Fresh Seafood in Japan

Last Friday, Lisa and I were invited to dinner with some of the teachers from Higashi Elementary, where I do part time team-teaching, and where Lisa was assigned all of last week. They gave us a map to the place, right on Route 135-beachfront. Luckily I can now read hiragana, because they labeled the spot on the map in romaji, but the sign out front was hiragana only: Haruhira Maru. We took the bus from our house because drinking and driving is strictly forbidden (In Japan, there is no legal blood alcohol level, so even if you have only one beer, you are considered to be driving uner the influence. The people are very conscious of it, and will remind you not to drive if you order a beer at a restaurant--ironically, there is no open container law, so you can walk around drinking all night if you like). Anyway, we arrived at Haruhira Maru at about 6:15, but couldn't see anyone from our group inside. Lisa and I began to question our ability to read hiragana, so we walked around the block and, unable to see anythign that contradicted our first impression, we returned to the empty Haruhira Maru. I went inside and tried to ask the server if this was, in fact, the right place. She said it was, and when I said, "Higashi elementary," she smiled and pointed upstairs. We were led to a room where all of our colleagues were waiting for us. The principal, assistant principal, and several of the teachers were all present. The room was a traditional Japanese retaurant-style with tatami mats and low tables (which make it difficult for a fatty like me to get comfortable).

The tables were already set with plates full of treasures from the sea. Here is what the place settings looked like:













After we had greeted everyone, we sat down in front of the lovely decorative plates full of sashimi and a large shrimp. We were exchanging pleasantries with everyone when Lisa suddenly flinched. I looked over and asked if anything was wrong. She quietly said, "I think there's something moving on my plate." Keep in mind that since we have been in Japan, we have been getting used to living an older apartment with slight bug problems (the topic of an upcoming post), so we both get the crawlies rather easily. That being said, just as she was telling me, I noticed something on my plate move out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to look more closely, the girl (one of the teachers) across from me began to wince in fear as she noticed something moving on her plate as well.

Upon closer examination, we all realized that the shrimp so delicately and beautifully arranged on our plates were all skewered, but still alive. Yoshimi, one of the 1st grade teachers, picked hers up for a demonstration of the movement capabilities of a skewered shrimp. Watch and be amazed, and listen for my maniacal laughter in the background.


Needless to say, this did not make it easy for Lisa (and, to a lesser extent, me) to feel good about eating a gourmet Japanese dinner. So we ordered beers all around, which came in 40 oz. bottles (we spilled a little for our homies). The asst. principal was in the mood to drink, and get others drunk, so he suggested I switch to Chu-Hi, a combination of tea and hard liquor (in stores, called "Convini" you can buy Chu-Hi, bu it's more like a wine cooler). It was quite good, and dinner flowed well from that point on.

So, after we all settled down, and some of the ladies moved the offending shrimp out of their direct lines of sight, the servers brought in the next course, tempura fried fish. A whole fish, battered and fried such that if you decided to eat it, you ate it all. It was actually quite good, and so was the sashimi. The little fish that was sliced up to make some of my sashimi was actually garnishing the plate (you can see him in the picture). They also had a personal barbecue setting for each person, and they lit sterno under it so we could grill our pumpkin, onion, peppers and squid. They also served enormous scallops that were delicious. In acuality, all of the food was wonderful, and to take revenge on it for scaring my wife, I ate the hell our of the shrimp that was trying to crawl off of my plate (Sebastian and Ariel would hate me!). After all was said and done, we exchanged toasts and thank-yous, and said our goodbyes. It was a nice evening after all. Please email us if you plan to visit so we can make reservations at Haruhira Maru!