insights from frontier Japan

The herring fishing season is reaching its peak in the Okhotsk region. Known in Japan as the “spring fish,” herrings herald the arrival of spring in the sea from which the drift ice has disappeared.

Basket fishing for horsehair crab – which heralds the coming of spring on the Okhotsk Sea coast – has begun, with approximately 3.9 tons of horsehair crab landed at the Oumu Fishing Port in the town of Oumu in the Okhotsk region on March 17.

Wintertime in Eastern Hokkaido is packed with amazing scenery and experiences not available elsewhere in Japan, like drift ice, art made from snow and ice, and the ice horizon expanse. The "East Hokkaido Express Bus" is a seasonal bus that travels to all sorts of tourist spots in wintertime Eastern Hokkaido. It gives you easy access to famous spots difficult to reach by car. Visit Eastern Hokkaido aboard buses in search of amazing experiences only available there!

On January 24, seasonally fresh iwanori seaweed harvesting started on Kamome Island in southern Hokkaido's Esashi Town. Fifteen fishermen worked at removing seaweed stuck to rocks.

Esashi Fishery Cooperative Union in the northern Hokkaido fishing town of Esashi has launched their first website introducing the fishing industries centered on scallops, aki-sake salmon, and horsehair crab and efforts to protect the bountiful natural environment. It is offered in English and Chinese as well.

In an effort to shine a public relations spotlight on the highest quality in kelp-fed farm-raised sea urchin of the Strongylocentrotus intermedius species, a Council made up of members including the town government of eastern Hokkaido's Hamanaka Town has unified sea urchin products under the brand name "Hamanaka Yoshoku Uni" (Hamanaka Farm Sea Urchin). The Council started shipping product nationwide under this brand name in November.

The fishery scene on the Hokkaido coast is seeing changes, possibly due to climate change. Catches of Pacific saury and Pacific flying squid, long caught in the waters around Hokkaido, have dwindled. Fishermen are finding more species usually captured in warmer waters, such as dolphinfish, in their fishing nets. Fishermen and seafood processors are being forced to adopt to the change that experts believe the rise in sea temperature in recent years may be behind.

Amidst plentiful akisake salmon harvesting in the Sea of Japan, north Hokkaido's Usuya area in Obira Town with its line-up of fishery-owned shops is seeing a peak in "toba" making, wherein raw salmon is hung on electric rotators in a rotation-drying process.

Salmon harvesting began in earnest for this season at the aki-sake salmon (also called shirozake salmon) harvesting facility "Indiansuisha" (Indian Water Wheel) located along Chitose River in the Hanazono area of Chitose in central Hokkaido.