Japan has a long tradition of enjoying the blessings of its unique ocean. The Japanese are masters at unlocking the flavor of the ocean bounty. We take a look at the rich variety, that is, Japanese seafood.
As Japan is an island nation, its people eat a lot of seafood. Every type of seafood imaginable features in Japanese cuisine. The most common are: finned fish, sea mammals, shellfish, crab (kani), roe, processed seafood, and seaweed.
Foods from other countries vary in their authenticity. In Tokyo, it is quite easy to find restaurants serving authentic foreign cuisine. Many Italian dishes are changed, however Japanese chefs have preserved many Italian seafood dishes that are forgotten in other countries. These include pasta with prawns, lobster (a specialty known in Italy as pasta all'aragosta), crab (an Italian specialty; in Japan it is served with a different species of crab), and pasta with sea urchin sauce (sea urchin pasta being a specialty of the Puglia region).
