national

Fatty 'katsuo' fish may foreshadow climate change, threat to Japan's sushi

31 Comments
By Kantaro Komiya

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Thomson Reuters 2022.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


31 Comments
Login to comment

Sad story, especially as meat is getting too expensive for families.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Katsuo is really not a "popular" sushi, and is not always seen at the numerous kaiten sushi places. It is often seasonal, and is definitely an acquired taste as well. While it may "look" like tuna, it is a much stronger flavor and, at least here anyway, is typically served as "tataki" or lightly browned on all sides, to assist with removing the strong flavor. It is also typically served, here at least, not with soy sauce and wasabi, but in a soya, vinegar and ginger sauce, again to assist in lessening the strong flavor of the fish.

0 ( +16 / -16 )

Blame everything on climate change. Headline 2 weeks ago was Rainy season finishes fastest in record history. Yet yesterday we had huge downpours.

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

One minute fatty tuna is good, the next the climate doom mongers say it isn't.

What will it be tomorrow?

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Worrying isn’t going to accomplish much.

The climate is and always has been changing.

The Sahara desert was once a savanna but isn’t now.

Surely, Japanese above all other peoples realise the impermanence of all things?

-10 ( +6 / -16 )

What an unavoidable tragedy. But sure, we must continue to rape the seas of everything we can conceivably jam into our mouths, or in the case of Whale/dolphin, anything we still have freezer space for, otherwise them government subsidies will stop coming in and the Fisheries unions might have to reduce their donations to the LDP.

And that would never do, would it?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

One minute fatty tuna is good, the next the climate doom mongers say it isn't

I think part of the problem is in the English name for the fish here. While katsuo may be a part of the tuna family, I know few people who actually THINK of it as tuna, when it comes to actually eating it raw.

Other "tuna's" are called as such, but not katsuo, and from what I understand katsuo is mainly used as "Sea Chicken" the lower end priced canned tuna, of which folks in Okinawa eat a ton of every year!

In fact during the summer and winter gift seasons, you will often see cases of "Sea Chicken" in all the convenience stores on sale, for those last minute shoppers who forgot to get something to take home!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Eat as much katsuo as you can while the supplies last!

-15 ( +0 / -15 )

@yubaru, I think your in Okinawa? Been there many times, didn’t know tataki was popular there. In and around Kochi, they use special wood to make the flavor. And onions from Awaji Shima. Best dish in Shikoku, with freshwater seaweed tempura.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

SUSHI CULTURE AT RISK

I doubt it. In fact, sushi culture has been adaptive or responsive over time to environmental change and market demand. For example, Toro, the fatty part of a bluefin tuna used to be garbage thrown away. Now toro has become one of the most popular but most expensive among Edomae nigiri-zushi types. Katsuo can be the next king of sushi.

Sushi culture is never static. It seems to reflect Japanese philosophical ways of life owing to Buddhist thought: Everything keeps changing and nothing lasts forever. Overfishing happens due primarily to people's attachment to old eating habits or preferences despite environmental change.

When Katsuo is cheap and available, eat Katsuo. When Katsuo becomes expensive, seek some alternatives. Note that fishers end up releasing many caught fishes into the sea simply because they can't sell well (even though those fishes are edible) That's quite unnatural.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I like tataki but its basically katsuo getting the same treatment as lamb in "Genghis Khan", i.e., overpowering its distinct flavour with ginger, scallions etc. The most popular (affordable) sushi now is farmed Norwegian salmon, which is fatty and melty but bland compared to wild salmon.

The sea being 2C higher over forty years is definitely climate change, as were the first 40C days ever in June, but yesterday's rain? Yeah, give it a rest.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

YubaruToday  07:57 am JST

Katsuo ... is typically served as "tataki" or lightly browned on all sides, to assist with removing the strong flavor. It is also typically served, here at least, not with soy sauce and wasabi, but in a soya, vinegar and ginger sauce, again to assist in lessening the strong flavor of the fish.

No Yubaru, Katsuo no Tataki is charrred on the outside to (1) add the aroma of burnt "wara" (2) eliminate parasites and (3) to soften the tough skin. The string flavor of Katsuo is addressed by smothering it in "Yakumi" which can contain ginger, scallions, onions, myouga, all sorts of Japanese herbs, topped with Ponzu.

The charring is not to remove the strong flavor.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sad story, especially as meat is getting too expensive for families.

my local supermarkets sells chicken at around 450yen per kg, not what i call expensive

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"A growing number of people fear we may no longer be able to eat katsuo in the near future if things continue like this."

The gods, no! Believe it or not, though, there are actually more important things than giving in to the self-entitlement of oyaji who feel that the sea belongs to them and them alone (part of the reason we're in this mess), like BREATHING.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Katsuo no Tataki is priced at 178 yen per 100 grams at the local AEON MaxValue supermarket...landed at Yaizu Port, according to the 'chirashi' sales information page. There seemed to be a plentiful supply [although I did not purchase any...]

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Eat as much katsuo as you can while the supplies last!

or you can eat it sometimes, give the fish time to recover, because ocean conservation, you know that term that the J government says theyre committed to.!?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The fish numbers are only at 1/4 from the 1980's. Maybe stop fishing for a couple of years to get the numbers back up again like they do in other countries!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

So for the meantime climate change has been beneficial to the fishermen but if water continues to warm up may become detrimental.

Maybe stop fishing for a couple of years to 

I don't think the fishermen can last not eating that long

0 ( +1 / -1 )

For sure overfishing and bigger demands by consumers could negatively affect the Katsuo populations. However, I don't see how 2 degrees Celsius rise would have that much affect on Katsuo populations? All fish in the oceans have to deal with severe temperature changes from season to season.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

 I don't see how 2 degrees Celsius rise would have that much affect on Katsuo populations?

Partly explained in the article.

Anyway the target of the Paris agreement is to limit warming to 1.5degrees so 2 deg difference must be pretty significant

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Ossan America

Different regions have different ways and reasons and I gaurantee you that just because your definition works for where you are, not all of Japan is the same! Your "definition" may be traditional, but is not set in stone and 100% everywhere.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@yubaru, I think your in Okinawa? Been there many times, didn’t know tataki was popular there.

It's not really, but one thing it has going for it, it's cheap here. In over 30 years of going to the same sushi shop near my work, they have never had katsuo on the menu, never saw it in the case, never saw it served either.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Takahiro Tanaka, a fourth-generation owner of a fishmonger who calls himself a "katsuo sommelier" "We can distinguish different tastes of katsuo, just like ordinary French farmers may savor subtleties of wine ...

oh good grief ~ this country’s use of sommelier baffles the mind, fruit, soba, tea and now Katsuo.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Some here may not consider Skipjack to be tuna but Skipjack is what shows up in most tuna sandwiches in the US at least. It is sold as "light chunk tuna" where Albacore is sold as "Albacore" or "white tuna". My own preference is for Skipjack. Albacore has a nice taste but is a touch dry compared to Skipjack. Now I am going to make a big sloppy tuna and Swiss cheese sandwich for lunch, lol ^_^

2 ( +2 / -0 )

See the climate depot website for more crazy climate doom journalism… got a problem? It’s climate change…

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

More species and fish stocks have been lost to overfishing than anything else.

Want fish to survive? Then don't drain the entire fish stock due to greed.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

YubaruJuly 13  03:05 pm JST

Ossan America

Different regions have different ways and reasons and I gaurantee you that just because your definition works for where you are, not all of Japan is the same! Your "definition" may be traditional, but is not set in stone and 100% everywhere.

Nonsese. Katsuo no Tataki is originally Shikoku/Tosa but is eaten nationwide from Kagoshima to Hokkaido and the manner of preparation is the same. The only notable variation ids in parts of Kyushu that use garlic in the Yakumi. I know what I'm talking about. You clearly do not.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Katsuo is nice.

So are Wakame and Ikura.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Fishing everywhere is unsustainable......the factory fishing practices of the world is putting the ocean ecosystems at great risk. It's good to hear that they still use the single pole fishing version of old, even if their catches are down and threatening their livelihood. It is a race to the bottom changing to seine net or trawler style fishing......in the short term catches will go up, but long term numbers would deplete even quicker. With the amount of by-catch that gets thrown back, dead of course, other species would also be affected.....

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't see how 2 degrees Celsius rise would have that much affect on Katsuo populations? All fish in the oceans have to deal with severe temperature changes from season to season.

2 degrees rise to us doesn't seem that much, but for the oceans it creates big problems. Mostly to do with plankton, which is the minute organisms that form the very base of the food pyramid. Rising surface temps creates algae blooms, which strips the oceans of oxygen creating large "dead zones" and blocks out the sunlight which phyto-plankton need for photosynthesis to feed. If there is no plankton, then there are no small fish and crustaceans that feed on them, which means there are no larger fish and marine mammals that feed on them and so on up the food chain. It's not just about the fish adjusting to the ambient water temperature. Another thing that human driven climate change is affecting is the pH levels of the oceans. More CO2 in the atmosphere, means more absorption of CO2 into the oceans (which absorb more CO2 than any of the rainforests), which dissolves in water to make carbonic acid, which then raises the pH level of the ocean. This acidification makes areas of the ocean uninhabitable for tiny microscopic plants and animals that also make up the base of the food chain.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites