川遊び。
So today I was invited by some coworkers to go play in the river. By this, I mean that we went wading in a river (imagine more of a stream though) to catch ayu, or sweetfish.
Needless to say, I had NO idea what to expect. One of the other girls who was there - Oka-chan (because her name is Okada) had sent me an e-mail about random things to be ready for, what to wear and bring, etc. I had tried to gather as much info as I could before hand so I could be prepared, but I still failed pretty hard XD. But you learn from your mistakes, so I will be much more prepared next time!!! So my first failure, which every single other person informed me off within the first five minutes, was wearing regular jeans. Makes sense...wading around in the water in jeans, which are really heavy when wet, is pretty difficult. I think I had thought it would be a good idea because I had heard that we would be walking on wet rocks and stuff. This thought actually wound up saving me later on :D
I wish I had pictures from the day, but I left all of my stuff in the car - with good reason, because at certain points we were wading through waist-deep water, and also catching the fish usually involves stealthily and quickly trapping them between your hands (like a NINJA!) so you often wind up on fours in the water - which will have you drenched in no time at all too.
Anyway, we pretty much walked up and down one of the local rivers...for four hours, stalking spots where the ayu had gathered! Once we picked a spot, someone would cast the net, and then everyone would quickly surround the net. If there were ayu caught in the net, you could technically just catch them between your hands like that and squeeze their gills until they stop squirming to deal the finishing blow. They squirm around your hands, and are somehow slimy, so it's pretty terrifying!
Technically, this is how you want it to go. But the ayu are smart, squiggly little buggers, and zoom around the water below the net and under the rocks at the bottom of the river, waiting for that perfect moment when we move the net leaving the smallest opening...so that they can zoom right out to safety! It's almost amazing how well they are waiting and watching for that opportunity. o_O
So since the ayu are usually too smart to get caught in the net when it is cast, the net only serves as a barrier to limit the places where they can run. You have to stare into the water really hard for the lightning fast movements, and kind of jump on them the milli-second you spot them! It's also difficult because there are a few other types of fish around too, so you don't really wanna waste your energy on the others. Ayu are the only ones that are edible <3.
Sadly, I totally failed at really catching any ayu. Technically I caught two...but in reality, I think I only caught 1 on my own. At the end of the day I think we had calculated an estimate catch of over 100 fish, and there were five others besides me, so everyone caught an average of 20 apiece. I have to try harder next time!!! o_o.
Oh...and it's a river, with a rocky bottom. It's slippery, and it's hard to walk. Everyone tripped in the water at least once over the course of our outing, and got soaked. Including me. But in addition to this, I also managed to trip in a really horrible way, and get injured. FAILSAD. Basically, I was walking on the dry, rocky shore because I knew I wasn't used to walking around in the water, so I was trying to keep up with everyone else. I hopped onto a large stone, which looked big and heavy enough for me to think that it wouldn't move. Big mistake. The second I stepped onto it, it tipped forward, totally destroying my balance. Luckily or unluckily, there was a large flat rock directly in front, which I fell onto...collapsing down on my hands and knees. Intense impact especially for the knees!!! It hurt like a bitch for the first five minutes, but we need to be an adult about stuff like this - especially around coworkers, so I just sucked it up and kept on. Surprisingly my knees don't hurt as much as a figured they would - like I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, I wound up being VERY MUCH saved by my jeans! If I had been wearing shorts, the skin on my knees would have been totally destroyed, if not even worse. I got off with a few red spots on each knee...and a bruise taking up the the entire half of my right knee. But considering just how bad my fall was, I actually think I'm really lucky that's all I got off with. Although one of the muscles in my right arm is intensely painful sometimes when I do pulling/squeezing motions, and I didn't notice this until long after I had gotten home. In any case, I think they're all minor injuries that will fix themselves with a little time.
At the end of our excursion, everyone split up our catch! However, I am terrified of cooking fish - let alone ayu, which is definitely not a fish that we ate at my house growing up. At first I wasn't planning to take any home, but they gave me some anyway. I made sure I only took home two.
I DO have pictures from making 鮎の塩焼き (grilled ayu seasoned in salt), probably the most popular way of cooking ayu!
My haul for the day.
Before putting it in the grill! My coworkers weren't very specific when they were trying to teach me how to cook the ayu...they just said, "make sure you sprinkle a TON of salt on both sides, and grill!" I was a little nervous, but internet searches pretty much came up with the same thing.
And my very simple dinner. They turned out really well! Ayu is really good - river fish are usually considered to have a "muddy" taste compared to fish from the ocean, but the meat of the ayu is surprisingly sweet!...But I think I'd prefer someone else making it for me next time. I'm just not comfortable with cooking fish yet DD:
Anyway, it was a really cool experience because you can only find ayu in super clean rivers - so it's not really something you can experience anywhere! Hopefully I can go again and help catch a few more fish, so that I'm not just uselessly hovering to the side >_<. I'm just thankful to all the people who invite me to these random things that I would have never been able to experience if I wasn't in Kamogawa...and if they hadn't thought of me! Once again, I feel super thankful for all the wonderful people I'm surrounded by <3
Needless to say, I had NO idea what to expect. One of the other girls who was there - Oka-chan (because her name is Okada) had sent me an e-mail about random things to be ready for, what to wear and bring, etc. I had tried to gather as much info as I could before hand so I could be prepared, but I still failed pretty hard XD. But you learn from your mistakes, so I will be much more prepared next time!!! So my first failure, which every single other person informed me off within the first five minutes, was wearing regular jeans. Makes sense...wading around in the water in jeans, which are really heavy when wet, is pretty difficult. I think I had thought it would be a good idea because I had heard that we would be walking on wet rocks and stuff. This thought actually wound up saving me later on :D
I wish I had pictures from the day, but I left all of my stuff in the car - with good reason, because at certain points we were wading through waist-deep water, and also catching the fish usually involves stealthily and quickly trapping them between your hands (like a NINJA!) so you often wind up on fours in the water - which will have you drenched in no time at all too.
Anyway, we pretty much walked up and down one of the local rivers...for four hours, stalking spots where the ayu had gathered! Once we picked a spot, someone would cast the net, and then everyone would quickly surround the net. If there were ayu caught in the net, you could technically just catch them between your hands like that and squeeze their gills until they stop squirming to deal the finishing blow. They squirm around your hands, and are somehow slimy, so it's pretty terrifying!
Technically, this is how you want it to go. But the ayu are smart, squiggly little buggers, and zoom around the water below the net and under the rocks at the bottom of the river, waiting for that perfect moment when we move the net leaving the smallest opening...so that they can zoom right out to safety! It's almost amazing how well they are waiting and watching for that opportunity. o_O
So since the ayu are usually too smart to get caught in the net when it is cast, the net only serves as a barrier to limit the places where they can run. You have to stare into the water really hard for the lightning fast movements, and kind of jump on them the milli-second you spot them! It's also difficult because there are a few other types of fish around too, so you don't really wanna waste your energy on the others. Ayu are the only ones that are edible <3.
Sadly, I totally failed at really catching any ayu. Technically I caught two...but in reality, I think I only caught 1 on my own. At the end of the day I think we had calculated an estimate catch of over 100 fish, and there were five others besides me, so everyone caught an average of 20 apiece. I have to try harder next time!!! o_o.
Oh...and it's a river, with a rocky bottom. It's slippery, and it's hard to walk. Everyone tripped in the water at least once over the course of our outing, and got soaked. Including me. But in addition to this, I also managed to trip in a really horrible way, and get injured. FAILSAD. Basically, I was walking on the dry, rocky shore because I knew I wasn't used to walking around in the water, so I was trying to keep up with everyone else. I hopped onto a large stone, which looked big and heavy enough for me to think that it wouldn't move. Big mistake. The second I stepped onto it, it tipped forward, totally destroying my balance. Luckily or unluckily, there was a large flat rock directly in front, which I fell onto...collapsing down on my hands and knees. Intense impact especially for the knees!!! It hurt like a bitch for the first five minutes, but we need to be an adult about stuff like this - especially around coworkers, so I just sucked it up and kept on. Surprisingly my knees don't hurt as much as a figured they would - like I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, I wound up being VERY MUCH saved by my jeans! If I had been wearing shorts, the skin on my knees would have been totally destroyed, if not even worse. I got off with a few red spots on each knee...and a bruise taking up the the entire half of my right knee. But considering just how bad my fall was, I actually think I'm really lucky that's all I got off with. Although one of the muscles in my right arm is intensely painful sometimes when I do pulling/squeezing motions, and I didn't notice this until long after I had gotten home. In any case, I think they're all minor injuries that will fix themselves with a little time.
At the end of our excursion, everyone split up our catch! However, I am terrified of cooking fish - let alone ayu, which is definitely not a fish that we ate at my house growing up. At first I wasn't planning to take any home, but they gave me some anyway. I made sure I only took home two.
I DO have pictures from making 鮎の塩焼き (grilled ayu seasoned in salt), probably the most popular way of cooking ayu!
My haul for the day.
Before putting it in the grill! My coworkers weren't very specific when they were trying to teach me how to cook the ayu...they just said, "make sure you sprinkle a TON of salt on both sides, and grill!" I was a little nervous, but internet searches pretty much came up with the same thing.
And my very simple dinner. They turned out really well! Ayu is really good - river fish are usually considered to have a "muddy" taste compared to fish from the ocean, but the meat of the ayu is surprisingly sweet!...But I think I'd prefer someone else making it for me next time. I'm just not comfortable with cooking fish yet DD:
Anyway, it was a really cool experience because you can only find ayu in super clean rivers - so it's not really something you can experience anywhere! Hopefully I can go again and help catch a few more fish, so that I'm not just uselessly hovering to the side >_<. I'm just thankful to all the people who invite me to these random things that I would have never been able to experience if I wasn't in Kamogawa...and if they hadn't thought of me! Once again, I feel super thankful for all the wonderful people I'm surrounded by <3