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Delve a Little Deeper into Japan’s Attractions!
The Present State of Tuna Eaten in Tuna-Superpower JapanThe Japanese are renowned for their love of tuna. One-fifth of the world’s tuna is said tobe consumed by the Japanese. According to data of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry,and Fisheries, Japanese households eat an average of about two kilograms of tuna a year.
In the ranking of fish eaten frequently by the Japanese, tuna comes second behindsalmon.
Tuna is one of my favorites too. When I visited the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo,
the bluefin tuna sashimi and minced tuna meat cutlets that I purchased at Maguro Kobo
Tsukiji Hokuei were really tasty. Ms. Junko Nishimura, a registered dietician who
answered my questions there, explained to me that the Hokuei Group concludes blanket
contracts with tuna fishing boats to purchase the whole of the boat’s catch and thenengages in dissection, processing, and sales itself. The minced tuna meat cutlets, she told
me, are a popular item developed using leftover meat so that the whole tuna is eaten
without any waste.
My interest in tuna piqued, I visited the office of Hokuei Shokuhin Co., Ltd. inToyosu Fish Market in Tokyo and spoke with Mr. Ken Saito, the head of the Group’s Salesand Marketing HQ, and Mr. Yasunari Sawai, deputy head of the Sales and Marketing
HQ and chief of the Manufacturing Department. These two gentlemen have beenhandling tuna for a long time at Hokuei, which marked the fortieth anniversary of its
founding last year, so they really can be described as tuna professionals.

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International Hospitality and Conference Service Association (IHCSA)Bluefin tuna, the “king of tuna”
As I just said, the most favorite fish eaten by the Japanese is salmon. Unlike salmon,
however, tuna is mostly eaten raw in Japan. Among tuna sashimi, bluefin tuna isespecially popular. Japan boasts the world’s largest consumption of this “king of tuna,”
which is served as high-class sushi or sashimi.
In the explanation I received at Hokuei, first of all I was surprised to hear that theamount of coastal bluefin tuna unloaded at ports inJapan, as exemplified by Oma tuna, is actually verysmall. Moreover, bluefin tuna fished off the coast ofJapan account for only a small fraction of the total
volume of bluefin tuna distributed domestically. Almost
all the bluefin tuna that goes into our mouths in Japanactually is caught in distant waters more than 10,000
kilometers away from Japan. It is frozen and brought toJapan over several months.

Deep-sea fishing boats
Tuna caught several months ago is tastily eaten as sashimi in high-class sushi
restaurants, Japanese-style restaurants, and homes in Japan with a freshness as if it
had been caught on that very day. For this purpose, consistent and thorough quality

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management

andhigh-levelfreezing

technology are necessary from catch totransportation and delivery to consumers.
Tuna sashimi can be eaten without any
worry precisely because countries haveestablished such a perfect system.
“Thefreshnessoftuna

iseverything!” The tuna fishing boats withwhich Hokuei concludes blanket contracts
are Japanese-flag vessels operating inwaters from off North Ireland to theCaribbean Sea area. They have an
established reputation for their careful
processing of tuna, being equipped withequipment to rapidly freeze and preservecaught tuna at minus 60 degrees. Since this temperature of minus 60 degrees is lower
than the temperature at which water molecules cease to work, it prevents tuna cell
destruction caused by the freezing of water and drying and deterioration due to frozen
storage. In addition, freezing is carried out promptly immediately after the tuna iscaught and before rigor mortis begins. It may seem a little cruel, but the tuna is frozen
while it is still almost alive. That is the reason for the freshness of frozen tuna.
Meanwhile, tuna caught in the sea off Japan, like Oma tuna, is put into cold storage
while still alive and apparently takes at least a week to reach the mouths of consumers.
It is said that a tuna’s flavor can be enriched by “maturing” it at a certain temperature,
after which it can be eaten deliciously as mature tuna. In terms of freshness, however,apparently the method of rapid freezing on board a fishing vessel and delivery toconsumers almost in that same condition is better.
Dissection of frozen tuna
Mr. Sawai showed me the process of carving up a frozen tuna. The workplace was so cold,
it was just like being in a refrigerator. Taken out of a freezer with a temperature of minus
60 degrees, the tuna was like a solid log, so cutting it with an ordinary kitchen knife
would be impossible. Instead a special cutter, rather like an electric saw, was used to cutup the tuna's body by three parts---akami, chutoro, and otoro. The tuna was frozen solid,
so even when it was cut, there was not a drop of blood or water.
The akami part is near the center of the tuna’s body and has little fat. The closer

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you get to the skin, the more fatty is the flesh. The otoro, close to the head on the bellyside, is the fattiest part, although it accounts for a very small ratio of the whole.
Witnessing the process of cutting right before my eyes, I realized just how scarce thefatty flesh is.

Adjacent to the tuna cutting workplace was a freezer
with a temperature of minus 60 degrees. After being shippedto Japan, the tuna that was frozen onboard the fishing boat isimmediately moved to a super-low-temperature freezer, where
its storage continues. A tuna that is brought out for cutting is
promptly returned to a temperature of minus 60 degrees too.
The tuna’s freshness is maintained by continuing thisintegrated super-low-temperature storage, from immediately
after being caught to processing and sale.
Video of frozen tuna cutting: https://youtu.be/ITyNWOJ1cHk
Present state of tuna fishing
How is deep-sea tuna fishing actually carried out today? In the Japanese-flag fishingboats with which Hokuei concludes blanket contracts, there are, of course, Japanese staff,including the captain and chief engineer, but the actual fishing is conducted by mainly
Indonesian fishermen. The reason is that the number of Japanese fishermen is on thedecline. Some time ago, by working on a tuna fishing boat for a few years, apparently it
was possible to earn enough money to build your own house. These days, however, themoney is not so good. As aging advances, and young people are put off by the harshworking conditions, the number of Japanese fishermen continues to fall.
Meanwhile, the number of bluefin tuna is continuing to increase. In 2014 Pacificbluefin tuna were listed as an endangered species, and many Japanese worried that theyIHCSA Café

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might never be able to eat bluefin tuna again. After that, however, countries enforcedsustainable fishing quotas, and controls against illegal fishing were tightened. As aresult, resources gradually recovered, and in 2021 the endangered status of Pacificbluefin tuna was downgraded to “near threatened.” It was decided to raise Japan’s Pacificbluefin tuna fishing quota by 15% over 2021 from 2022. According to Mr. Sawai, thesedays fishing vessels sometimes cannot cope with their excessively high catches. To avoid
any decline in the guarantee of freshness, Hokuei has requested fishing boats to reduce
their number of fishhooks.
World map of tuna fishing grounds

To see where tuna fishing boats operate, take a look at the colored map compiled by
Hokuei. The fishing grounds differ depending on the type of tuna. Fishing grounds forbluefish tuna are shown in pink, for southern tuna in yellow, and for bigeye tuna,albacore, and yellowfin tuna in orange.
Bluefish tuna inhabit mainly the northern hemisphere. The higher the latitude,
and the closer to the North Pole, the more good-quality fatty and tasty tuna are caught.
In Japanese, bluefin tuna are known as honmaguro. Because their backs and eyes areblack, however, they are also known as kuromaguro, or black tuna. There are two types,Atlantic bluefish tuna and Pacific bluefish tuna. Their scientific names and bodies aredifferent.

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Southern tuna inhabit mainly the southern hemisphere. They are also a type of
bluefin tuna, but their bodies and taste are quite different to those of Atlantic and Pacificbluefin tuna. Compared to Atlantic and Pacific bluefish tuna, which grow large, thesouthern tuna is rather small. Because a lot are caught in the Indian Ocean, southerntuna are also known as Indian tuna. It is said that maybe they do not grow very large
because of the ocean environment of their habitats, which is much rougher and harsherthan the northern hemisphere. To protect their intestinesfrom the rough waves, their ribs characteristically forma thick fence around their bellies. Compared to otherbluefin tuna, therefore, the fattiest part of their bodies(otoro) is very small.
Tuna farming is popular too. The main tuna farming areas are Mediterraneancountries and Mexico for bluefin tuna and Australia for southern tuna. Farmed tuna isexported to Japan as well. While natural tuna differ a lot individually, farmed tuna arealmost identical in terms of appearance, taste, and fattiness.
Can bigeye and yellowfin tuna become bluefin tuna?
The fishing grounds for bigeye and yellowfin tuna are distributed around the world,
centering on equatorial zones. Occasionally, I was told, bigeye and yellowfin tuna appear
in the bluefin tuna fishing grounds too. These bigeye and yellowfin tuna swim around in
the extremely cold seas of the north, so they have physiques and fattiness on a par withbluefin tuna. Therefore, they are often sold at extremely high prices. Apparently, because
they look exactly like bluefin tuna, even tuna professionals in the market sometimes
cannot see the difference and purchase them in the mistaken belief that they are bluefintuna.

Albacore, which similarly is caught around the world and mainly in equatorial
zones, is the type of tuna most frequently used for canned tuna processing.

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Eating the whole tuna
Even though their numbers have recovered, tuna are still a
precious resource. To avoid food loss, Hokuei endeavors toensure that the whole tuna is eaten. According to Mr.
Sawai, the only parts of a tuna that cannot be eaten are theskin and the bones. Many fish have edible skin, but tuna
skin is covered thickly and tightly in tough, fine scales.
Unfortunately, processing is impossible too. Almost all the other parts, however, can beeaten. Flesh from the tail, head, cheeks, and behind the eyes, and the roe and so on, arecooked as rare parts and processed into canned products.
Meat that is left over after processing is sold asnegitoro, which is minced tuna mixed with chopped green
onions. Meat that is attached around the skin and bones
is scraped off using a special machine and processed intofish meatballs, which are very popular as an ingredientfor hot pot dishes in the winter. Because the processing isexpensive, the price of processed products tends to be high. But Hokuei’s policy is to use
tuna efficiently and reduce scraps that get thrown away as much as possible.
Correct defrosting method
Hokuei produces and sells a variety of frozen tuna products. These include simple sushi
sets in which the ingredients are just placed on top of sushi rice; sashimi assortments;
and New Year’s sushi beautifully arranged in lacquered boxes. In the case of all theseproducts, once they are defrosted at home, they can be eaten immediately as is.

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I asked whether Hokuei recommended any particular defrosting method to avoid thetasty treat being ruined in the process of defrosting. In the case of tuna for sashimi,
basically, I was told, if it is just left as is in the fridge for six to eight hours, the tuna will
defrost well. In the case of frozen tuna blocks in vacuum packages, it is necessary to put
them in a fridge after opening them and letting some air in. If the tuna blocks are
defrosted without getting air, the meat will blacken. Also, caution is necessary because
if you try to defrost fresh fish quickly at normal temperature, the meat will shrink.
Because the fish is frozen before rigor mortis, if you defrost it too quickly, rigor mortis
will then begin, and the taste and texture will deteriorate. To eat fresh tuna deliciously,
it is better to slowly defrost it over time, without hurrying.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the world situation became
unstable. Fuel prices rocketed, the weak yen advanced, and consumer prices havecontinued to rise too. The Toyosu Fish Market was no exception, and at the end of lastyear tuna prices reached a record high. Amid this state of affairs, last year the Hokuei
Group sent a financial donation to Ukraine as humanitarian support. Hokuei President
Kentaro Hirose firmly believes that the business can only prosper if peace prevails.

Mr. Kentaro Hirose, President, Hokuei Group

Mr. Ken Saito, Managing Director

Going forward, high-class tuna may perhaps fall out of our reach. But as long as
we have the chance to eat tuna, we should do so heartily, without leaving any scraps,
and with gratitude for the perfected high level of quality management maintained fromcatch to consumption and for the conditions enabling us to sit around the dinner tablewith peace of mind.
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Cooperation:
Hokuei Shokuhin Co., Ltd.
Processing and Packaging Building 105, Central Wholesale Market, 6-5-2 Toyosu,
Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0061
Tel.: 03-6636-0343, Website: www.hokuei-shokuhin.co.jp (Japanese site only)

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