Bonito and its cultivation

- Japanese use bonito to give their broth a fragrant and oceantic flavour
- 3am the freshly caught bonito arrived at the port
- crowds usually gather to bid for fish laid out there
- as the weather may get bad sometimes, and the sea is very choppy, very few trawlers will be docking
- more ships may be arriving shortly

- Makurazaki City faces East Sea
- the fishing port churns out over 120,000 tonnes of seafood a year
- 7500 trawlers and rich marine products remain abundant on rainy days
- bond herring are unique to Kagoshima and don't smell fishy at all

- there's a myriad of familiar fish being towed in, such as sardines and mackerel
- 128 kg of sardines are brought in daily
- a ritual --the fish aution-- exists with bonito the first to go on the block

- in Singapore, fishmongers use hand signs to keep their bidding prices a secret
- fishmongers in Makurazaki write their bidding prices on small wooden sticks and toss them to the wholesaler

Oysters and its cultivation

- Sendai Japan is located in Miyagi prefecture
- largest city in the Tohoku (northeast) region and the pace is not as hectic as Tokyo's
- a back garden that even the Japanese adore

- February is the best season to have oysters and strawberries in Sendai
- Matsushima Bay, Japan is well-known for breeding oysters
- it is reputedly one of the top three most scenic areas in Japan
- the lookout point gives a bird's eye view of the entrancing bay
- through the thick fog, a different kind of beauty emerges in front of one's eyes

- Matsushima Bay produces an enormous amount of oysters due to its natural environment
- salt and fresh water interface where the bay merges with the Pacific Ocean
- this is extremely suitable for the breeding of oysters
- some people claim that oysters breed best in months with the number '2'

- every country has different methods of catching oysters
- besides having a booming fishing industry, the area is a tourist attraction
- one can see a unique natural phenomenon
- from February to 15 Aug every year flocks of seagulls converge there

Trout and its cultivation

- Sendai Japan is located in Miyagi prefecture
- largest city in the Tohoku (northeast) region and the pace is not as hectic as Tokyo's
- a back garden that even the Japanese adore

- trout require more time and effort to breed and hence not as common as salmon
- the reason has to do with its habitat
- people have said trout breeding farms in Fukushima, Sendai are worth a visit
- trout can also be found in Singapore but people seldom eat trout as it's more expensive
- salmon and trout belong to the same family

- the water is fresh and clean and is pumped from Abuguma-gawa
- red trout eggs are housed there and they have high sanitary requirements
- outsiders are barred from entering lest the trout eggs are attacked by bacteria
- a trout reared for approximately 3 years is about 70 centimetres long and weighs 4 kg
- it can fetch about 8000-9000 yen (S$140 or S$35 per kg)

- such expensive food is not sold on a massive scale
- the fish farm goes by orders to catch the trout, slaughter, and pack them in ice before delivering them to restaurants
- it can be made into sashimi
- it has less fat than salmon and has a lighter taste
- the flesh is chewy and refreshingly sweet

Lobster and its cultivation

- a lobster takes 6-8 yrs to grow to 1 pound
- there's a variety of lobster species found in the world
- normally in warm ocean beds or near the shores
- some hide deep in the sea and are hard to catch

- lobsters are the kings of seafood
- Singaporeans regard lobsters as exquisite seafood cuisine
- they're also fairly rich in nutrients
- every 100g contains 18.9g of proteins
- can lobsters be found only deep in the sea?

- located at Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia is a small town called Apollo Bay
- there's a port with a lovely mountain and sea view and fishing boats moored at sea
- southern rock lobster live in rocks which are 2-3 metres or even 200 metres deep in the sea
- cages are used to catch lobsters and bait is put inside (usually fish meat or any kinds of meat as lobsters eat practically everything)
- haul the cages back after 24 hours, the cages may or may not have lobsters
- this is repeated until lobsters appeared in the cages (the longest wait is 4 days)

- fisherman catch other fishes or read while waiting using nets
- the boat will set sail after the cage is dropped into the sea
- there's a pink buoy to mark the location
- there may be 1-3 (about 2kg each) lobsters in the cage