Yamagata Prefecture
Enjoy the delicious seafood of Yamagata Prefecture directly from its source.
Enjoy the delicious seafood of Yamagata Prefecture directly from its source by purchasing your own fish from a traditional fish market or joining local fishermen to fish off the coast of the Shonai Region!
After you have your fresh fish, we will then prepare them in a variety of dishes together with a master Japanese Cuisine Washoku Chef of Yamagata Prefecture.
These experiences are highly customizable and vary throughout the year as the availability of fresh fish in season changes.
Experience a Sea to Table Tour
What's Included
Acquire your own fish either by purchasing them from a local fish market or catching them yourself. All rental gear will be provided.
Learn how to masterfully fillet your fish using traditional Japanese culinary techniques and knives.
Watch or work alongside a famous Japanese chef to create a variety of delicious dishes.
Enjoy a delicious meal featuring some of the freshest and most delicious fish possible.
Fully guided by a local guide from Yamagata.
Cost
From 23,000 yen per person (with a minimum of 2 people – solo traveler, please inquire!)
The price of this experience varies depending on your group what type of fish you want to target and the type of fishing you want to try.
Generally, prices for a fish market visit and sushi session run for about 23,000 yen a person.
Prices for a fishing program vary depending on the type of fish we target, but typically start from 38,000 a person for boat fishing and culinary experience.
Use the booking form below so we can sort out the specific details for your group.
Experience Availability
All-year round. The availability of the type of fishing and fish varies immensely throughout the year. (Coastal fishing is only available from July until late November.)
Average Duration
5 – 6 hours
Meeting Location
Sakata
Important notes
Please notify us at least 3 days before if you must cancel or modify your reservation.
Local Markets or Fishing Off the Coast
For the first part of this program, you will have the chance to choose between buying your fish at a local market or catching them yourself right from the ocean.
Local Fish Markets (Option 1)
The markets we visit will either held in the early morning or evening and are special markets with fish freshly offloaded from the boats for wholesale. We will visit these markets with special permission from the chefs, who will be preparing our fish and gain exclusive access as visitors to observe the controlled chaos of these markets and learn about their unique logistics with your guide.
Here we can see traditional fish auctions and will learn how a master chef selects his ingredients from the thousands of fish available. We will purchase our fish here and take them back to the chef’s restaurant for preparation.
This option is available year-round and can take place even if the weather is rainy, or snowy.
However, please note that the selection of fish may be lower if the weather is very rough due to fewer fishermen able to bring in their catch.
The fish market tour and purchasing will last for about 1 hour.
Catching Fish by Boat or off the Coast (Option 2)
Our second option is to catch our own fish directly off the coast either from the beach or on a fishing boat together with local fishermen.
Fishing either takes place (very) early in the morning, or in the evening.
We can join a local fisherman either on a boat to fish off the coast or along the rocky coastline to catch a variety of high-grade fish. These fishermen will help us with the entire fishing process and will provide us with the necessary equipment.
We will then take our catch to a restaurant for preparation and cooking.
Note that fishing may not be possible if the weather is too rough.
We typically suggest that guests go boat fishing as the likelihood of catching fish is higher than shore fishing.
Coastal fishing is only available from July until late November due to the difficulty in catching fish during other times of the year.
All rental gear will be provided.
The fishing portion of this tour typically lasts for 3-5 hours.
Preparation and Dining
After we have our fish, we will then work with a local chef at a sushi or kaiseki restaurant, where we will learn how to prepare the fish from start to finish. This includes descaling and filleting the fish ready to be cut into fresh sashimi.
Guests can leave it up to the chef to prepare various dishes or can make requests for specific dishes.
These include making nigiri and rolled sushi, Kaisen-don (sushi bowls), grilled dishes, Yubiki (scalding fresh sashimi with boiling water, as well as a variety of other options should you desire.
This part of the tour lasts for about 2-3 hours.
Inquires and Reservation Requests
Please note this form does not confirm the availability of an experience or reserves an experience straightaway.
Cancelation policy
Our general cancelation policy for our experiences is below.
The Fishing Experience requires a 10% non refundable deposit to book.
15 Days of More
10% of total price
14 Days of Less
30% of total price
7 Days of Less
100% of total price
