1. Shirako 「白子」(Fish Sperm)
Shirako is the male genitalia of fish, a sack that contains its seminal fluid. A popular dish at most izakaya (Japanese pubs) and sushi bars. A few years back I had my own encounter with fish ejaculate that didn’t end too well.
2. Inago no Tsukudani 「いなごの佃煮」 (Grasshoppers)
“Inago no Tsukudani” is a traditional Japanese insect cuisine popular in the inland rural communities of Yamagata, Nagano and Gunma prefectures.
“Inago” is Japanese for “grasshopper” and when you stew your mouth-watering locust with “tsukudani”, a sweetened soy sauce simmered with mirin, you get the delectable bug banquet – “Inago no Tsukudani”.
3. Basashi 「馬刺し」(Raw Horse Meat)
Due to its deep pink color raw horse meat is called “sakura” or “sakuraniku”. “Sakura” means cherry blossom, “niku” means meat. However, when your equine is ponied up raw in thin sashimi slices it is called “basashi”. The prefectures of Kumamoto, Nagano and Ōita are famous for basashi, and it is common in the Tohoku region as well. Nice with some ranch dressing.
Straight from the horses mouth, there is also a dessert made from horse meat called basashi ice cream. Check out weird Japanese ice cream flavours for more of the craziness.
4. Nattō 「納豆」(Fermented Soybeans)
Nattō is a powerful smelling, strong flavoured, sticky web of fermented soybeans typically served with a Japanese breakfast.
5. Fugu 「河豚」(Poisonous Fish)
Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and is a delicacy in Japan. It is highly dangerous because the skin and organs are poisonous. Read more about fugu here.
Or maybe try some deliciously deadly poisonous “Fugu no ransou” (Puffer Fish Roe) that apparently, if cooked correctly, has all of the deadly poison removed.
6. Hachinoko 「蜂の子」(Bee Larvae)
When your local pub runs out of beer nuts and you need a hit of protein there is nothing like some crunchy, maggotty bee larvae to do the job.
Apparently one of the late Emperor Hirohito’s favorite foods was fried wasps with boiled rice seasoned with sugar and soy sauce.
7. Zazamushi 「ざざ虫」(Aquatic Insects)
Another widely available product in Japan, both canned and in restaurants, is zazamushi, the name for aquatic insects inhabiting gravel beds in rivers. Zazamushi is not a single variety of insect, but is a catch-all name applied to the larvae of insects that live at the bottom of rivers. The name “zazamushi” means insects (mushi) that live in a place where the river makes the sound “zaazaa” as it flows.
8. Kujira & Iruca 「くじら & いるか」(Whales & Dolphins)
Scientific evidence collected by Japan’s Whale Research Program can be consumed throughout Japan, even as a Whale Burger. The image below shows some whale sashimi.
Even the cute “iruca” (dolphin) ends up on the shelves.
9. Shiokara 「塩辛」(Fermented Seafood)
Shiokara is Japanese fermented seafoods with a fishy and salty taste.
10. Shirouo no Odorigui 「シロウオの踊り食い」(Dancing Icefish)
Shirouo are very small transparent fish that are eaten alive. They dance in your mouth whilst being eaten (“odorigui”).
If you enjoyed this article then don’t forget to check out the cool Japanese foods series. The first installment brings to you 10 tasty morsels of Japanese culinary goodness such as yakitori, sukiyaki, ramen, yakiniku, kushikatsu and more. The second installment of the cool Japanese foods series brings to you another 10 awesome Japanese foods such as edamame, shabu-shabu, soba, tonkatsu, karaage and more.
This article is a submission for the Japan Blog Matsuri hosted by Muza-chan’s Gate to Japan with the theme “Japan Top Lists”.
Weird Japanese Ice Cream Flavours
Fugu
Shirako Shock-u
Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods
scott j
C Ohara
Chris
Japan Australia
Jay Dee
emuu
lina
freedomwv
Fidel
Haikugirl
Cool list
I’ve only tried the Icefish as they were part of my wedding meal, can’t say i’m in a massive hurry to try any of the others 
How were the dancing icefish? They say they dance in your mouth but I can only imagine that they are squirming in their attempt to escape death.
Over the years I’ve tried 8 of these 10. The one I like the best is shiokara. A really good shiokara is just the thing sometimes, especially with some nice nihonshu.
I have only tried 4 out of the 10. For 2 of them (the fish sperm and the fugu) I was deceived into eating. My wife told me the fugu was chicken and this is my shirako story.
Based on your comment, the shiokara is now on my to do list.
Just make sure it is *good* shiokara. Nothing worse that bad shiokara. Get to a serious nihonshu place and they will probably sort you out . IIRC Chirinbou http://池林房.jp/is a good bet near Shinjuku. And, as an added bonus, that is the first ever non-romaji URLs I’ve seen in the wild.
What about umeboshi!? that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever tasted!
Thanks Will. I have got a number of feedback on missing items on the list. Enough for a second instalment/part 2 article. Stay tuned.
I particularly enjoy eating fish sperm, grasshoppers, horse, and whale. Sounds funny when it’s all said in English but it’s all true =P. Shirako deep fried is especially good but whale is my favorite thing to eat on this list.
Thanks for your comment Shay. Deep down I wish I was adventurous enough to consume all of these items. I have only done the fish sperm, horse, rancid soybeans (natto) and puffer fish. 6 to go! Not a big fan of insects though.
Love the list dude! Making me hungry actually…that horse looks pretty good (-:
Natto for the win!
eww that first one is pretty nasty. In fact they’re all pretty….strange, to say the least.
Horse ice cream?? I don’t know if it’s because I don’t usually see horse meat consumed here in the US, but that sounds pretty….gross. Maybe it’s just me.
Not only you but also almost all Japanese will say Horse ice cream is starange and pretty gross.
In fact a lot of Japanese don’t know Horse ice cream. They are not famous even in Japan.
I can’t understand why they created such food…
Here are a few other weird ice cream flavours to go with the raw horse meat ice cream.
I’ve tried the Nata, in Japan but nothing else.
In China however I have had
Deep fried Hummingbird (whole)
Cockroach – done in a similar way to the grasshopper above
and worst of all Cockroach Lavae marinated in something undescribable – that was truly horrible
Marinated cockroach larvae? Man, I couldn’t go there. Reminds me of that urban legend where someone supposedly licked an egg-infested glue strip on an envelope and got a paper cut on their tongue. Their tongue got “infected” and when they went to hospital to have it examined, the doctor made an incision to release the pus and a roach crawled out.
Very interesting article …
But in my mind, any food that has to be described using one or all of the following words: genitalia, squirming, sack and/or seminal fluid, should not be consumed!
Great list. I imagine that many Japanese would think nothing of most of these. As for me, I’ve tried six of the ten and can only say that the horse ice cream is off my future plans and that’s only due to an intolerance to milk. The bee larvae I had weren’t fried, I guess they were raw. They tasted like little lumps of honey, I didn’t even notice the skin/wings/whatever.
You can’t really escape the fish milt sacks, they’re in so many soups. I eat natto several times a week and I find whale pleasant if fatty (though there’s a sushi place near here that serves it served in some sort of thin flakes that’s not at all fatty/oily). Can anyone recommend a place in central Tokyo that carries the grasshoppers?
I agree that many Japanese would think nothing of most of these, however a number of feedback on Twitter to this article from Japanese is along the lines of ‘I love them all except no insects please’.
I’ve had five of ten (basashi, fugu, natto, kujira and shiokara). It initially surprised me to see natto on the list because it’s so common. But yeah, it IS a bit strange when you think about it.
Fugu is actually delicious, btw. You can feel the poison tingling on your tongue! Can’t help but feel the dancing fish should be higher up on the list (number one position, perhaps?).
Probably one of the strangest things I’ve had in Japan was cornflake salad. I understand if it doesn’t make a future list though!
I have to put up with the smell of rancid soybeans every morning as my wife and kid hook into their daily dose of natto and rice. This has been a daily ritual for many years and I still can’t get used to the smell, let alone the taste. My wife rebuts with complaints about the foul-smelling Vegemite that I enjoy.
By the way, in retrospect, I agree that the Dancing Fish should have been promoted higher on the list.
Gross. I remember the time I tried fish sperm. Almost threw up. Natto was okay, but not my favourite. The fugu I ate was quite good but the whale wasn’t very fresh so it wasn’t what I expected. The other time I almost couldn’t swallow was eating live shrimp. As I popped the thing in my mouth, the tail was still moving, in an opening, closing movement. Ah, such weird food we eat. The other strange food that I’ve tried is snake. And yes, it tasted like chicken.
Great list! Here I was thinking I’m pretty much cool with all the food Japan can serve me with the exception of natto, and then I see this list. Out of all that I think I only tried the horse meat, which was pretty good actually.
Will eat basashi when at the izakaya. As much as I’ve tried, I can’t develop a taste for natto.
Will definitely pass on the fish sperm, but whale bacon is freakin’ tasty! Ate it unknowingly for school lunch about 5 years ago.
Fermented soybeans looks like something that was blown up in the Gremlins.
Yeah, true. Looks a little like the gremlin that got roasted in the microwave.
I’ve always been a bit puzzled as to people’s reluctance about natto. It tastes like, and has the same texture as, cheese. I eat it most mornings, actually, mixed with brown rice and a raw egg with some green onion.
(My two year old son eats it, too, though we don’t give him the raw egg, and he seems to have gone off of green onion recently.)
hint: take a whiff lol
I’m with Loco on that one. The wafting stench of rancid soy beans, it is like an impenetrable force field to me.
In saying that, my 4 year old hybrid loves the stuff. He is ambidextrous as he loves Vegemite too!
I like my nattou the same way. I concur with the commentors on the smell though. Reminds me of Kimchi. I love them, but my god, the smell…… Daikon, too.
Horse meat and whale are delicious! Shirako isn’t as bad as it sounds.
And natto is positively harmless next to shimotsukare (a.k.a. neko no gero). The name tells it like it is: it looks like vomit, smells like vomit and tastes like vomit.
Hi AnnaTrouble, thanks for dropping by. I had to look up shimotsukare and it seems like a dish that should have been on the list. I read that it is made by simmering soy beans with salmon head. Hmmm…
Yeah, soy beans, salmon head (and other body parts), carrots and radish and other assorted odds and ends. Husband loves this stuff.
After seeing Shirako posted here I had to try it. Earlier this evening I gave it a go. The stuff is actually really good!
I haven’t been able to go near if after being traumatised by it 10 years ago.
I tell you, the thought of eating bugs doesn’t generally weird me out (though live worms is somehow worse than tiny live fish), but something REALLY gets me about those fish semen sacks. Like they look as if they should be a nice pasta or something, but no. Semen sack.
Wow, great list! I’m full Japanese but I’ve only tried about four of them in your list, which seems quite less compare to others who commented (and probably not Japanese)! Many of them were quite familiar to me, although I don’t really have any courage to try them out… I’m sure they wouldn’t taste as bad as it looks!
Natto is VERY common in Japan, but many Japanese seems to dislike its strong smell and the taste. I just thought of a thing you should have added in to your list – cow’s tongue. I don’t know if this sounds ‘weird’ but I guess it does. It tastes nice, and its very chewy. We often eat it by grilling it with salt and pepper and dip it into a squeezed lemon juice.
Mmmm, gyuutan! I don’t think that cow’s tongue is all that unfamiliar outside of Japan. Europeans eat it smoked among other ways.
But I have to say the Japanese version is delicious. It’s almost unavoidable, too, if you go to Matsushima.
Have always wanted to try fugu…
I was opposed to eating it based purely on principal. Why play Russian roulette with your life? But my wife tricked me into eating it telling me that it was chicken. It was actually quite tasty so I lifted my embargo on fugu after that.
Tried most of these, except for the larvae stuff. Especially now with more western foods, a lot of young Japanese aren’t too fancy about insect ones. But hey, they you larvae in Italy to make cheese, right?
Now with the racist (yes I think it’s racist) backlash at whale hunting and all, makes it hard to say that I eat whale meat, but I still say it anyway. Seriously, this is getting out of hand, especially when other nationalities hunt them too. All this ruckus does is make me crave it more. I’m definitely ordering 2, 3 plates of this and basashi (esp basashi, love them!) next time I visit Japan.
Nattou is a regular part of my diet now. Healthy!
thanks for dropping by J.
i don’t necessarily agree that the opposition to whaling is ‘racist’.
personally, i think that the objection arises from the fact that japan, a member of the IWC, are not observing the moratorium on commercial whaling and hiding behind the scrumptious scientific whaling exemption.
further, japan are engaging in whaling outside of their traditional waters and sometimes in the sovereign waters of other nations.
therefore, to me, it’s not so much the consumption of whale meat. heck, i’d try a whale burger – for sure. it is perception of contradiction and deceit i.e. why be a member of the IWC if you are not going to observe it’s policies?
Wait, I’ve been eating the leftovers of a science program? It’s poutine all over again…
maybe you are the science program.
I would propably starve to death if I moved to Japan…
Umm…there’s lots of more “normal” food here too, you know.
Like this and this.
raw horse meat and fugu don’t seem too bad. After seeing the documentary The Cove though I wouldn’t trust eating Whale or Dolphin meat in Japan.
Well I have tried the natto, shiraou, shiokara (with squid), and shirako. All are good but the shiokara is not for the faint of heart LOL maybe it’s an acquired taste
Very interesting site on the Japanese culture. I think I’ll pass on eating sperm. Even if I cover it in soy sauce, I think I’ll probably puke.
Kujira & Iruca 「くじら & いるか」(Whales & Dolphins)
One should never eat these foods. Please do not eat these foods. Hopefully they will not be on supermarket shelves after we the people stand up for our beloved mammals of the sea.
I used to think that it was inappropriate to eat whale and dolphin, too. But then I also used to think it was a pain in the ass to have smokers around while you’re trying to eat. I guess living here changes you.
A lot of people cannot eat 1, 2, 6, and 7 even by the Japanese.
Food is differnet by country. Natural background is different, religion and culture also influence the popular food selection. Basic taste was established during young age and people keep eating them. For example, French people eat snails but Japanese do not eat them. Chinese people eat dogs but Japanese do not eat them.
those are not funny food. Just their fovorite food and not ours.
Respect different historical background and culture and food is the most important thing.
Recently someone tried to take picture of dolphin hunting in Japan without understanding the existence of different culture. It was very arrogant and rude behaviour.
The Japanese eat snails! Delicious marine snails…..
Basashi seems to be the most outrageous japanese food I have ever heard in my whole life, even more than the “dancing icefish” thing. Eating raw horse meat is just disgusting, aghh….
So, only cooked horse meat for you, Luis? Cos surely nothing cooked was ever disgusting, amiright? Let’s say it now, “Double Down Chicken Sandwich”….
Only a few Japanese people have these foods. Not all appetite them. But I can say sushi is tasty. A sandwich out of raw fish (of course, properly processed fish) is not bad. I call the sandwich is sushi.
Anybody that would eat a dolphin pretty much deserves the worst kind of treatment in my book…
Wow, so strange. I tried Japanese food when I have visited, but I would never try any of them :S.
I’m Japanese, but I’ve only had shiokara, whale, nattou and inago.
I thought shiokara was squid, as every one I had was squid. They are really salty, I like them OK.
I’ve had whale meat once. I thought it was alright, but not enough to try it ever again.
Inago, I forgot all about(have lived in States since the 80′s). Inago was weird to me, even then. If it was presented to me in a tsukudani form, I’d eat it. But only because I like the survival shows like Survivorman & Man vs. Wild. lol
There is nothing weird to me, or most Japanese people about Nattou. I’d love to eat it everyday. In a sense, I think nattou is the ultimate weird Japanese food, because every Japanese eats it, almost all foreigners would be grossed out by it. Other food on the list, they are often weird, or exotic to Japanese people as well.
For me it’s strange to see natto on this list. I eat it every few days. They sure do kill a lot of whales for “research purposes”. It can taste pretty good though. Not a fan of dolphin meat at all (in my defense, I’ve only eaten it once and it wasn’t till after I ate it that I discovered what it was).
I take your point about natto given that it is a Japanese staple that is consumed by most Japanese regularly. It is an acquired taste though and one that I just can’t get used to. The smell is very over-powering for me. I just can’t help to think of it as decomposing soybeans.
…as opposed to cheese, which is something that you squeeze from a cow and then let partially decompose. 8^D
fair enough. i am being selective over my decomposing foods. i struggle with strong smelling cheese though. if i were to make a list a weird french foods, cheese that was ferociously overpowering would be on the list (along with frog’s legs and escargot).
I know natto is popular in Japan. Probably most non-Japanese who wrote comments know somewhat about Japanese foods culture. What is different with other foods is that many japanese foods are made through natural ferment. For example, miso, syouyu, tukemono and so on. So it is stupid to discuss other foods in western standard. You have swine. OK. I do not concern about it though Muslim loathe it. Hindu loathe non-vegetarian because they think non-veg are cannibal. I enjoyed sushi and oysters with lemons last night. I know some people don’t like raw fish, but I do not care. If such people discuss raw fish, that is a bullshit.
Raw fish is on the list of 10 cool Japanese foods here: http://www.loneleeplanet.com/2010/02/10-cool-japanese-foods/
hi, i’m sorry for this abrupt message and the lack of formality, but there is
something i need to ask you. i am doing a presentation for my japanese class and
i fumbled upon your blog post regarding the 10 weird japanese food. i am very
interested in this post and am planning to include this in my presentation. but
may i know how you came to such conclusions? as in, how conclusive are the
results? are the rankings based on your own personal preferences or is it a
result of surveys done?
Am looking forward to your prompt reply. Thanks a lot!
results are based upon own preferences.
I have tried most on the list and have really grown to like natto. I will give anything a try once!!
Japan Australia
No matter how much I try I just can’t bring myself to consume natto. I can’t get past the smell and texture of it. Funnily, my wife (who is Japanese) loves natto but can’t bring herself to eat Vegemite.
I guess I’m in your wife’s camp. Eat natto all the time, even here in Canada. But even when I lived in Australia I couldn’t get past the roofing-tar smell of vegemite.
I’ve been living in Japan for 5 months now and I haven’t seen any insects in my local supermarkets – am I shopping in the wrong place?
Hi Tom, thanks for dropping by. Not sure if your local grocer would carry the bug cuisine that you may be after but here is a bug recipe book that may help should you stumble across a tasty looking insect.
It is called “Enjoyable Bug-eating Recipes” and features 80 bug-eating recipes in Japanese, Western and other ethnic styles, as well as bug-based desserts.
The sea bug stuff Ive never heard of. I dont think it is accurate that its obtainable in everyday life. There may be a region that might make those for home eating but definitely not common at all.
Some people dont even know Iruka is edible. My friend was surprised when she had it at my place. Its cooked with gobou roots, and very delicious but rare cuisine these days.
Siokara is a squid pickled in its own guts, kimo.
Hi Manaty, yep agree. Slightly misleading. As I understand the sea bug stuff is common (or used to be common) in the Nagano prefecture. Here is some more info on it: http://www.slowfoodfoundation.org/pagine/eng/arca/dettaglio.lasso?-id=740&-nz=&-tp=
im japanese 24years old but i had been eat only “rakusaniku”"kuzira”and”nattou”
These are great tasing FOODS !!!! I LOVE THEM ALL !!!!!!!!!
Suck a tit!
Um, slurp?
It’s strange there is nothing on this list I would ever bring myself to try (partly on religions grounds, and partly on my weak stomach when it comes to smells) but being Welsh I cannot understand peoples resentment to these foods that aren’t in their “normal” category for mealtimes.
I mean, I grew up on black pudding (a kind of sausage made with pigs blood that you fry), bacon, cheese, burgers, mushrooms, oxtail soup, Curry’s, cockles (a shellfish that is boiled and served with vinegar), faggots (meatballs made from lamb or pig’s liver, onions and a cereal binder), laverbread (basically seaweed), lamb and beef steaks and so on and so forth. Yet seriously, who ever decided that half this stuff was eatable, and lets face it cheese had to be an accident. I mean who was the first person to consume gone off, fermented, lumpy (possibly moldy/maggoty) milk? And who ever thought to stick blood in a sausage or boil up sea creatures or throw a load of left over meat parts together in a lump with gravy? More than likely people who were just desperate, whether for money or food, so I fail to see why many of the foods on this list are commended my most western societies =)
Many of the thing’s I have eaten would cause controversy in many countries I’m sure. Especially to Hindus and Muslims as Britain’s consume more beef and pork then almost any other meat.
The only things I disagree with consuming on this list are the live icefish (I just think it’s cruel to digest something alive), and the whales and dolphins. But I must point out it has nothing to do with how beautiful or intelligent they are as many others use as an objection. It is merely the way in which they are slaughtered that I disagree with, there is never a clean kill, and most bleed to death or die of pain and shock. Which just seems cruel to me. Other than that a few years ago I’d've been willing to give most of this a try =D
Absolutely disgusting!