TOKAI
Numazu
Travel journal from Numazu, with 20 notes on the places I ate, the dishes I cooked and the sights: Asa-Ichi, the morning market in the Arcade Meitengai, Awashima Island, Suruga Bay, Numazu Port.
Journeys: 2 · Notes: 20
Journeys
What if you lived in a town with a view of Mt. Fuji?
Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
When the temperature drops and Mt.
Film published 2023.12.10
A peaceful seaside town with Mount Fuji
Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
I woke up in an old house in a quiet seaside town, looking out at Mt.
Film published 2022.12.17
01
Cook the local flavors once more
Dishes made in borrowed kitchens, and how each one connects to the land.
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
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
02
A little of each town’s story
Sights, specialties and how the towns came to be: small cultural notes beside each journey.
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
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.
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
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's dried horse mackerel
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 an…
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
Numazu, Shizuoka
Uchiura, the setting of an anime
"Love Live!
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
03
Places we stopped along the way
What we ate and bought, with shop details checked against published listings.
Numazu, Shizuoka
Fukurokuju (stall at the morning market)
An old-style Edomae sushi restaurant in Wakabacho, Numazu.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Uogashi Maruten (Numazu Port)
A seafood restaurant founded in 1966 and one of the best known at Numazu Port.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Yondaime Yahei (dried-fish shop at Numazu Port)
A dried-fish shop on the street facing the Numazu Fish Market.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Yui Port Fishery Cooperative Shop
The Yui Port fishery cooperative's own shop, at the fishing port in Yui.
From: Gifts of the sea in a town that looks out on Mt. Fuji
Numazu, Shizuoka
Seaside Cafe Umi no Stage
A cafe on Uchiura Bay with a view of the sea and Mt.
From: Making sushi with a view of Mt. Fuji
