Itabashi Trading exports fresh fish weekly from Toyosu fish market to countries such as Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore etc.

This time, we traveled to Ehime with the president of an importer from New York, the US where our sales are steadily growing.

Ehime Prefecture has the biggest production volume and value of fish farming, and the production of sea bream in particular accounts for more than half of the total of Japan.

For New York, we regularly export farmed sea bream, striped jack, yellowtail etc, and other species every week. We visited some farmers which supply farmed fish to our New York customers.

 

First, we visited a farmer of Yellowtail. Farmed yellowtail has been severely affected by the rising seawater temperatures caused by global warming in recent years. High water temperatures can increase the risk of oxygen deficiency, stunt growth, disease outbreaks, and an increase in fish mortality.

For that reason, farmers measure to reduce the amount of feed to their fish, submerging the fish in deeper water, and developing varieties of fish species that can withstand higher water temperatures.

Farmers want to feed the yellowtail as much as possible to make them grow bigger, but when the fish come close to the surface to have feeds, they can get stressed from the sudden rise in water temperature caused by a heatwave that they can die.

We can eat farmed fish at sushi restaurants as a matter of course, but I realized that being able to eat it is not something to be taken for granted.

 

After that, we visited Taichi Co., Ltd., a farmer of seabream brand named “Taiichiro-kun”.

We visited them just in time for feeding and had the opportunity to　feed Taiichiro-kun on their boat in the fish pond. Every morning, the staff feed Taiichiro-kun with the words such as “Good morning!” and “I love you!” They believe words have spiritual power, so they always care about the fish with gratitude. Our New York customer was also calling out to the sea bream while feeding it, and I believe Taiichiro-kun was happy to hear the voice.

 

Uwajima fish farm pond

Feeding Time

Finally, thanks to the generosity of Taichi's president, we had "Uwajima Tai-meshi" a traditional dish in Uwajima area, and Sashimi using Taiichiro-kun caught on that day. There is a typical Tai-meshi in Japan, cooking seabream with rice and mixing after cooked, but unlike to it, Uwajima Tai-meshi has marinated sashimi-sea bream with special blended sauces of soy sauce, mirin, egg yolk, dashi stock, sesame etc, on top of the rice. It was an unforgettable taste for us, and our New York customers loved it too.

For sashimi, we tried the sea bream with salt. It had a soft-springy texture and a deep, sweet flavor without the distinctive fishy smell that farmed fish often has.

Uwajima Tai-meshi

You can purchase Taiichiro-kun online (only domestic service), so if you are interested in, we highly recommend trying it.

This business trip has led to new business opportunities.

Truly, A picture is worth a thousand words!!

We will continue striving to arrange excellent food products for overseas.

 

If you have any questions regarding product handling, please feel free to contact us.

 

【Contact us】

Itabashi Trading Co., Ltd

Food Department　

TEL :+81-3-3248-1016（Workday 10:00～17:00）　

FAX :+81-3-3248-1008

Email: shokuhin@itabashi-trading.com