A Sushi Lover’s Tour of Hokkaido: 10 Must-Try Nigiri Featuring Fresh Local Ingredients

In 2013, Japanese-style food was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list as part of the traditional culture of the Japanese people. Among the many Japanese foods, nigiri-zushi, the most common type of sushi nowadays, is a particularly popular one. There are many other Japanese dishes to enjoy, but sushi, especially Hokkaido sushi is probably the one you will want to taste again.

Here, we want to give you a taste of the essence of sushi, as well as the charms of Hokkaido’s sushi.

Sushi was originally a preserved fish food. Fish with salt was marinated in rice. This is the origin of sushi. Vinegar was not used. The rice ferments in the vat, producing a substance called lactic acid that gives sushi its tartness.

This fermented sushi might originate from fish and meat preserves in South-East Asia.

Food made by fermenting fish with rice and salt is called ‘narezushi’ in Japan, and was the food of the nobility in the 8th century. ‘Nare’ means ‘to mature’, i.e. to ferment. In other words, only fish, rice and salt were used as ingredients, and the custom was to eat only the fish of the resulting sushi, and the rice was thrown away.

The era of this type of sushi lasted for a long time, but it was during the 14th and 16th century that it changed its appearance and content. First, the fermentation period was shortened and the rice was also eaten.

Rice was an important crop for the common people and it was unthinkable to throw away rice grains. It was during this period that sushi became a fish and rice dish.

In the following period, sushi became even more popular with the general public. It was no longer unusual to mix rice with vinegar while fermenting it, and by the 18th century, the early form of sushi had been perfected.

So, when did the current nigiri-zushi made from vinegared rice originate?

At the time, Edo, today’s Tokyo, was a huge metropolis. The idea was to create a metropolis of one million people from almost nothing and, to oversimplify it slightly, half of Edo’s inhabitants were men who were responsible for building the city, and the other half were warriors who came alone from the countryside to work there. It is no exaggeration to say that it was a city of men.

As many were single men, there were stalls selling the sushi, soba (buckwheat noodles) and tempura (deep-fried vegetables or fish in batter) that were very popular as fast food.

Nigiri-zushi was made from rice seasoned with vinegar and salt, with the toppings prepared from fish and shellfish caught nearby at that time, and was two to three times the size of today’s sushi.

Nigiri-zushi is now a typical Japanese delicacy, but it was not until after World War II that it spread across the country. Until then, it was something you had to go to Tokyo to eat.

The Second World War ended in 1945. The capital had been burnt to the ground and people were struggling to survive. Of course, there was no way to enjoy the taste of nigiri-zushi, and Japan was facing a national food shortage. The government requested food aid from other countries. However, if you looked for it, you could find food being sold in some places at ridiculously high prices. Yes, on the black market.

As the government was asking foreign countries for food aid, it cracked down thoroughly and finally issued an Emergency Order on the Food and Beverage Business, which forbade the sale of rice meals in all but a few designated establishments. This worked, and no services providing food were allowed to sell or serve any rice.

However, the sushi shops started saying things like, “We’re not restaurants. Our job is to make sushi. The customers bring the rice, so we don’t sell the rice. We are ‘processors’ who process the rice into sushi.”

This may seem like an absurd claim, but the Metropolitan Police accepted it anyway. This meant that a system for processing rationed rice into nigari-zushi was accepted, and at the time one cup of rice was exchanged for ten pieces of sushi. Thanks to this, only sushi restaurants could do business with impunity. At that time, as a result, the standard was set that one cup of rice should produce 10 pieces, which is still followed today.

Hokkaido is surrounded by the sea on all sides and is surprisingly rich in seafood.

Of course, there is no shortage of fascinating sushi items, including the famous tuna, and the list is endless.

Here are the types of sushi you should certainly try if you are travelling or planning to travel in Hokkaido.

The two most popular shrimps for sushi in Hokkaido are the northern pink shrimp and the humpback shrimp.

The former are smaller shrimps, commonly known as ‘sweet shrimps’ or ‘amaebi’, which have a distinct natural sweetness. Amaebi sushi usually has two whole, plump shrimps on top of the rice, sometimes more.

Humpback shrimps are bigger than northern pink shrimps, with a stickier, sweeter and more luxurious taste. Some restaurants serve their sparkling blue-green eggs on top of the sushi.

Hokkaido is a ‘crab kingdom’ where crabs are landed at various locations throughout the year. They are delicious in any season.

Most crabs caught in Hokkaido are of four types: king crab, hair crab, snow crab and Hanasaki crab. These are also known as the four major crabs of Japan. Among these, king crab is ‘the king of crabs’, boasting an overwhelmingly large size and high price!

However, crab is not a staple of Edo-mae sushi, and few sushi restaurants in Tokyo serve it. That is why it is a great idea to enjoy comparing different kinds of crab sushi in Hokkaido.

King crabs are most attractive as sashimi or sushi toppings due to their richness and unique texture.

Hairy crab meat is soft with a silky fiber. Because it is soft, it has a sweetness that is immediately felt in the mouth. The flavor is rich.

Snow crabs are also sweet and have a unique flavor. The innards are richly sweet.

Hanasaki crabs are relatively rare outside Hokkaido. Caught mainly in waters from Kushiro to the Nemuro area in the eastern part of Hokkaido, Hanasaki crab has a distinctive taste, with a rich flavor that spreads in the mouth in combination with the sushi rice.

In Japan, salmon roe is called ‘ikura’ when the ovaries have been broken up and seasoned. The name has its origins in the Russian word for fish roe.

Ikura is mostly eaten in the form of a gunkanmaki. Gunkanmaki is sushi with vinegared rice topped with ingredients and surrounded by nori seaweed. ‘Gunkan’ means ’warship‘ in English. Gunkanmaki gets its name from its shape, which resembles a warship.

The key feature of salmon roe is its softness and pleasant saltiness. It’s hard to find the words to describe how good it tastes when mixed with sushi rice in your mouth.

Sea urchin is also usually served in gunkanmaki.

The sea urchins in Hokkaido are the short-spined sea urchin (Ezo-bafun-uni) and the northern sea urchin (Kita-murasaki-uni).

The former is reddish in color and has a rich sweet yet savory flavor. The latter is yellowish in color and has a moderate sweetness and very delicate flavor.

Several places in Hokkaido are famous for their sea urchins, but the Shakotan Peninsula area in western Hokkaido, close to Sapporo, is particularly recommended.

It is said that almost all of the sea urchins landed in Shakotan are consumed within the town. Because they are rarely distributed outside the town, Shakotan truly offers ‘sea urchin that can only be tasted in its place of origin’. The sea urchin fishing season lasts from June to August, and many visitors eagerly await this season to try the fresh sea urchin.

Scallops have been such a success in the aquaculture business that they are known as the ‘honor student of aquaculture fisheries’. Now scallops account for more than 30% of Hokkaido’s total fisheries production. They are produced in large areas of both the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, and can be enjoyed all year round, but are said to be particularly in season from autumn to winter.

The fresh plump texture is good, and it would also be hard to discount scallops that have been left for a short period of time to increase the umami flavor of the free amino acids in them.

These are caught on most of the sandy beaches in Hokkaido, with the exception of a few areas; Tomakomai, in the south-west of Hokkaido, boasts the largest catches of Sakhalin surf clam in Japan.

They are particularly recommended during the cold winter and early spring months. The meat is considered to be particularly thick and tasty at this time of year.

Sakhalin surf clam is recommended as a raw topping, due in particular to the taste, texture and briny aroma of the fresh shellfish. However, the taste and texture change when the shellfish is cooked in hot water, allowing you to enjoy the Sakhalin surf clam in another slightly different way.

Although it is customary to eat octopus in Mediterranean coastal areas such as Italy and Spain, as well as in Asian and Latin American countries, it is well known that many countries and regions abhor the delicious octopus for religious or other reasons.

However, in a survey taken outside Japan, takoyaki is surprisingly high on the list of Japanese food that people recognized. The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is increasing, and it seems that they like the taste of the commonly-used sauce and the vibe of eating this food. Takoyaki, by the way, consist of chopped octopus pieces, dried shrimp, red ginger, and other ingredients added to flour dissolved in water, formed into balls and cooked in batches on a griddle with many half-circle dents. It’s a popular snack that originated in Osaka.

In addition, there is a wide variety of ways to enjoy octopus in Japan, including sashimi, vinegared, carpaccio and octopus rice, and sushi is one of them.

The main type of octopus caught in Hokkaido is the North Pacific giant octopus. It’s the world’s largest octopus, and can reach up to 3 m in length and 30 kg in weight.

This octopus is characterized by its high water content, soft flesh and sweet taste.

It has an especially good flavor when you bite into it.

Squid is also a familiar seafood in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, for example, and is probably recognized as an ingredient in more countries than octopus is.

Two main species of squid are caught in Hokkaido, the Japanese common squid (surumeika) and the Japanese spear squid (yariika), but catches have plummeted in recent years.

When fresh, it has a pleasantly crunchy texture and has a really rich sweetness. The typical squid flavor can also be enjoyed.

Squid is also high in good quality protein, rich in taurine, has a cholesterol-lowering effect, and improves eyesight and liver function.

The pacific saury is one of the most popular autumn delicacies and a favorite of the Japanese people, but in recent years catches have been declining and it is now becoming a luxury fish.

It generally was grilled, sprinkled with salt, but in recent years it is increasingly enjoyed as sashimi or sushi, thanks to the development of technologies to preserve its freshness and improve distribution.

Pacific sauries are typical blue-skinned fish, but as they are migratory and always on the move, they need a constant supply of oxygen to their muscles, which is why they are rich in blood and their flesh looks dark red. The Japanese were particularly fond of this taste with a hint of its unique flavor.

Please come to Hokkaido to enjoy the remarkable taste of the saury, with its strong flavor and sweetness!

Herring fishing once flourished in Hokkaido.

It is said to have originated in the town of Matsumae in southern Hokkaido, where up to one million tons were caught in the mid-15th century, but since 1960 only a few tens of thousands of tons have been caught at most.

Fresh herring nigari-zushi has a tender texture and a really strong umami flavor, especially in spring when it is rich in fat. In other words, in the mouth, the gentle and tender meat of the herring responds to the teeth and tongue, and from there a mild flavor, inexpressible sweetness and a richness from the fat gushes out.

Herring roe can also be enjoyed as sushi. It has a distinct slight bitterness that appeals to adults, but unfortunately the majority of it is now imported from Canada and the USA.

Herring can also be enjoyed in different forms, such as izushi.

The main feature of izushi is that it is fermented and matured in a short period of time using koji for the fermentation starter, which is not used in narezushi.

The fattiness of the herring is matched by the sweetness of the koji, giving it a mild taste.

Incidentally, the koji used for izushi is rice koji, which is made by propagating koji mold on rice, which produces various enzymes and breaks down starches and proteins to create umami.