Fresh Sea Food
A marine treasure trove, Izu offers a variety of delightful seafood fresh from the sea
Surrounded by the sea, Izu Peninsula offers a huge selection of choices fresh from the waters for the seafood lover, making it a feast for both your eyes and your stomach. While you're here, don't forget to enjoy the fresh local seafood that Izu has to offer!
The golden eye snapper, a product of Izu's natural environment that hails from the depths of the ocean
As the golden eye snapper is a type of deep-sea fish, fishermen usually have to go far out into the open sea in order to catch this. However, the sea surrounding Izu Peninsula has deep underwater canyons that reach a depth of 1000 to 1500 meters, which allows golden eye snappers to breed in parts of the sea that are nearer to land. Shimoda Port boasts the largest quantity of golden eye snappers caught in all of Japan. Have a taste of this delicacy from the depths of the sea, be it in a beautifully simmered fish stew, or as fresh sashimi right off the boat.
Feast on a luxurious bowl of fresh seafood sashimi bursting with juice with both your eyes and your mouth!
A luxurious seafood rice bowl that almost looks like it's overflowing with fresh sashimi, this is a dish that is packed full with a variety of Izu's delicacies. At Numazu Port, visitors can find many restaurants selling kaisen-don in the vicinity. Don't forget to take photos of this photogenic dish with its vibrantly-colored seafood piled up like a tower for the 'gram! Don't forget to try out local delicacies like whitebait sashimi and sakura shrimp.
Himono, a staple on every Japanese household's dinner table
Himono, which refers to fish preserved by sun-drying, can instantly be transformed into a main dish with just a grill. In recent times, a method of drying called namaboshi, which keeps most of the moisture in the fish and leaves it semi-dried, is more popular among most people. Even with the same type of fish, the taste will differ depending on the shop and the source where the fish are caught, so do have a look around and find the one that suits your taste!
Experience unique seafood delicacies at Suruga Bay, the deepest bay in Japan
The Japanese spider crab is one of the world's largest crustacean species, and is usually found living in the deep sea at depths of 200m to 300m. Restaurants serving this unique delicacy can be found in Heda, a small fishing village in Nishi-izu.The crabs don't keep well after getting caught, so you can only taste it where it's freshly caught. Some restaurants may even serve rare deep-sea fish, such as megisu (deep sea smelt) and the expensive mehikari (greeneye).
Try some simple local cuisine eaten by the locals aside from the regular delicacies, like uzuwa-meshi and nego-meshi
Have you heard of uzuwa-meshi or nego-meshi? Both are popular meals that are regularly eaten by the local fishermen in Ito. Uzuwa-meshi refers to a rice bowl topped with a pounded mixture of raw souda-katsuoi bonito, which is rarely eaten raw, and green chili peppers. Nego-meshi on the other hand, is a dish that features raw pounded fish topped with various condiments such as miso, soy sauce, green onion and grated ginger, which is eaten as is at first, and can later be enjoyed with some dashi broth poured over. Besides these, there are also other local delights in Ito to try, such as ika-menchi (a breaded deep-fried cutlet of ground squid) and nuggets made from saba mackerel.