At the Yorishima fish festival this morning there was a tuna weight quiz. I think my guess was a little high….

Tuna isn’t a regional specialty, though. That honour goes to oysters. Interestingly, persimmons and oysters are both called kaki in Japanese (with different inflection which I can never remember).

The idea of eating seafood before lunch is still a little strange to me, but this was the purpose of the event. My friend went to wait in line for the oysters while J and I lined up for the most sought after soup, which was mainly leeks with big crab legs sticking out.

While we were waiting in the line, a man came by “selling” chopsticks. In fact, he was collecting payment for the soup, and the chopsticks were the proof of purchase. Once we got to the front we would simply show the chopsticks and the transaction was complete.

But just before we got the the front of the line, there was an announcement : they were out of crab!  The soup would have shrimp instead.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, however, as the shrimp could actually be eaten whole (yes…. whole…. crunch crunch) whereas the crab might have been a struggle. We talked with many people at this festival and were amazed to discover most of them came from some distance to get there. I personally met only two people from the town itself.

I was also disappointed that our mascot, Konko manjuu, did not make an appearance. Shame on him, it wasn’t even raining! Maybe he is allergic to shellfish.