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Why are two pieces of nigiri sushi made at once?

Have you ordered Nigiri-sushi and been served two pieces on one plate?

There are multiple theories as to the reason for this, but the most likely one is as follows.

The reason sushi is served in sets of two pieces is that this practice is left over from long ago (the Edo period), when pieces of sushi were made large, like onigiri, and difficult to eat. At some point (it’s unclear when), these were just cut in half, making two pieces that led to what we see today (there are multiple theories about when this happened).

However nowadays, if you were to eat two pieces of each topping, you won’t be able to enjoy as many different kinds, so customers sitting at the counter are served only one piece at a time. So then why do other restaurants continue to prepare two pieces at once? This may be in order to improve the efficiency of the sushi chef’s work. Also, regular customers may see toppings others are ordering and ask for the same one. This helps reduce the workload of the sushi chef.

But there are also some toppings that are better to eat in pairs.

For example, conger eel tastes completely different when one piece is eaten with salt and the other seasoned with sweet sauce. Serving the part of the eel closer to the head skin-up and the part closer to the tail belly-up also offers different textures; skin-up offers a smooth texture while belly-up offers a fluffy texture. In addition, the head and tail simply taste differently. Since the back and belly of fish like bonito and mackerel have different fat content, it can be better to order two pieces at a time in order to fully experience each of the individual qualities of the fish.

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Revision date: March 27, 2023

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Why don’t I notice the fishy smell in sushi restaurants?

Many overseas visitors who aren’t used to eating fish have an aversion to fishy smells. This is actually the smell of a substance called trimethylamine and is generated by the breakdown of the umami component called trimethylamine oxide found in large amounts in fish by bacterial growth. The smell also gets stronger with the generation of ammonia as more time passes.

Bacterial growth can be controlled with refrigeration so toppings at sushi restaurants are kept cold. Trimethylamine is an alkaline, so smells can be eliminated by washing with vinegar, which is acidic. It is also possible to kill bacteria on the surface of the fish by soaking it in vinegar, reducing the number of bacteria. Basically, sushi restaurants are constantly taking measures to prevent bacterial growth and avoid fishy smells.

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Revision date: February 19, 2018

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Is sushi eaten with your hands? Or should you use chopsticks?

Sushi was originally a food eaten with your hands. Even, for example, if you are in a prestigious sushi restaurant in Ginza, you can still eat with your hands. You can actually use your hands to eat the ginger too. Restaurants that prefer you to eat with your hands will provide an extra, smaller towel for cleaning your hands between sushi, along with the normal hand towel (Oshibori towel). Even then, feel free to use chopsticks if you prefer.

Anyway, using chopsticks for the first time can be challenging, but don’t worry – here is the ultimate guide to becoming an expert at picking up your favorite sushi without damaging it. You’ll learn how to use chopsticks like a pro.

Follow these simple steps to use chopsticks like an expert:

Hold the chopsticks by their thickest end.
Place the chopstick on the lower end of your hand in the gap between your thumb and index finger.
The chopstick on the top goes on the fingerprint of the thumb and index finger.
To pick each piece of sushi, move the upper stick with the help of your thumb, index, and middle fingers.

Follow the steps above and soon, you’ll be the one teaching your friends! Now you know how to pick up sushi with chopsticks!

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Revision date: September 14, 2023

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Why is sushi with tuna topping so expensive?

A purchase of raw tuna costs at least JPY 30,000 per kilogram. Furthermore, good tuna is judged not only by taste, but appearance is also highly regarded.

The surface is gradually oxidized by letting it sleep (mature) and the sushi chef makes sure that parts are cut of as they change color, when the timing is perfect for both the taste and appearance. In other words, skin is taken from the freshly purchased tuna, the meat of the fish darkened by blood (the blackened area that can’t be used as sushi toppings) is removed, the parts that have changed color are shaved off and then only the remaining, best parts used as toppings are left.

This is why the price is high.

Prior to WWII, there were chefs whose only job was making vinegar rice!

From the end of the Edo period through the Meiji period, rice was cooked using firewood and a pot. It is not easy to get the fire at the right temperature and the rice has to be cooked to the same texture regardless of where it came from or the size of the grains, so at the time the task required a skilled chef. Therefore, there were “Shari-ya” employed by sushi restaurants who specialized in cooking rice. “Shari-ya” focused on this single task and were not involved in the actual making of the sushi after the rice was passed on to the chefs.

Some notes on chopstick manners

There are manners in using chopsticks that tourists may be unaware of. We would like to introduce some of those here.

First of all, it is impolite to place chopsticks on your dish in the middle of a meal. Make sure to place them back on the chopstick stand when you aren’t using them.

It is also poor manners to stab food with chopsticks (Sashi-bashi) and or to use chopsticks to look through dishes. Please avoid breaking up the beautifully arranged dishes when you eat.

The improper use of chopsticks

1. Passing foods (Hiroi-bashi or Awase-bashi): Never use your chopsticks to take something from someone else’s chopsticks. This way of passing things relates to Japanese funerary customs (Kotsuage).

2. Drawing plates or bowls near you (Saguri-bashi): Don’t draw a plate or bowl toward you with chopsticks.

3. Touching foods unnecessarily (Utsuri-bashi): Don’t touch foods with chopsticks unnecessarily without eating them.

4. Scooping: Don’t scoop up food by using chopsticks like a spoon and bring them to your mouth.

5. Shoveling food into the mouth (Komi-bashi): Don’t put your lips on a plate or bowl and shovel food into your mouth with chopsticks.

6. Picking up plates or bowls while holding chopsticks (Nigiri-bashi): Don’t pick up a plate or bowl while holding chopsticks.

7. Pointing at someone (Sashi-bashi): Don’t point at someone with chopsticks.

8. Laying chopsticks across a plate or bowl: Don’t lay chopsticks across a plate or bowl.

9. They stuff their mouth full of food and push it in with chopsticks (Oshikomi-bashi).

10. Lick the chopstick tips (Neburi-bashi).

11. Hold it with chopsticks while dripping the cooking juices (Namida-bashi).

12. Eating the same food over and over again (Kasane-bashi).

Related contents: SUSHI RESTAURANT ETIQUETTE

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Revision date: March 1, 2024

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Tuna was not a premium fish during the Edo period!

During the Edo period, tuna was not highly valued as a sushi topping and it was referred to as “Gezakana” meaning that it was inferior to normal fish. The reason was the big size of the tuna. At this time there was no ice, so tuna had to be salted. It was cut into blocks, salt was spread all over and in it, and that was it. At Uogashi (the market prior to Tsukiji) it was treated at shops that specialized in salting fish. The dark, discolored, salty chunks of flesh really were nothing but “Gezakana*”.

*Gezakana －Relatively low-cost sushi ingredients, such as gizzard shad and horse mackerel. Bluefin tuna used to be also called gezakana in the Edo period, for losing its freshness easily.

What makes a good sushi chef?

The balance between Shari (vinegar rice) and the topping is important in sushi. No matter how good the topping, the sushi won’t be good if the Shari isn’t right for it. More restaurants have been using red vinegar lately, but even if you use a Shari with a strong taste like red vinegar, the balance will be destroyed if the topping has a weaker flavor. Seasoning that goes well with various toppings that doesn’t stand out too much is ideal.

It works the other way, too. If the Shari is too weak, the sushi won’t be delicious no matter how good the topping. Even if the topping is not premium quality, if the Shari is matched perfectly, the sushi will be perfect. In other words, a good sushi chef is someone who can make sushi with perfectly matching toppings and Shari.

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Revision date: December 18, 2017

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Why do some sushi toppings have ginger instead of wasabi?

Ginger is used for toppings with a strong, distinct taste and strong fishy smell such as bonito, horse mackerel and sardines.

Wasabi has a spicy taste and stimulates the senses of taste and smell and works to dull the senses so the fishy smell is not felt, but ginger is effective in actually extinguishing the fishy smell.

Because the effect of wasabi is transient and difficult to sustain, it is not a good match for fish with a peculiar odor in some respects. For this reason, it is often used with white fish that have a lighter flavor.

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Revision date: January 13, 2023

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Where should I grab the sushi when eating with chopsticks?

Laying the chopsticks sideways as if scooping up the sushi distributes the strength and the sushi won’t break easily. If you grab it in the middle then there will be too much force on that part and it will break in two pieces. Make sure to eat this beautifully formed piece of sushi in one bite.

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Revision date: December 4, 2017

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You know toro tuna and akami, but have you heard of the more rare parts of the tuna?

A single bite of the same bluefin tuna differs greatly depending on the part of the fish it came from.

The body of the fish is broadly categorized into the dorsal (back) and the ventral (belly) sides, which taste completely different. Of course the meat near the head tastes completely different from the meat near the tail. If you dig even deeper, there are parts that aren’t as well-known as the Otoro (fatty), Chutoro (medium fatty) and Akami (lean) tuna meats. We’d like to explain those now.

“Hachinomi (ハチの身) or Tsunotoro Nouten” is the meat from the crown of the head. It is fatty and rich and also called “Head Toro”. Only about 1kg of this precious meat can be taken from even a very large fish, and it is only shared with regular, loyal customers.

“Kamatoro (カマトロ)” is taken from behind the jaw. It is known as “shimofuri (霜降り)” or marbled meat. There are no veins in this part so the meat is soft and the marbling is more detailed than Otoro, so it is sticky and melts in your mouth. The balance of fat and sweetness in this part is unparalleled. It can be said that otoro (such as shimofuri and jabara) of tuna is the representative part of toro tuna. This is an image of the shimofuri on the right, and the jabara (蛇腹) on the left.

“Chiai (血合い)” is the part with the most veins, so it is a dark red color. It has a strong odor of blood and has multiple times the acidity of the lean meat, so it is not used as a sushi topping.

“Chiai Gishi (血合いぎし)” －Located right next to chiai, this is the meat you can taste the umami of the rich red meat and the sweetness of toro fat at the same time.

“Wakaremi (分かれ身)” is a precious part with very little meat found next to the dorsal fin. The part especially close to the dorsal fin is popular and called “Setoro (背トロ)”. Setoro has both the umami of akami and the umami of fat. The fat isn’t overbearing so you can eat a ton. However, this part is hard to get, even in high-quality tuna and is not available except to regular customers in almost all sushi restaurants.

A sushi chef, Hiroyuki Sato, serves a tossaki hand roll as the first sushi piece of the course. “Tossaki (突先)” is an exclusive cut of tuna that goes well with sushi rice using red vinegar, which is less sour but has more umami and flavor compared with white vinegar. Because tossaki is the base of the tuna’s head and it moves a lot, there are a lot of muscular striations. Therefore it needs to be prepared using the back of a knife carefully as if peeling it off (Hagashi). It is said that tossaki is a high-tuna-flavor cut. A couple of Sato’s apprentices also offer a hand roll to open up the meal in the same way.

The meat of tuna gets leaner and muscular striations are fewer towards the inner center of the body. “Tenpa (天端)”, surrounding the spine, is deeper in color and tastes stronger. It features the tender texture coming from the finest meat quality. This is also called Tenmi (天身).

A photo of Hohoniku maguro — The appearance of Hohoniku maguro nigiri

“Hohoniku (ホホ肉)” is cheek meat. The cheek meat of tuna is a rare part of the fish, with only a few hundred grams being taken from a 100kg fish. It is crescent-shaped, with one on either side. It can be taken from not only bluefin tuna, but also bigeye tuna, etc., but if you want to eat it as sashimi or nigiri sushi, you need to be careful about its freshness. Once frozen, it can only be used in dishes where the smell is masked by cooking with garlic, pepper, olive oil, etc.

Its cheek meat is juicy, stringy, and low in fat. When making nigiri sushi, it is often Aburi to soften the stringiness. Aburi enhances the flavor of this part of the fish. And there are almost no sushi restaurants that buy tuna heads or whole fish. Therefore, the only places that can offer this part of the fish are conveyor belt sushi restaurants and izakaya.

“Hireshita (ヒレ下)”－Located right above the first pectoral fin. Characterized with the tender meat which is relatively low in fat content but rich with umami flavor. This truly is the valuable part of whether there will be even enough for 10 pieces of sushi from an over 200 kg tuna.

If you are fortunate enough to get an opportunity to taste these, you can take it as proof that you have been accepted as a regular and loyal customer. It is difficult to distinguish these parts by appearance alone, so make sure you try them at a sushi restaurant you can trust. Just for your reference.

We will explain fishing methods which could affect the quality of caught tuna.

There are mainly five methods for tuna fishing. “Ipponzuri” (catching fish with fishing poles) in Oma, Aomori prefecture, you see a lot through the media, is well known. However, the fact is that Long line fishing method and Purse seine fishing method are the ones catching the most tuna. The rest is Fixed net fishing method and Hikiami (Seine fishing method).

To hang a long line (Mikinawa) in the sea, covered with about 3000 fishhooks attached to branch lines (Edanawa), aiming at a path of schooling tuna.

A large-scale method of fishing by encircling a school of tuna with a net. Although it is efficient, there is a demerit of lowering the quality of fish because they struggle while getting caught. In addition, other kinds of fish and immature fish can be caught without distinction and that leads to overfishing.

Tuna have a habit of migrating to the same ocean area at the same time each year. A coastal fishing method called Fixed net fishing consists of placing a net in the sea and wait for a school of tuna. The advantage of this method is to be able to capture the fish alive without causing any injury or damage.

An illustration of Ipponzuri — Ipponzuri (catching fish with fishing poles)

This method has the longest history and uses a pole of 4 – 6 meters to fish from a boat. Using a machine that winds up lines automatically and also using human hands, pull up tuna that weighs more than 100kg and lastly catch it by piercing gills with a harpoon.

To catch fish by towing a bag-shaped net from a boat.

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Revision date: January 13, 2023

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Today you will learn how to easily identify artificial salmon roe!

The natural salmon roe season is the autumn. Does this mean that most of the roe eaten during the off-season is artificial Salmon roe. Not necessarily. As stated in his biography, even at the famous sushi restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro, frozen roe is thawed as necessary.

Long ago this was an extremely expensive topping that ordinary people couldn’t afford, so artificial roe was used. There was a time when this was the case. But nowadays salmon roe is regularly imported from overseas and can be obtained cheaper, eliminating the need to use artificial roe instead.

However, we cannot overlook the commercial law for passing off artificial roe as natural roe. In Japan, the non-perishable properties of artificial salmon roe made from chemical substances (mainly sodium alginate) is utilized and used mainly in hospitals, but not sold to the general public. I’ll also tell you that it is very rare to find a sushi restaurant that serves artificial roe. Cheap roe is generally made from eggs of trout, other related species, or imported from Canada and other countries.

Unfortunately I’m not familiar with the state of things outside of Japan, but I can tell you how to tell the difference. All it takes is hot water and a moment of observation. Artificial salmon roe will show no changes in hot water, but natural roe will start to turn white on the surface. This is due to the protein reacting and changing with the heat. That said, this is not an experience you can just set up at the sushi restaurant.

The following describes the artificial salmon roe composition. The nucleus of artificial salmon roe is made of red-colored vegetable oil, the thin outer film is made of sodium alginate or carrageenan, and the sol-like contents are made of polysaccharides derived from seaweed, Gum arabic, and Xanthan gum. While real salmon roe is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, artificial salmon roe is high in saturated fatty acids derived from vegetable oils, oleic acid and linoleic acid.

As an aside…

What are the fish eggs on sushi called in Japan?

There are eight types of fish eggs served at Japanese sushi restaurants. However, not all of them are used for Nigiri sushi. Some are served as side dishes. Uni is sometimes translated as sea urchin’s roe, but it is actually the sea urchin’s genitals (testes and ovaries). Most people also don’t know that Tobiko and Tarako are not served at 99% of Edo-style restaurants. In other words, these toppings are only served at kaiten-sushi (conveyor belt) restaurants. The one type of roe topping that can probably be found at all sushi restaurants is Ikura. Even more types of fish eggs, such as Masago, Paddlefish roe and Hackleback roe are used in sushi overseas, but Japan remains more conservative. Of course, it’s only natural that fish substitutes are not well-received in the place where sushi was born.

Types of fish roe

Fish roe usually cannot be preserved as is, so it is salted or smoked to make it last longer. Today, thanks to advances in freezing technology, frozen fresh fish roe is also available, but as a raw material for processing, fish roe is often salted to reduce its water content and then frozen for preservation. Nutritional value is generally high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates, with higher calories and cholesterol than the meat of the parent fish.

What is Ikura? － It is Salmon roe.

What is Kazunoko? － It is Herring roe.

What is Sujiko? － It is Salmon roe that is still within its egg membrane.

What is Tobiko? － It is Flying fish roe.

What is Tarako? －Tarako is the salted ovary of Alaska pollack. It is often colored red with food coloring. Karashi-mentaiko is Tarako marinated in a seasoning solution of salt and chili peppers, and is a well-known Hakata specialty. The name Karashi-mentaiko comes from the Korean word for Alaska pollack, Mentai.

a photo of Tarako nigiri sushi — Tarako nigiri sushi is very rare, even in conveyor-belt sushi.

What is Caviar? － It is Sturgeon roe.

What is Karasumi? －It is made by salting, aging, and drying the ovaries of Flathead gray mullet (Bolla).

A photo of Dried mullet roe (Karasumi) — The appearance of Dried mullet roe (Karasumi)

The product resembles Chinese ink karasumi, hence the name. Good ones are candy-colored, cut into thin slices, lightly roasted, and served as nibbles for drinks. Imports have been increasing recently, but the most famous domestic product is karasumi from Nomo, Nagasaki Prefecture.

What is komochi konbu? － It is Herring spawn on kelp.

A photo of Herring spawn on kelp (Komochi konbu) — The appearance of Herring spawn on kelp (Komochi konbu)

What is komaiko? － It is Saffron cod roe.

A photo of Saffron cod roe (Komaiko) gunkan — The appearance of affron cod roe (Komaiko) gunkan

What is Capellinko? － It is Capellin roe.

a photo of Capellinko gunkamaki — Capellinko (Capellin roe) is a substitute for Tobiko (Flyingfish roe).

What is Madarako? － It is Pacific cod roe.

What is Masuko?－ It is Humpback salmon roe.

a photo of Masuko gunkanmaki — In Japan, Humpback salmon roe is called Masuko and Chum salmon roe is called Ikura.

What is Masago? －What’s the difference between Tobiko and Masago?

Just for your own information.

Related contents：

What is Artificial caviar?

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Revision date: August 23, 2024

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Why aren’t the prices included on the menu at sushi restaurants?

If you visit a premium sushi restaurant, such as one that places piles of salt by the entrance for good fortune, you’ll notice there are no price displays.

There’s not even a menu. All you find is a slab of wood hanging down the wall with names of the daily offerings such as Conger Eel (anago) or Spotted Shad (kohada).

This is not a place to get angry and ask how customers can order without knowing the price. First time customers may not know the market price and worry about budget, resolving to pay with a credit card if they don’t have enough cash in their wallet.

I guess you could say that sushi restaurants that don’t display prices are accepted by customers as being more traditional, like the old days. But actually, at pre-war sushi restaurants, there were wooden panels that listed prices such as “Fatty Tuna: 2000 yen”. It was during the 1960s that they stopped displaying prices.

The 60s was the start of an era of high-growth in Japan. Prices were rising rapidly and sushi prices also went up drastically. At the same time, the business practice of entertaining clients was gaining popularity and suddenly about 80% of the clientele of high-quality sushi restaurants were these types of business groups, rather than individual customers.

In situations like these, if there was a sign that read “Medium Fatty Tuna: 3000 yen” then it makes it difficult for the business guest to order what they like, without worrying about the price. Considering the total bill, they may also order fewer dishes than they want. As you can see, this practice of not displaying prices at sushi restaurants was in consideration for the business customers who were entertaining clients, as well as those being entertained as clients. At the same time, the well-known “Omakase” was created, the “chef’s choice” system in which the customer orders a menu created by the chef on the spot.

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Revision date: October 23, 2017

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Why is sushi eaten with sushi sauce (shoyu)?

There are many different things all over the world that are share the name “sushi”. However, when Japanese people hear this word they think of “nigiri sushi”. Of course outside of Japan, it probably more commonly refers to sushi rolls.

Similarly, the way soy sauce is used also differs greatly between people in Japan and those in other countries. The soy sauced used for nigiri sushi is not used to add salty flavor to the sushi. The reason it’s used is to subdue the fishy odor of the fish and to add the many amino acids contained in soy sauce to nigiri sushi, which brings out the umami synergistic effects. Think of it more like an important background role to the sushi that isn’t meant to stand out. Meanwhile, since sushi rolls and other sushi dishes overseas are generally eaten after being cooled, the flavor is subdued, leading to using large amounts of soy sauce.

There is also a big difference in the concept of sushi sauce. In Japan, there is no such word as “sushi sauce”. Neither chefs nor the general population has heard this term. However, the term is easy to imagine what it would be, so hearing the word “sushi sauce” would probably lead Japanese people to assume it meant nikiri shoyu or nitsume, which are used in nigiri sushi. Also, soy sauce, or “shoyu” as it’s called in Japanese, is not considered to be a type of “sauce” in Japan. But what about in other countries? Sushi sauce has a distinctive, assertive flavor and is added to bring out multiple layers of flavor. There are also many types of sushi sauce such as sriracha sauce, spicy mayo, mango sauce, ponzu sauce, tonkatsu sauce, eel sauce, tamari sauce, teriyaki sauce, dynamite sauce and others. They each play an important role in bringing out the flavors of sushi rolls that otherwise wouldn’t be apparent.

In other words, as the definition of sushi definition changes across borders, the definition of sushi sauce changes too. However, what both sushi sauce overseas and Shoyu in Japan have in common is that they complement the sushi they are used for.

Now we would like to explain a bit about the Shoyu used in nigiri sushi.

Edo style sushi was created during the Edo period in Japan (1804-1830). The expansion of the soy sauce culture of the Edo area (currently Tokyo) had a big influence on the creation of Edo style sushi. In a time when refrigeration and other technology had not yet been developed, soy sauce played an important role not only in taste, but also in preservation. A surprising number of tasks in the Edo style utilize the scientific effects of soy sauce.

First of all, lightly applying just a small amount of Nikiri shoyu (sushi sauce) on the sushi topping, brings out its flavor and creates a glaze. To put it scientifically, this a clever use of the odor eliminating effects of soy sauce, eliminating the raw odor.

Also, long ago zuke (soaking in soy sauce) was also used for fish other than tuna. This was a way to utilize the bacteriostatic effects of soy sauce, which stop the growth of Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Tsume (sushi sauce) represents the thermal effects of soy sauce. By adding soy sauce, mirin and sugar then boiling down, the amino acids in the soy sauce and the sugar react and the goal is to create a delicious glaze and a nice scent that stimulates the appetite.

Adding a small amount of soy sauce when making rolled egg omelets has the effect of enhancing and bringing out the flavor and sweetness of the ingredients.

Soy sauce is generally overshadowed by the sushi topping and vinegar rice, but soy sauce plays an important role in bringing out and enhancing the delicious taste of the sushi.