The art of tuna cutting in Japan

A world away from canned tuna or drab all-you-can-eat buffet sushi, tuna in Japan is an institution.

In the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, not far from the Shinjuku subway station, is Maguro Shoten (まぐろ商店) - literally "tuna store" - a restaurant that is located in the basement of one of the buildings in the district.

This restaurant is izakaya (居酒屋), the equivalent of our breweries. It offers a whole range of tuna specialties, especially nigirizushi (our "classic" sushi) and sashimi, slices of raw fish.

A whole bluefin tuna cut up every day

This restaurant has the particularity of cutting a whole tuna every evening at 8pm in a show orchestrated by two cooks. They explain step by step the cutting of the fish and the different pieces that are removed.

Kaitsuko is proud to present its range of knives used from Japan to France for a surgical and precise cutting!

The entire show is in Japanese, so it is difficult for tourists to grasp all the information, but the demonstration is nevertheless impressive. Weighing several tens of kilos, the fish is gigantic, and it is easy to understand how Maguro Shoten manages to feed all its customers with only one fish per day.

Presented to the public, the tuna is already gutted, and the cooks begin the cutting by slicing the tail, the fins and the head. The body, which constitutes the entire edible flesh, is then sliced into four large sections, presented as trophies to the salivating public.

Everything is good in the tuna

Once the fish is completely gutted, one of the cooks then uses a spoon to scrape off the remaining flesh along the main bone. That's how fresh and tender the flesh is! Served in a bowl, these last remnants of the animal are later won by two customers who will have won against the chefs with jankenpon (じゃんけんぽん), the Japanese chisel stone.

The bone is then broken to remove the collagen contained in the cartilage. In the form of a large viscous drop, this liquid is not consumed for its taste, but to give elasticity to the skin: the beauty secret of Japanese women.

Several types of flesh

While our all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants offer only one type of tuna, the Japanese, who account for 80% of the world's consumption of bluefin tuna, distinguish between different qualities of meat with different nuances.

Maguro Shoten serves three pairs of nigirizushi made from three different qualities of meat. There is the classic red meat that we know and call in Japanese akami (赤身), which can be translated as "lean". This is followed by the intermediate quality, fatter and lighter pieces, called chūtoro (中トロ). And finally, the fattiest part and considered the best in taste (but also the most expensive) is the ōtoro (大トロ), which is a paler pink and rich in umami (うまみ), the savory taste of "come again."

An endangered species

Behind the tasty gastronomy hides an ecological disaster: in 2000, associations fighting for the defense of animals are alarmed by the overfishing of bluefin tuna and the collapse of their population in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Unfortunately, under the powerful lobbying of Japan, a majority of countries refused to include bluefin tuna on the list of endangered species.

Nevertheless, these debates have allowed for a reduction of the fishing quotas from 28,500 tons to 12,900 tons per year. It will be years before we see if this decision will have the expected beneficial effects and if we will still be able to enjoy bluefin tuna. Wait and see.