A Japanese perspective

Roving reporter Emily from the blog Hey from Japan- Notes on Moving, “filed” this report following my posts about shark finning in Mozambique and the primary reason for it i.e. shark fin soup. I use the term “filed” but what she actually did was send me some photographs she took, added some interesting notes, and told me to do what I wanted with them. She was (and I assume currently still is) too busy first playing tour guide in Japan, and then travelling to the United States for a home visit, to use the material herself. All the quoted bits are Emily’s words . . .

I was in Yokohama Chinatown and saw this – of course I immediately thought of you! Shark fin soup restaurants everywhere. [One] picture has a dried fin at least 5.5 feet tall in the window – Great White?

[Ah, how sweet . . . she sees shark fin soup and her first thoughts are of ME?! Have I been talking about it that much?!]

It’s a Chinese dish originally but like so many things came to Japan via China. The Japanese also eat shark fin cooked in different ways – it is considered a delicacy but is not a “Japanese” dish.

Just a note – although the Chinese think the soup has aphrodisiac properties – the Japanese aren’t nearly as suspicious and eat it purely for taste.

Restaurant in Yokohama Chinatown serving shark fin soup. The mounted fin is real, the different sized bowl dishes are wax. That's one big shark fin! A Great White, perhaps? ©Emily Cannell

Interestedly the shark here is fished off the coast of Sendai – the epicenter of the earthquake – and North. Most of the fisherman lost their boats or homes – or both – in the tsunamis that followed or can’t fish in the waters close to Fukushima due to radiation concerns. Therefore shark prices have skyrocketed – shark fin soup more expensive than ever . . .

Andretti-san [Emily’s driver and guide to all things Japanese] loves shark fin and says the consistency is like jelly fish – crunchy – and must be cooked a long time once it’s been dried for it to be edible.

Andretti-san’s perspective on shark fin is that it is the same as harvesting roe – apparently the fish are cut open alive, eggs removed, then the fish is thrown back.

Shark fin soup advert in Yokohama Chinatown, Japan. ©Emily Cannell

So there you have it . . . a Japanese perspective on shark fin soup.

Emily is an American currently living with her family in Tokyo, Japan. She writes with a great deal of humour about the challenges of moving to Japan, and their daily lives there, while they attempt to adapt to the Japanese way of doing things.

If you would like to read some of Emily’s writing, I recommend starting with her latest posts on acting as a tour guide (from hell?!) in Japan:

• Can the Tokyo Tower Entertain Two Teenagers, A Driver, A Mom and a Senior Citizen?
• Hurdling Down the Hozu-gawa River- Grandmama and Offspring In Tow
• The Day of Zen Buddhism That Almost Killed Grandmama – Too Much Kyoto For One Day

My own personal recent favourite was a hilarious post about Emily’s challenges in learning the Japanese language called:

Caught in the Throes of More Language Woes

Thank you to Emily Cannell for providing the photographs and information for this post!