What Whale Tastes Like

I've been in Japan for about four months now and have been meaning to get this blog going for some time. Whale sushi seemed like as good a place to start as any.

If you've been watching the news you may be aware of some of the government-backed "whale research" that takes place here in Japan. A good bit of that research ends up on dinner plates. It did mine, anyway.

As a recent arrival, I figure its not my place to dog down the ways of my host country too much. The Japanese have a rational for it and with some decent explanation. How valid, I'll leave up to you. http://www.au.emb-japan.go.jp/e_web/files/whaling.html

So to the quick...
I went for a little Kaiten sushi (the stuff that moves around the room on a conveyor belt on little plates) down in Chiba. Low and behold what comes down the line, behind some tuna and squid, but what you see above. A Japanese friend we were dining with identified that ruby goodness as whale.

Being on the fence as to whether this is a cultural difference or absolute evil, this seemed like a fast track opportunity to form an opinion. It looked good -- for whale you get in a department store sushi chain restaurant.

Based on taste alone, I believe the Japanese are engaged in a sovereignty pissing match with the rest of the world. There's just better Japanese food to put in your mouth.


Special thanks to Ben and his battered-fried-fish-English palate for confirming this.

So what's it taste like.

It definitely tastes like it's from the ocean, but not like fish. Using good sushi as a reference, it's bland. Not a lot of flavor to speak of. The texture is a little tough. Very much lacking that melt in you mouth freshness you get from a good slice of tuna or salmon.

Yeah, that's about it. Not the worst thing that's been in the pie hole and not the best.

So the opinion: for a first-world country that can eat anything it wants -- and there is a lot of good stuff to eat in Tokyo http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2901640.ece -- "whale research" just doesn't need to happen.

Backing this opinion was the whale DNA I ingested (or my conscience). That night I had dreams of building a whale in the middle of a large Japanese style tatami room that I couldn't finish. And another where I was diving in about 20 feet of water where I snorkeled a lot as a kid. I was trying to bury something in the sand and take something else that wouldn't budge from some rocks. knew I was dreaming and could probably breath underwater if I let myself. I was just about to take a deep breath-full of water when I woke up.

As timing would have it, I'm starting this blog just before going home for some vacation and I'm very much looking to the sweet burrito-induced dreams of So. Cal in the coming days.

Next entry: How to nod and smile when having a one-sided conversation with a naked Japanese man.