No one is more sensitive to the changing of the seasons than sushi lovers. This must be because the taste of sushi toppings is directly tied to the seasons. There are terms to describe this such as Hashiri (early season), Sakari (in-season), and Nagori (late season). In Japanese culinary tradition, these three terms capture the evolving flavors of seasonal ingredients. Recognizing where a sushi topping stands within this cycle allows diners to appreciate not just its taste, but its fleeting character.
There is nothing that says a sushi topping is less delicious because it has a lower fat content. For example, everyone wants to get in there and be the first to eat early season (走り) toppings. It’s obvious that these would all be toppings with leaner profiles. But early-season toppings have a liveliness that you can’t find in other foods, and some believe that eating these types of food will give you new vitality.
Once a fish is in peak-season (さかり又は旬), we eat it as sushi. This is because the fish has grown as it approaches breeding season, gradually gaining more fat, and at this stage in its development it has a richer flavor.
And the ‘late season (名残)’ perhaps means that since the season is about to end, we need to get our fill now. While we may feel a bit sad that the season is ending, we can look forward to it coming around again the next year.
On the other hand, there are sushi toppings that don’t seem to fit into the seasons, although the seasonal dishes are one of the important reasons that Japanese food was registered under UNESCO World Heritage.
Those are deep sea fish such as Largehead hairtail, Japanese bluefish, Pollack and Splendid alfonsino.
Deep sea fish live at least 200 m below the surface of the ocean. For example, Splendid alfonsino lives at a depth of between 100 to 800 m deep, so it would generally be thought of as in-season in the winter when it has the highest fat content. However, except just before and after spawning season, the flavor of the Splendid alfonsino doesn’t change much throughout the year. Therefore, even high-end sushi restaurants always keep it in the topping case and it’s a popular choice.
Therefore, Splendid alfonsino is never actually “in-season”.
Since very little light reaches the deep sea, the water temperature remains more or less constant. In other words, there aren’t really seasonal (temperature) changes. The concept of season may not exist there.
Even so, you can think of it as especially delicious in the winter between December and February, when it has a higher fat content. Otherwise you might start to think of it as a fish that is “in-season” all year round, like salmon, and that just doesn’t feel quite as splendid.
Related contents: What is Kinmedai?
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Fish seasons are categorized as the ‘catch season’ and the ‘flavor season’. The ‘catch season’ is the time when lots of fish can be caught and are cheap. Take 
At high-class restaurants, the minimum required nikiri soy sauce is brushed on to the piece, but at restaurants frequented by the general public, customers dip their sushi in as much sauce (soy sauce that includes chemical seasonings) as they like. In fact, there is a gimmick here. The high-class restaurant provides an opportunity for their customers to eat sushi toppings in the most delicious state possible, but the restaurants for the general population allow customers to eat casually with sauce, a daily necessity. This changes how topping ingredients are selected. If the sushi is going to be dunked into the soy sauce, then the topping must have an appropriate fat content that won’t be overpowered by the soy sauce. Therefore, instead of a coastal tuna, a farm-fattened tuna with oily fat is preferred. It is often said that farm-fattened products are too rich, but it is also said that they have an impact that isn’t overpowered by the sauce they are enjoyed with.
There is a sensor on the tongue that feels the degree of saltiness. This prevents us from eating too much of things that are extremely salty. Chemical seasonings confuse that sensor. The chemical seasoning palliates the degree of saltiness felt by the tongue. Even if you were to, for example, dunk your sushi into the soy sauce and chemical seasoning mixture, it won’t feel salty. If you eat sushi with the sauce, you can take in a high volume of sodium, which is a pleasure trigger for the human body, without feeling the saltiness on your tongue. In other words, it may be more accurate to say that with commoner sushi, you actually drink the sauce, not dip into it.
The difference between common people who eat this sauce and foodies is a delicate nose, meaning their sense of smell. This sense is acquired through childhood experiences and repetition after becoming an adult. Tasting through sense of smell is a person’s food culture. The reason that the so-called celebrities, or the upper class made through business success, don’t have an appreciation for high-class sushi restaurants is because they don’t have this culture of distinguishing by smell, or the culture of feeling the seasons. Also, in order to target the upper-middle class clientele, it is important to use strong flavors and give a performance that is easy to understand, while worrying about details is not necessary. That is why the obvious show of using a burner for searing is popular.
Natural fish are part of the food chain and have concentrations of harmful substances. Since 2000 the amount of mercury found in fish has become an issue. The American Natural Resources Defense Council has said tuna is a fish that should be avoided if pregnant or planning to get pregnant. A more recent problem is the large amounts of micro plastics found in fish meat. This shocking phenomenon will likely be reported by research organizations at some point in time. If it does reach that extreme, then it will be better to avoid the danger of eating fish.
Tuna at top-end restaurants is light in flavor. Its Akami (red meat) has an indescribable acidity with a delicate harmony between the shari vinegar, the nikiri soy sauce, and wasabi. However, on the other side of the coin, it feels almost like a waste to eat it without a sense of luxury. Of course tuna with delicious akami, also has delicious fatty tuna (toro). And you’ll never get tired of it. It would be easy to polish off 10 pieces as a light snack. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the high fat content that makes it so easy to eat. However, it is because of that popular belief that many people feel that the big chain store 
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They say there are over 300 different species of fish with “Tai” in the name, making up 10% of Japan’s fish. When we say “Tai” in Japanese, we are referring to “madai” or red sea bream. Red sea-bream is categorized in the “madai” family (
When you sit at the counter and order nigiri a la carte, they will come out in pairs.* There is nothing wrong with counting these in the regular Japanese way “ikko (一個),” “niko (二個).”
First, what do you imagine when you hear the word “negitoro”?
First of all, the lowest in the ranking are the offcuts of tuna that can’t be made into sashimi (mainly Yellowfin or Albacore tuna) and this is mixed with vegetable oil and minced. The type of onion used is normally green onions. You can pick this type out because it will be whitish in color. This version is normally served at conveyor belt sushi.
High quality negitoro uses the nakaochi of 