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
This moment in the journey
Cherry-colored treasures of Suruga Bay
Then I went on collecting treasures from the sea of Suruga Bay. Past a red monument of sakura shrimp pointing at the sky stood the white building of the Yui Port fishery cooperative's shop, selling sakura shrimp and whitebait.
In the refrigerated case were packs of frozen raw sakura shrimp, 200 grams each. They sometimes sell out, so my timing was good. A notice beside a Big Catch banner explained that the boats go out only on calm evenings, and that raw shrimp arrive the morning after a good haul.
Watch this scene on YouTube3:59
More notes from this journey
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
Numazu, Shizuoka
Asa-Ichi, the morning market in the Arcade Meitengai
A morning market held in the shopping arcade near Numazu Station on the first day of every month except January, from 8 a.m.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
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: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
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 beg…
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
More notes from Tokai
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
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Skewered yamame trout
Every summer a yamame-catching festival is held on the Misakubo River (the 28th was in July 2025).
From: Lighting the kamado in a house in the sky
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