Gifts of the sea in a townthat looks out on Mt. Fuji

Fukurokuju (stall at the morning market)

1-43 Wakabacho, Numazu, Shizuoka

An old-style Edomae sushi restaurant in Wakabacho, Numazu. It had a stall at the morning market in the shopping arcade, held on the first of the month, and that is where I bought the handmade aji-zushi: thick horse mackerel with a shiso leaf tucked in, sushi of the kind you find in seaside towns. The next crate carried a sign for Japan's best conger eel bowl. Hours change, so check before you go.

Sources: numazukanko.jp tabelog.com retty.me

Uogashi Maruten (Numazu Port)

A seafood restaurant founded in 1966 and one of the best known at Numazu Port. Its signature dish is the seafood kakiage bowl: a huge fritter of shrimp, scallops and onion standing up out of the bowl like a tower. You break it with your chopsticks, tip it over and pour on the tempura sauce. Mine came with fish-bone soup and a small side dish. There are two Maruten restaurants at the port, so check the official site before you go.

Sources: uogashi-maruten.co.jp rurubu.jp rurubu.jp

Yondaime Yahei (dried-fish shop at Numazu Port)

A dried-fish shop on the street facing the Numazu Fish Market. Dried horse mackerel with fish-shaped price tags sat on a table out front, and the case inside held dried splendid alfonsino and soy-marinated mackerel. Yondaime Yahei is the dried-fish brand of Maruya Suisan, a Numazu company founded in 1889 that runs its own shops at the port. The dried horse mackerel I bought here went into the Numazu bowl that night.

Sources: maruyasuisan.co.jp

Yui Port Fishery Cooperative Shop

1127 Hama, Yui-Imajuku, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka

The Yui Port fishery cooperative's own shop, at the fishing port in Yui. The cooperative opened it to promote domestic sakura shrimp, which are caught only in Suruga Bay, and it sells raw and frozen sakura shrimp, whitebait and shrimp preserved in soy sauce all year round. I bought a 200-gram pack of frozen raw sakura shrimp. According to the notice at the shop, the boats go out on calm evenings, and raw shrimp arrive the morning after a good haul. Prices follow the market, so check before you go.

Sources: pref.shizuoka.jp

A mandarin farm shop in Nishiura

A mandarin farm shop on the shore. Bagged mandarins, bottles of Jutaro mandarin juice and canned drinks sat on wooden tables, with the sea and an island visible through the windows. Boxes labeled Nishiura Mikan and yellow crates were stacked in the storeroom. The mandarins I bought here were eaten under the kotatsu.

Numazu bowl (Numazu-don)

Numazu-don is a local specialty born at a Numazu bowl contest in 2000: rice cooked with dried horse mackerel, topped with raw whitebait, raw sakura shrimp and chopped horse mackerel. Restaurants around Numazu Port serve it. It brings together Numazu's three famous catches, horse mackerel, sakura shrimp and whitebait, in a single bowl. On the road I skipped the cooked-in version and mixed flaked grilled horse mackerel into hot rice instead, then topped it with what I had gathered at the market, the port and Yui.

IngredientsDried horse mackerel from Numazu, Freshly cooked rice, Horse mackerel sashimi, Raw whitebait, Raw sakura shrimp, Shiso leaves, Shredded nori, Green onion, White sesame and soy sauce

1. Grill the dried horse mackerel, take the flesh off the bones and mix it into hot rice
2. Chop the horse mackerel sashimi finely to make tataki
3. Fill a bowl with the horse mackerel rice, scatter shredded nori and lay shiso leaves on top
4. Add the tataki, raw whitebait, raw sakura shrimp and green onion, and eat with a drizzle of soy sauce

Sources: nap-camp.com

Sakura shrimp kakiage

Every sakura shrimp landed in Japan comes from Suruga Bay. The fishing season runs twice a year, in spring (mid-March to early June) and autumn (late October to late December); the rest of the year is closed to protect the shrimp. I turned half of the shrimp I bought in Yui into kakiage to go with the Numazu bowl.

IngredientsRaw sakura shrimp (frozen, from the Yui Port cooperative shop), Tempura batter, Sesame oil

1. Mix the sakura shrimp with batter in a bowl
2. Slide the mixture off a spatula into hot sesame oil
3. When golden, drain on paper towel

Sources: yuikou.jp

Horse mackerel chazuke

The half of the chopped horse mackerel I had set aside while making the Numazu bowl spent the night in soy sauce and became the next morning's chazuke. I made dashi with the bonito stock packs from the dry-goods stall at the morning market, laid the amber-colored fish over white rice, and poured the hot dashi on top. A taste steeped in happy memories of Numazu.

IngredientsHorse mackerel sashimi marinated in soy sauce with white sesame, White rice, Shredded nori, Green onion, Dashi made with bonito stock packs

1. The night before, marinate half of the chopped horse mackerel in soy sauce with white sesame
2. In the morning, make dashi with the stock packs
3. Lay the marinated fish over white rice and top with nori and green onion
4. Pour hot dashi over everything

Asa-Ichi, the morning market in the Arcade Meitengai

Arcade Meitengai, Numazu, Shizuoka

A morning market held in the shopping arcade near Numazu Station on the first day of every month except January, from 8 a.m. until around noon. It began in 2005, and some fifty stalls sell vegetables, fruit, dried fish and other local products, along with dry goods, bread and sweets. This time I bought aji-zushi, bonito stock packs and dried bonito flakes. I got there on the Izuhakone Bus, getting off at the Arcade Meitengai stop.

Sources: numazukanko.jp b-izu.com premiumoutlets.co.jp

Numazu himono, dried horse mackerel

Numazu is one of Japan's leading producers of dried fish; fish drying at the Numazu post town even appears in Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido. From the late Meiji to the Taisho era, dried-fish wholesalers clustered around the mouth of the Kano River, and by the early Showa era the present method was established: the fish is split open, gutted, soaked in brine and dried in the sun. A mild climate and sea breezes, abundant spring water from Mt. Fuji, fresh fish from Suruga Bay and the growth of transport such as the Tokaido Line are said to have supported the industry. This time I grilled dried horse mackerel from the port and mixed it into rice.

Sources: shizuoka-gastronomy.jp

Sakura shrimp of Suruga Bay

Sakura shrimp also live in Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay, but only Shizuoka Prefecture licenses the fishery, so every shrimp landed in Japan comes from Suruga Bay. There are two seasons a year, spring (mid-March to early June) and autumn (late October to late December), with the rest of the year closed to protect the stock. A total of 120 licensed boats operate from the Yui, Kambara and Oigawa districts. The autumn 2023 season opened at Yui Fishing Port on the evening of November 1 and was scheduled to run until December 25.

Sources: yuikou.jp kyodonewsprwire.jp

Nishiura mandarins and the Jutaro variety

In the Sanura district of Numazu, made up of Nishiura, Uchiura and Shizuura, mandarin growing can be traced back about 450 years, and full-scale cultivation began in the early Meiji era. In 1975, Jutaro Yamada, a mandarin farmer in Nishiura, found a bud mutation of the Aoshima unshu mandarin and named it Jutaro unshu. It is a little smaller than the Aoshima, with higher sugar and acidity and a richer taste; it is picked in December, stored, and shipped from around February. It now accounts for half of Numazu's mandarin acreage, and on November 18, 2020, Nishiura Mikan Jutaro was registered under the national Geographical Indication system.

Sources: pref.shizuoka.jp pref.shizuoka.jp maff.go.jp

A ninety-year-old house by the sea

This time I borrowed a ninety-year-old house, now an inn, in a town by the sea. The water is less than a minute's walk away, and Mt. Fuji and Awashima are visible from the Nagahama bus stop. It has a wood-floored room with glass windows and a sofa, a tatami room beyond the shoji, and a long corridor of wooden walls; from under the kotatsu I could see the sea outside the window. I ate the Numazu bowl at the kitchen counter at night and horse mackerel chazuke by the window in the morning.