fugu
![Blowfish-shaped fugu bento appears to celebrate Japan’s Blowfish Day [Taste test]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/02/fb-4.jpg?w=640 "Blowfish-shaped fugu bento appears to celebrate Japan’s Blowfish Day [Taste test]")
Fugu, one of Japan’s most gourmet foods, is the ramen star of the classy Ginza neighborhood.
Get a glimpse of how one of Japan’s delicacies, the poisonous fugu fish, is traded at auction!
UFO catchers occupy a major portion of Japanese arcades nowadays. If you happen to walk by an arcade, the flashing lights and fun prizes all beckon customers to try their luck at these “skill” testing games. Normally, the prizes are figures and stuffed animals from popular TV shows and manga, but you will often see snacks and food. Most recently, a UFO catcher at the Amuseum Oizumi caught our eye because of its prize, a real live pufferfish!
When you’re hovering on the verge of leaving this world, the last thing you want to feel is lingering regret about those unique foods you never had the chance to try and all those unimaginable flavours and textures you missed out on, or never knew existed. To avoid such a terrible fate, a list of 20 strange bucket-list foods has recently been compiled by a British news site and has been widely commented on in Japan, as it features two home-grown favourites: fugu and shiokara. Fugu is the poisonous pufferfish of Simpsons fame, while shiokara is a relatively harmless dish composed of shreds of meat from a sea creature (commonly squid) in a slimy paste of its heavily salted, fermented raw guts. I mean, viscera.
So my taste buds won’t spend an eternity regretting the tragic circumstances that left their fugu and shiokara cherry unpopped, I aim to get to the bottom of these Japanese dishes! Er, okay, maybe not right to the bottom. I’ll have a few cautious bites and see how it goes.
You may think it’s crazy to voluntarily eat poisonous fish, but in the case of pufferfish, or “fugu” in Japanese, it’s something the Japanese have been doing for a long time. We understand how the idea of eating a potentially deadly poisonous fish could be off-putting to some, but most Japanese people wouldn’t think twice about going to a restaurant and having pufferfish; in fact most of us would welcome it as a treat, as a full-course fugu meal usually doesn’t come cheap. Well, this time, we have a story from one of the reporters at the Pouch website about an unusual way to have pufferfish, and this is definitely a recipe you won’t be able to recreate at home! Read More
MOST POPULAR
Now
One Piece creator has hidden secret of anime treasure’s identity in chest at bottom of real-world ocean
Is Tokyo Station’s startlingly expensive wagyu bento boxed lunch worth its high price?[Taste test]
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Sakura Festival in Chiyoda mixes illuminations, boats, music, and Rilakkuma in the heart of Tokyo
Lawson adds doughnuts to its convenience store sweets range, but are they good enough to go viral?
SoraNews24’s Mr. Sato is now the top Japanese search result for “handsome man” on Google Japan
Say hello to Japan’s new generation of adults, fresh from Kitakyushu’s 2023 seijinshiki ceremony
Japan Extreme Budget Travel! A trip from Tokyo to Izumo for just 30,000 yen [Part 2]
Tokyo Station staff share their top 10 favorite ekiben
The 5 best Iwate foods and drinks to buy at the prefecture’s antenna shop in Tokyo
Weekly
- Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Starbucks Japan releases first-ever Hinamatsuri Girls’ Day Frappuccino
Japanese restaurant chain serves Dragon Ball donuts and Senzu Beans this spring
Japan Extreme Budget Travel! A trip from Tokyo to Izumo for just 30,000 yen [Part 1]
Japan’s craziest burger chain takes menchi katsu to new extreme levels- Japan Extreme Budget Travel! A trip from Tokyo to Izumo for just 30,000 yen [Part 2]
- Is Tokyo Station’s startlingly expensive wagyu bento boxed lunch worth its high price?[Taste test]
Japanese drugstore sells onigiri at pre-stupid era prices, but how do they compare to 7-Eleven?
Viral Japanese cheesecake from Osaka has a lesser known rival called Aunt Wanda- Lawson adds doughnuts to its convenience store sweets range, but are they good enough to go viral?
Monthly
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
The 10 most annoying things foreign tourists do on Japanese trains, according to locals
Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on Earth- Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
Yearly
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home- Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
- Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
RECOMMENDED STORIES
SoraNews24’s Mr. Sato is now the top Japanese search result for “handsome man” on Google Japan
Say hello to Japan’s new generation of adults, fresh from Kitakyushu’s 2023 seijinshiki ceremony
Japan Extreme Budget Travel! A trip from Tokyo to Izumo for just 30,000 yen [Part 2]
Tokyo Station staff share their top 10 favorite ekiben
The 5 best Iwate foods and drinks to buy at the prefecture’s antenna shop in Tokyo
It’s illegal for yakuza to go to professional baseball games in Japan, Tokyo arrests remind us
Our one-star Halloween mask from Amazon has arrived! …in mid-November
Sandwiches fit for a sumo served up in Osaka【Taste Test】
Sakuramochi festival sweetens things up at Tokyo’s Seibu Ikebukuro this season
How to get to east Japan’s best highway rest stop for foodies without a car of your own
Harajuku’s new Harakado complex: A cool place to drink matcha in a secret oasis above the city
Was Spirited Away based on a real-life tale?
Kyoto raises hotel accommodation tax to fight overtourism, travelers could pay up to 10 times more
-
