Sure there is. We go to Hokkaido most years, and stay in one of a few towns where you can go to the market early morning and pick yourself a crab for prep on the spot.
Sarah - Iām curious whether or not you and your husband speak any Japanese and if so, do you run into any problems with the various dialects, depending where you are.
mussels. They lack texture, and clams are 10,000x better in every way, so why not just a pot of them instead.
L

Sarah - Iām curious whether or not you and your husband speak any Japanese and if so, do you run into any problems with the various dialects, depending where you are.
Jonathan speaks Japanese - he lived there for several years first as an exchange student, then went back to work as a chef and restaurant consultant. There have been a small number of times in our travles when dialect has been a challenge, only really when speaking with older people. Heās occasionlly told me that a conversation heās just had was difficult because the person was speaking ānagoya-benā (or whatever). But mostly he does fine.
I have never studied the language, only picked it up over time, and now I speak enough Japanese to get around pretty easily by myself and convey/receive basic ideas. I like to say that I know about 500 words and phrases in Japanese, but 200 of them are fish! I can follow Jonathan speaking with a Japanese person, because he uses relatively simple Japanese, and my words/phrases are all a subset of his vocabulary. But I canāt understand two Japanese people talking to each other.
I figured with which the frequency that you go, knowing the language would be a necessity. Thanks.

I figured with which the frequency that you go, knowing the language would be a necessity. Thanks.
It helps a lot. Though many people in the hospitality industry in major cities speak English, and things like subways are incredibly well marked in romaji, the language barrier is still very real for a lot of situations.

monkfish, which has a somewhat odd texture and is difficult for me to clean properly.
I think it has a more meaty type of texture and build up. I like it quite a bit but I can see that if one enjoys a different typing texture for fish, it might not be to that persons liking.
As for the bones, except the head itās more or less just one big bone - the spine.
I guess the origine of the seafoods plays a significant role in some cases.
Cannot recall where, but saw something about the Norwegian salmon export success and how the got in to the Japanese market. Due to the poor salmon quality available near Japan no one would ever buy it back in time.
Not sure I find any specific seafood as overrated, perhaps more about what I enjoy eating. Good lobster is great but Iād be as happy eating terrific langoustine though at a lesser price.
One thing I wish I saw more of are sea grapes - fun like caviar-ish.
Ever tried sous vide Lobster? Delicious!
Yes, and it is good. Your barb is a bit off base - I have often said sous vide is a good tool for certain seafood and vegetable preps.
Trout. I love to catch 'em, but I also always gladly put them back because I just donāt like the taste. That said, it might not be considered āoverratedā because I donāt think itās often sought out in the first place.
Iād ask if the trout was wild or stocked from a hatchery? The stocked/hatchery trout Iāve had with whiteish flesh have been pretty nasty (even tasting like mud at times), but the native ones with pink flesh that I catch deep in the backcountry have been great.
Oh, native for sure. I donāt think Iāve ever bought trout, and I donāt mean that as a some sort of misguided virtue signal, itās just that I (as mentioned) donāt like it enough to EVER seek it out. The best trout Iāve had, which was fine, was with fried eggs in a cabin next to the lake where I caught in in B.C. And that was only just āokay.ā
Interesting as I like rainbow and cutthroat but dislike Lake Trout or macks out West even though many say they remind them of salmon.
The trout I last had was a Kamloops Rainbow, caught in a lake. If I want something in trout ilk, Iāll go salmon every time.

I feel like lobster is generally overrated
This, 100%. Tasteless, chewy, no thank you.
Was in ocean city, md last week for a conference. Had excellent crab cakes at The Hobbit
We have an amazing local seafood store that sells live king crabs.
My uncle was a game warden up in Northern PA. Heād have trout bakes with freshly caught native brook trout. Omg. So good!
Oh my The Hobbit is a favorite of mine!

Iād ask if the trout was wild or stocked from a hatchery? The stocked/hatchery trout Iāve had with whiteish flesh have been pretty nasty (even tasting like mud at times), but the native ones with pink flesh that I catch deep in the backcountry have been great.
We do get some superb wild sea trout here. Pricier for sure, but absolutely worth it. In UK terms weāre very lucky being so close to the coast, with an active local fishing industry. However the selection I remember the fish shop we visited in NZ having, was amazing, along with prices that were crazy cheap.