Here you get a lot of fish and a little bit of rice
Oh wow check it out.
Hey guys and girls on Ask Japanese it's your flashy fashion reporter Cathycat
and today we're not in Tokyo we are here in Shimonoseki.
Shimonoseki is located in the west part of Japan and it's famous for its pufferfish
I spend a couple of days here and show you their delicacy, history places and mystery.
so let's start our trip together and let's Ask Japanese.
Hey and here we are on our left we can see the bridge that takes us over to Kyushu but on our right.
we can see the Karato fish market and it's lunch time a lot of people are out here enjoying their fresh fish
and we're really excited to have a look inside and I really want to see what's there. I'm really really hungry so let's get some food
This stuff energetically is shouting: Welcome "welcome try our yummy fish" and there are so many selections here.
And you can see there's also always "wash your hands" there's a disinfectant here that you can use
I used some of it just now, let's go.
Now Shimonoseki is famous for their food for their blowfish but all the other types of fish are
obviously very fresh, you've just seen the ocean we were just walking past it.
So it's interesting to see that the locals and tourists come here to snack and oh
look at this... oh it's like filled to the brim you know when you sometimes go to Tokyo
and you order like a like a donburi like this you get like a little bit of fish and a lot of rice...
here you get a lot of fish in a little bit of rice! Look at that! Oh my god look at that it looks so good.
With the bright flags and shops here there's also a couple of lanterns over there and people shouting about their goods...
it feels like... more like a summer festival a town festival than a fish market it's a really good atmosphere here.
Different to other fish markets like for example the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo where tourists are... well allowed but really not
that welcome, this one here is open for everyone: families can come, tourists can come, locals are coming everyone's mingling!
And the pufferfish can come too. Pufferfish!
Now before corona, people could actually grab their own food and put it on their own plate but what we're having right now
is that the staff comes and picks it up for the guests, wraps it and then hands it over.
So to keep it all clean and safe. There's even a little note saying "All our staff members are smiling underneath their masks"
At this store I can see a lot of young people are working. Are you all university students? - That's right. There's a lot of students here.
Are you a student too? - Yes. - Why did you decide to work here?
We have many tasty fish in Shimonoseki. I wanted to work here. I have a lot of friends here too, so I applied.
The atmosphere at your stall looks so fun. - I always have a lot of fun here.
Question for you guys. What is the biggest difference between sushi at Karato market or sushi in a sushi-go-round?
The answer is...
Yes... every sushi the part of the raw fish is huge! They're really not stingy with their fish:
all sushi has more fish than rice so if you go and eat at Karato market what will happen to you?
Well let's go and ask a shop master with Ask Japanese.
Hello. - Hello there.
I could see your staff from above and wanted to check out your stall. - Thank you for that.
So I came over here. The atmosphere is very cheery here. - Thanks for saying that. We are all wearing pink!
We are so pink. We are matching colors today!
Working with so many young students at your stall, I am sure you have to teach them a lot. What do you teach them?
First I let them remember all the flavors of the different fish. - Are they allowed to eat it?
Of course! I let all my staff taste the fish first! - Really?!
If they don't know the taste of a fish, how are they supposed to recommend something to the customers?
If I was to job here, I would be allowed to try out all the fish here? - Yes you could eat it all.
I want them to know the real taste of fish. Not being funny but all staff that has worked and tried real fish here...
... can't go back to simple sushi-go-round fish anymore.
Because they tried the freshest fish, they can't enjoy normal fish in stores anymore? - Yes.
How do I read your store name? - Minato Shoten.
Minato Shoten? Why is there a picture of a family on your logo? - I don't know.
Alright now it's time for lunch, I'm gonna buy and get some foods
and make the ultimate sushi lunch compilation. Let's go....
Right next to the ocean there is a stretch of land where people who buy themselves something
at the market eat it. Look at this oh my gosh this looks so good so colorful...
I don't even know what half of this is.
I left it up to the store owner, I picked the first three and then she picked the rest for me...
I have no idea what all of this is but I'm so excited to find out...
and I'm so hungry so this is gonna be great.
I'm so hungry so I'm gonna go for the biggest thing that you can see in there.
Oh my gosh I don't think I can fit this in my mouth...
How do I get this in my mouth?
I can honestly say that this sushi at Karato market was one of the best I ever had.
I loved it and there's just so much... and it is a great location to enjoy your sushi right?
Because you can listen to the sound of the ocean you smell the sea and the fresh sea water and aaah it was marvelous!
(director trap coming up)
This looks like a flower
!!! hold on what fish was that....
What part of the fish was that???
Oh you just made me eat fish balls didn't you!!!
Well I got balls now.... literally. Eeeep.
Look how big the shrimp is!!!
This is so good...
This is the poisonous pufferfish?!?! Fried? No way!!
This is the speciality of Shimonoseki a fried pufferfish... and they're poisonous
and I didn't think that it would happen so fast that I would actually eat a fried poisonous fish
but this part of it should not be poisonous.... but I'm slightly nervous....
You know I love you guys I love all of you...
[heartbeat]
This is really good!
It's like light in a kind of fluffy way... it has like the flavor it's not it's not fishy at all it's like a real nice....
Now I regret that I haven't eaten this so far I should have been eating puffer fish way earlier than this.
What was I was scared about?
[NEXT]
The puffer fish has some unique traits that no other fish has
and we've come to Kaikyokan aquarium and gotta find out about them.
The Kaikyokan aquarium is a special aquarium. You can see a lot of fish and sea creatures
but what's so unique about this aquarium is
that it has the most numbers of puffer fish exhibits in the entire world!!!
So when I visited them, they were around 199 little puffer of fishies...
look at this huge ocean sunfish... do you know it is the biggest puffer fish in the world!
Instead of eating him, I have the feeling he's gonna eat me.
Well, you have never seen such a number of puffer fish around right?
And they're so cute and adorable! Definitely go and check them out.... I wish I could cuddle them
but they're kind of spiky sometimes
[Music]
I will ask more questions to our special guest. Please introduce yourself.
I am in charge of the Pufferfish collection at the Kaikyokan Aquarium and my name is Tamai. My pleasure.
Looking forward to learning from you.
Sometimes, for an unknown reason...
around once or twice a year, a pufferfish will blow up and shrink down. As if to see if they still got it.
That sounds cute. - We don't know why they do that.
My fishy friend earlier too? - That's right!
There's something I wanna ask you personally. What do you like so much about the pufferfish?
I like that there is such a wonderful variety. From the large Mambo Ocean sunfish
to the small mini pufferfish, they come in many colors,
sizes, with or without spikes and poison. They have many skills. I love that variety.
Is there a pufferfish type you can recommend? Like "Watch that Pufferfish girl!"
The "Mouse Pufferfish" with it's big eyes. I can recommend checking him out.
Thank you so much. - Thanks for showing interest.
Can I please check into my hostel room?
All right we are now near the female dormitory
On the left-hand side is the space that everyone can use and here is the special room...
Oh check it out!
and here we are in the deluxe room so you can see this is actually for four people
but I have it all to myself so I can roll around all night today this is gonna be epic!
But you know what the coolest part is I can see the shrine from here. I have the best view check it out!!!
How cool is that?
Instead of a hotel we decided to dive in deeper and stay in Shimonoseki's one and only guest house called
Uzu house... it's located right opposite the Akama shrine which has a history
that's over a thousand years long... it's right next to the Kanmon straight too
The location is perfect as the Karato market and the Kanmon bridge are just
within a walking distance. The port is close too, so you can easily
take the ferry over to Kyushu to visit Moji port and explore its Retro Town.
What I loved the most about this place was the view!
On one side the shrine on the other the sea! Uzu house also has a cafe a bar and community rooms.
I can highly recommend enjoying your drink together with the breathtaking view from the lounge or the rooftop
[Music]
What type of hostel is this?
First and second floor is a cafe for everyone. The Hostel rooms begin on the 3rd floor.
It's like a guest house. The 6th floor has an observation deck.
I was born here in Shimonoseki. During my university years I was in Tokyo,
but I kept thinking it would be nice if we had a guest house in Shimonoseki. So I came back and made one.
There wasn't a guest house before that? - Not there wasn't!
You founded the first one? - That's right.
How can visitors enjoy this place best?
I think the observation platform on the top has a very beautiful view.
Only visitors that stay over can use that space freely.
You can enjoy a relaxed evening with some coffee or wine up there.
Does the name "Uzu house" mean anything?
Uzu means whirlpool and I want this guesthouse to be a whirlpool that draws in a lot of people from everywhere.
Why did you pick this location?
The ocean is right next to it. It's hard to find a good location like that anywhere else.
That's why I choose this location. Enjoy your stay here. Thank you.
[Music]
Let's go let's go to Kyushu! Let's walk under the ocean. Let's do the thing!
This is the Kanmon tunnel footpath. It is a 780 meter long tunnel and it's about 60 meters wide
And it's underneath the sea level and it's for pedestrians only.
Not only tourists but also local people use this tunnel to go from a to b.
And sometimes you can even enjoy jogging here.
So here this is the Yamaguchi prefecture and over there Fukuoka prefecture.
Ok? So Yamaguchi... Fukuoka...
[Music]
Shimonoseki is great during daytime but I must say even the night view is absolutely amazing
[Music]
I enjoyed just walking around at night looking at the pretty lights
and there was a real romantic feel at the seashore
And you can even see some cute little items that is another way to enjoy the evening in Shimonoseki.
There is a variety of reasons that can take you to the western corner of Japan.
And Shimonoseki really shines with its local cuisine,
the kindness of the locals and all the cool things to do!
We definitely were very glad that we could leave the busy buzz of Tokyo
and go over to Shimonoseki! The sea, the mountains, everything was there.
There is just a taste of Japan that you just can't get in Tokyo in the same way.
We had a great time now guys I hope you enjoyed this video
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just to say thank you for all the effort we put into the video and
I hope I catch you soon for a future video on Ask Japanese
so guys see you soon, this was Cathycat signing off from Japan. Bye