For the final full day of the tour, we whirled south along the coast to Tokyo, stopping at a fishery, farm, brewery, and bay. The day commenced at the Matsukawaura Fishing Port of Soma City, a zone completely leveled by the 2011 tsunami. Triggered by an underwater earthquake, massive waves swept away the dockyard warehouses and an entire village. Hundreds perished, but the city has since rebuilt, bent on a renaissance. Solar panels now occupy the flood plain, while rows of new houses overlook the sea from the hillside.
Our hosts detailed the safety measures undertaken in the wake of the disaster, levying standards of food safety orders of magnitude more exacting than the international regulations. Likewise, the local seaweed harvesters sift their crop by hand before packaging it for consumption.
We received this devotion to detail with some reassurance, as our magnificant midday meal showcased the infamous fugu, or puffer fish sashimi: a dish sliced from amidst pockets of neurotoxins. Improperly prepared, it may kill its diners in seconds.
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