Puffer Snacks

Trying foods that we have never eaten before has been one of the fun perks of living in Japan. We recently enjoyed an amazing meal in which we added two new foods to our growing list of novel protein sources. We started off the meal with beautifully prepared fugu sashimi. Now, this is not a snack for the faint of heart, fugu is the Japanese name for puffer fish. The organs (especially the liver) and skin of the cute little fish in highly toxic, like you die for sure if you eat it toxic. In Japan, where this dangerous treat is popular, only specially trained and certified chefs are authorized to prepare it and the waste parts (the poisonous bits) are legally required to be stored in specific lockable bins then burned, not tossed with the rest of the trash.

Plate of puffer fish ready for the soup pot.


We didn't just eat fugu sashimi, but also tried it as a grilled appetizer, pickled, in nabe (soup) and they even served us a hot cup of sake with a pectoral fin floating in it (didn't dig on that dish so much). As an added bonus, the restraunt we dined at also served turtle. We didn't let the cute live turtle hanging out by the bathroom stop our quest for new flavours and we dove into a dish of battered and fried turtle. I can't tell you what part of the turtle we ate exactly, but it had bones in it. Both fugu and turtle were quite tasty and it was fun to try them - although I don't like to think too much about the turtle, for some reason I don't feel as comfortable about eating turtle as I do fish.

The turtle greeter.

So how does one follow up such an exciting and novel meal? With a trip to the batting cage bar of course. We walked to Susukino (the party neighbourhood in Sapporo), ordered a round of beers and stepped up to the plate. It was a fun way to follow up our dinner, and if you look closely at the photo, yes, it was kitty-chan herself pitching to us! I hit her with a line drive.



And as you do in Japan, we closed out the night with a stop at one of the biggest kareoke boxes in Susukino. Another fun night of adventure in Sapporo!