Japan Navigator

• Hamo. Daggertooth pike conger (Muraenesox cinereus). (Fishbase). Also called “pike eel.” Scary-looking, 2 meter long eel. It has a deep ripped mouth with sharp teeth at the upper and lower parts of the jaw, and a fierce nature. Inhabits soft bottoms, also found in estuaries.  Feeds on small bottom fishes and crustaceans. In the daytime, it remains under mud, or between seaweeds or rocks. Also aquaculture in Japan.
  
  [Picture from Fishbase]

  Caught in the warm waters of the Japanese Inland Sea and a popular summer dish in the Kansai, especially in Kyoto. The pike conger is able to survive for longer periods compared to other fish after it has been caught and therefore could be brought fresh inland to Kyoto. It was highly regarded in the Old Capital because fresh ocean fish was virtually non-existent there in the past. The white meat of hamo tastes light and refined and contains much fat. It is seen as invigorating in the hot summer time. Unfortunately, the fish is full of small, sharp bones (3,500 in all!) – a special hamokiri-bocho knife is needed to bone it. To remove the tiny bones, hamo has to be sliced very thinly without cutting the flesh in half, a method that Kyoto chefs must master. Better to eat it in a restaurant then try this terrible job at home! Eaten as tempura, in vinegared dishes,  grilled on top of charcoal and then glazed with a sweet soy sauce (kabayaki), or as topping on sushi (both fresh and as kabayaki), .

• Hata. Striped grouper (Epinephelus septemfasciatus). (Fishbase). Size varies from 15 cm to more than 2 meters. Groupers have a stout body and large mouth and are not made for long-distance swimming.
  
  [Picture from Fishbase]

  Likes to suck in its prey and swallow it whole instead of biting pieces off it. Feeds on other fish, crabs, octopus and lobster. Occurs near shore, such as rocky reefs in shallow waters. Commercially cultured in Japan. Best in early summer. Ma-hata grows to 90 cm and is eaten as sashimi and grilled with salt. Even more tasty is kiji-hata, which only grows to 40 cm – the meat of this fish is pinkish and highly prized.

• Haze. Yellowfin goby (Acanthogobius flavimanus). (Fishbase). Inhabits muddy and sandy bottoms along the shore of bays and estuaries.
  
  [Picture from Fishbase]

  The ma-haze in Tokyo Bay grows to 20 cm. The most distinctive aspect of goby morphology are the fused pelvic fins that form a disc-shaped sucker. Its soft flesh is highly regarded and especially used in tempura and as topping of sushi.

The pictures used in this article have to my best knowledge been taken from open source websites allowing reuse with a link back. Please inform me if you do not want your picture used here.

In writing this post information has been used from Wikipedia (English, Japanese, Dutch) and Fishbase; as well as A Dictionary of Japanese Food by Richard Hosking (Tuttle), and World Food Japan by John Ashburn (Lonely Planet).