Shizuoka produces more salted and dried horse mackerel than any other prefecture: 9,369 tons in 2021, or 42% of the national total, mainly from Numazu, Atami and Ito. Tables of dried fish with handwritten tags line the shopfronts at Numazu Port. I grilled the one I bought and ate it with my sushi.
Sources: pref.shizuoka.jp numazukanko.jp mlit.go.jp nippon.com
This moment in the journey
Making sushi with fish from the market
Time to make dinner. The dried horse mackerel went on the grill. And tonight, let's try making sushi with the fish I got at the local market.
I set a white plate in front of me and readied my hands. A slice of white fish with its skin still on went onto a ball of rice, then gently onto the plate. Here is your sushi. Next, tuna: Numazu is a great place to get good tuna at a reasonable price.
I wrapped rice in strips of nori and topped it with chopped tuna and green onion for negitoro gunkan. Raw whitebait, also a specialty of Numazu, went on as a warship roll too, spooned over the rice.
Watch this scene on YouTube4:05
More notes from this journey
Numazu, Shizuoka
Rice-ball bento in bamboo sheath
I wrapped freshly made rice balls in bamboo sheath with rolled omelet and pickled cucumber and carried them down to the water.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
The Numazu special: nigiri and gunkan sushi
Numazu Port is where the fish of Suruga Bay come ashore, with a street of restaurants serving seafood fresh off the boats.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Awashima Island
A small island in Suruga Bay at the boundary of Uchiura Bay and Enoura Bay.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Suruga Bay
Japan's deepest bay, reaching 2,500 meters at its deepest point.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Numazu Port
The port where the bounty of Suruga Bay comes ashore.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Numazu Deep Sea Pudding
A pudding made by Numazu Shinkai Purin Kobo at Numazu Port (97 Senbon-minatocho, Numazu).
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
More notes from Tokai
Numazu, Shizuoka
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 c…
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Sakura shrimp kakiage
Every sakura shrimp landed in Japan comes from Suruga Bay.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
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.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Rice cooked over a kamado
In this house the tiled kamado is still in daily use.
From: Lighting the kamado in a house in the sky
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Satsuki's lunch box
A recreation of the lunch Satsuki gets up early to make in My Neighbor Totoro: rice cooked over a kamado, grilled dried sardines, green peas, pink sakura denbu…
From: Lighting the kamado in a house in the sky
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Wild boar hot pot over the hearth
Most of Hamamatsu's Tenryu Ward is forest, and the Tenryu Gibier Fes, a festival of wild game, is held in Futamata (its fifth edition was in May 2025).
From: Lighting the kamado in a house in the sky