching product that honours the tradition of Doyo no Ushi no Hi while adding a unique twist that appeals to modern tastes. Komi Bakery says it plans to continue developing new releases tailored to seasonal events while also supporting local industries.

The longstanding bakery is getting ahead of peak eel season by releasing the new bread in store from 21-23 May, with reservations required three days ahead thereafter, and sales on 26 July are limited to reservations only. Given that it includes a whole eel, the bread is larger than it seems, and is priced at 2,500 yen (US$15.73), or 3,500 yen for online sales, including delivery.

Related: Komi Bakery
Source, images: Press release
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New fusion food looks set to become a hit on social media. 

If you’re in Japan and find yourself in the mood for pizza, but with a hankering for sushi as well, there’s a new restaurant in Osaka ready to satisfy both those needs, all in one easy-to-eat slice.

Called Sushi Pizza, this new fusion food is the brainchild of Kaisen Monogatari, a sushi and izakaya restaurant in the city’s lively Dotonbori district. Osaka, and this district in particular, is bursting at the seams with so many places to eat that the word “kuidaore” or “eat yourself into ruin” is often used to describe it.

Released on 1 May, the Sushi Pizza features a crispy crust made from lightly fried seaweed and sushi rice, with a variety of seafood toppings to choose from.

Prices start at 1,078 yen (US$6.77) for the “Seafood Salad” or the “Oil Sardine” slice with sardines, olives, and tomatoes, and rise to 1,408 yen for the “Eel Butter” with eel, butter and egg and the “Chunky Seafood” containing shrimp, mussels, and squid tentacles.

The pizza is strong on visuals, making it perfect for attracting attention on social media, and the flavour is said to be equally impressive, with generous chunks of seafood and cheese delivering exciting contrasts in taste and texture.

Izakaya are often referred to as “Japanese taverns” in English, due to the fact that they serve up alcohol with a wide variety of small dishes designed to pair well with drinks. With Kaisen Monogatari specialising in seafood – the name literally translates as “seafood tale” – the sushi pizza is a novel way to showcase its expertise in the field, or should we say “waters”, while acting as an entry point for diving into more of its alluring offerings.

A slice of Sushi Pizza is a fun way to feast on seafood in the heart of Osaka, and it has all the ingredients to become a kaisen monogatari of your very own for you to recount to friends and family back home.

Restaurant information
Kaisen Monogatari Midosuji Store / 海鮮物語 御堂筋店
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Chuo-ku, Dotonbori, 1-10-7 Bonchi Building 4F
大阪府大阪市中央区道頓堀1-10-7 ぼんちビル 4F
Open 5 p.m.-11 p.m.
Website

Source, images: Press release
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Says he did it for the social media views, but the police didn’t like what they saw.

A lot of things in Japan rely on the country’s ability to trust that people will be considerate and respectful. Perhaps nowhere is this more clearly displayed than in the existence of conveyor belt sushi restaurants, in which automated delivery of food to customers is carried out under the assumption that no one will do anything disruptive or unsanitary along the way.

In other words, one of Japan’s most popular restaurant genres is dependent on people refraining from behavior within the “jerk” and “jackass ” sections of the societal spectrum. Unfortunately that proved to be too tall a task for one man, who’s now been arrested after posting a disgusting video of his recent visit to Hama Sushi, one of Japan’s biggest conveyor belt sushi chains.

In the video, which the man posted to TikTok, he can be seen squirting liquid from a dish soap container, which he had brought to the restaurant with him, onto a plate of sushi. The video was recorded at a Hama Sushi branch in Saitama Prefecture and posted on May 27.

One week later, the Saitama Prefectural Police have not only identified the man who posted the video as an unemployed 43-year-old resident of the Saitama town of Moroyama, they’ve also arrested him on charges of forced obstruction of business.

There are a couple of aspects of the incident that warrant further discussion. To start with, the man did not squirt the liquid on sushi that was eaten by another customer. In recent years, in order to improve efficiency and provide fresher food, many conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Japan have done away with the old system of pre-making sushi pieces and sending them on plates down the belt to be grabbed by whoever wants them. Instead, the vast majority of the food, and at many conveyor belt sushi restaurants all of it, is made after the customer places an order, then sent down the belt and automatically stops at the table of the diner who ordered it. That was the case with the sushi the 43-year-old man squirted the liquid onto, as in the video he uploaded the plate has stopped on the belt at his table, and in the video he can be seen taking the plate off the belt and placing it on his table.

However, the plate was still on the lane when he squirted it, opening up the possibility of whatever the liquid was splashing onto other plates or parts of the restaurant where it could come into contact with other diners’ food. The man, who has admitted to recording and posting the video and said his motive was “to get a lot of views on social media,” claims that he had emptied the dishwashing liquid container and refilled it with water prior to squirting it on the sushi, though this isn’t something that can be easily confirmed after the fact.

One could, perhaps, make the argument that regardless of whether the liquid was dish soap, water, or something else, as long as the man ate the sushi himself, or simply left it uneaten so that it would be thrown out when the restaurant staff cleaned the table, that he didn’t do anything wrong, just something weird and potentially damaging to his own stomach. However, by posting the video online, his actions could be seen as damaging to the reputation of Hama Sushi. Any suggestion of unsanitary conditions is extremely damaging to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and by extension the chain and even the entire industry.

A rash of conveyor belt sushi “prank” videos occurred in 2023, but though things have quieted down since then, the Moroyama man’s actions are definitely not the sort of thing businesses, the police, or the general public have any patience for anymore. “[His] actions are utterly unacceptable” said Hama Sushi’s parent company Zensho in a statement, while promising to provide all possible cooperation in the investigation and legal procedures.

Source: Livedoor News/Kyodo, Nitele News, FNN Prime Online
Top image: Pakutaso
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