Our good friend and long-time contributor Adam Guy wrote me to say that he’s recently picked up fly fishing and has been getting his practice in on a locally stocked pond where he can also keep a small portion of his catch to bring home and eat. Of course no post of his would be complete without something to get you salivating..
1. The French dish truites aux amandes; made with just butter, lemon, parsley and almonds, it is simplicity itself.
2. Seared trout fillets with a sauce of Marsala wine, cream and Japanese shimeji mushrooms.
3. Good old fish and chips, made with trout in a beer batter; it tasted better than some sea-fish I have eaten.
Once I have gained a little skill, I fully intend to hit the mountains and coasts of Japan with my fly rod. There is plenty of game here such as several species of native char and trout, a version of the famous taimen, Hucho perryi, called “itoh” in Japanese, and even our very own Asian salmon, the cherry or masu salmon (“sakuramasu”). Of course these creatures would probably not end up on my dinner plate, as perhaps due to my increasing age I feel less inclined to kill and eat my catch, but I will be sure to send you a photographic record of my fishing trips here.
Cheers, Adam
According to a Japanese government official, Japan will not comply with a total ban on Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. I can’t say that I’m surprised.
Bluefin tuna is a highly valued fish worth up to $200-$300 per kg but stocks have depleted rapidly. It is particularly sought-after in Japan, where a single fish can fetch as much a $100,000.
“If worse comes to worst, Japan will have no choice but to lodge its reservations,” Senior Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Masahiko Yamada, was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.
Some 175 countries are due to vote on 40 proposals at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, Qatar, on March 13-25. The proposals include whether to list bluefin tuna as endangered.
A two-thirds majority is required for it to be accepted and Japan is expected to fight hard against the ban.
France and Italy have also recently reversed their opposition to a ban. The European Union’s executive said last month that Atlantic bluefin tuna should be protected from being pushed to extinction by Japanese sushi lovers.
Is Japan tired of feeling like it’s being pushed around by other nations? Forced to make decisions about its own waters and culture? Are the waters off the coast of Japan the proving grounds for Japan’s rebellion?
A former city employee in the Fukushima prefecture town of Koriyama has built a 4-meter (13-ft) long canoe from thousands of used disposable chopsticks recovered from the city hall cafeteria. Bothered that perfectly good wood was going to waste after a single use, Shuhei Ogawara — whose job at city hall involved working with the local forestry industry — spent the last two years of his career collecting used chopsticks from the cafeteria. An experienced canoe builder, Ogawara spent over 3 months gluing 7,382 chopsticks together into strips to form the canoe shell, to which he added a polyester resin coat. The canoe weighs about 30 kilograms (66 lbs), which is a bit heavier than an ordinary cedar canoe, but Ogawara is confident it will float. A launching ceremony is planned for May at nearby Lake Inawashiro.
It’s no secret that I love Japan. There is not a single place on this earth that I have fantasized about visiting more than Japan. In fact, I probably think about Japan just as much (if not more) than I think about fishing on a daily basis. Even when I’m sleeping, I dream about Japan. I cannot escape it, and there is only one way for me to deal with this obsession- go there.
But since I cannot go to Japan, I read about her culture, I watch shows about her cities and streams. All the while I’m in complete envy. A great example of this was when I recently watched Satoyama: Japan’s Secret Watergarden. I can’t help but share the awesome wonder of such a place. I found all the videos on youtube, and even created a playlist so you can watch them with ease.
We packed it in after an hour and headed to a nearby bar called “The Bomb” in Balmertown to grab some food and drink. The beer was good, but the food was pretty greasy and it left a lot to be desired as our last meal before the trip. I don’t think we talked much about food on our last trip, mostly because we didn’t bring any, and the same held true this year. In true Fishing Fury spirit, we we’re to become one with the lake over the next week. Aside from a single case of beer, that miraculously turned up empty on the fourth night, everything we would consume would come from the lake and the fish would be cleaned and cooked by the same hands that caught them, and there is no meal more satisfying than that.
