Sakura-ebi shrimp drying @ Fuji River (off Tokyo): April 25, 2015

Sakura-ebi, a small shrimp of three to five centimeter, is a seasonal delicacy in Japan. It lives only in Suruga Bay in Shizuoka Prefecture and fishermen are allowed to take it a few weeks in spring and autumn respectively. The Yui port in Yui region in Shizuoka City boasts the biggest catch landing.

Some of the landed shrimps are eaten fresh. Others are frozen or dried to sell.

I visited the river field of Fuji River, where the shrimp were dried in the sun. It is, of course, possible to dry the shrimp in the machines. However, it tastes better when it is dried naturally.

The shrimp turns pink as it loses the water inside. It looks like a pink carpet when I saw it from a distance.

You can see Mt. Fuji over the shrimp when you are lucky. Today, I was not.

At Yui port, tens of fishing boats were tied up. There was an open-air restaurant of Sakura-ebi, and tens of people were making a line.

I had Sakura-ebi lunch. It tasted good.