Manhole Whales

This first one is from Shishikui Town on the Tokushima coast down near the border with Kochi. I believe you can go whale watching there....

These next two are from Muroto City on the other side of the Muroto Peninsula in Kochi. They certainly offer whale watching boat trips.

The last two are from Omijima Island off the north coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture. It was once a whaling area though whaling ceased in the first decade of the twentieth Century.

There is a small but interesting museum on whaling there and the traditions are still remembered in festivals.

Kamikaze Kuisine

The manhole cover of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi shows a Fugu, a Pufferfish. Famous as an expensive and very poisonous delicacy in Japan, it is illegal to eat in Europe and other countries.
Every year in Japan people die from eating improperly prepared fugu.

The Karato Fish Market in Shimonoseki is where most Fugu in Japan is sold. A lot of fugu now is farmed, and they have even developed a completely non-toxic strain.

The fish market also sells a little whale meat, though it might be dolphin as research has shown that up to a third of all whale meat sold in Japan is mislabelled dolphin meat.

Its not a great shot, but this shows some fugu in their natural habitat. When we visited the Kaga no Kukedo the boatman threw some food into the water by the boat for them.

I tried fugu a couple of times and found it nothing to write home about. Not especially tasty, and certainly not worth the high price it is sold for.