Eating in Japan: Sushi, sashimi and sea food

Sushi is a very famous dish of cooked and vinegar-flavored rice that is offered with fresh seafood and vegetables. Although it used to be considered as a costly high-end cuisine, sushi has become in a popular food for all kinds of persons, particularly families, can savor for more casual occasions after kaiten-zushi restaurants started spreading throughout the nation.

This dish is also known as sashimi, fugu is perhaps the most dangerous and exotic food known to the world. If not properly prepared, it really can cause death. The most toxic parts of the fish are treated as hazardous waste. Fugu is seafood dish made from a poisonous blowfish, a peculiar fish native to the Pacific Ocean. It is considered a delicacy in Japan and the Philippines.

A more affordable and tasty seafood speciality is unagi, or eel, typically basted with a thick sauce of soy and sake, sizzled over charcoal and served on a bed of rice. This dish is particularly popular in summer, when it's believed to provide strength in the face of sweltering heat. Restaurants specializing in crab (kani) dishes are also popular and are easily identified by the models of giant crabs with wiggling pincers over the doorways.

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