Nyotaimori, ‘to eat sashimi or sushi displayed on a naked female body’ once practiced in the secret underworld of the Japanese Yakuza, has not garnered ANY attention among the Japanese mainstream of late. It is a different story in the United States, likely due to intense competition among sushi restaurants, and a select few sushi places offer this attraction for small groups who wish to experience this style of sushi dining. More recently it has evolved into a trendy fad in certain major cities in Europe. In Los Angeles, one of the restaurants offering Nyotaimori is: Hadaka Sushi in West Hollywood that will, for a price, arrange this for you.
Cleanliness is the most important factor in preparing for this event. All body hair must be removed and the person’s skin must be cleaned by soaking in a hot bath and being thoroughly scrubbed with a Japanese akasuri (rough cloth), before positioning the sushi on the body (in America the sushi must be placed on a banana leaf for health reasons) the woman’s body must be cooled down by rinsing with cold water to bring the body temperature down, this is a very important step.Hadaka Sushi, West Hollywood
8226 West Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046
Tel. 323-822-2001
Above: From Hong Kong, the title of the photo “Ikizukuri” (meaning: live skinned fish eaten as sashimi, sake is sometimes poured into the fish’s mouth to show how fresh it is, and it will wiggle).
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Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category
Nyotaimori, ‘Sashimi or Sushi Displayed on Naked Female Body’ – Japan, Los Angeles
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Restaurants Pescaderia & Chez Daimo, Naha, Okinawa – Japan
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Pescaderia
Tel 098-901-0142
Kamamizu Sakihara Chisaki,
Naha City, Okinawa
Pecaderia, as the name would suggest, specializes in seafood and the restaurant serves live oysters and scallops in the shells, which they wheel to the table on a trolley. You may choose to have the scallops as sashimi or sautéed with garlic. Both were very good, as the mollusks were so fresh.
Chez Daimo
Tel. 098-867-9418
2-2-21 Kume Naha-C,
Okinawa
This small restaurant would be a find anywhere but it is especially exciting to be recommended to a place of this caliber in Naha City, Okinawa where gastronomic treasures are at a minimum. The small dining room has only one table that seats six and a counter with ten stools surrounding an open kitchen where large, imposing, Okinawa-born chef/owner, Daimo san, spins his culinary magic for a handful of people every night.
We started with a perfectly marinated and concocted octopus salad with tomatoes and accompanied at the same time by another dish of fresh sardines with salad. It was followed by a risotto of clams and an incredibly good chicken “confit style”, specially raised on a neighboring island.
When we had to turn back a second bottle of Corvo Rosso because it was off, Daimo san said that it was his last bottle and in place of it he brought out a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau a day before its intended release.
Marushin Restaurant – Koriyama, Japan
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Restaurant Marushin
1-5-10 Ekimae,Koriyama,Fukushima
Tel. 024-922-1851
Opening Hours: Lunch: noon-2pm, Dinner: 6-10:30
Credit Cards: Yes
Prices: Moderate
Pictured above is the very best Uni (sea urchin roe) that I have ever tasted and I have eaten so many of these creatures all over the world, regardless of their high 
cholesterol count. (My first experience, was on the island of Capri in Italy, a long time ago when young boys used to dive for them and pry them off the rocks and sell them to the customers that were sitting at the seaside restaurants for a nominal price). Maruchin is an extremely well-run restaurant located in downtown Koriyama and it means business, as everything they serve from sushi to tempura is exquisitely presented and the raw materials that they use are so fresh and served at the ideal temperature. If the dish is not to be served raw it is cooked to perfection, it is amazing with so many items on the menu, that the restaurant manages to get everything right. I was so sorry that I did not have the time to pay one more visit to this incredibly good restaurant before I left. It is basically reserved for locals only and buried in a line of storefronts, you would most likely never find it unless you had inside information from persons living in Koriyama who knew about it.
Kyotozuchi – Yonago/Tottori – Japan
Wednesday, March 19th, 20081-71 Kakubancho
Yonago-C, Tottori 68.3
Tel. 0859-22-3386
Credit Cards Accepted
Prices: Moderate
One of the highlights of a springtime visit to Southern Japan is the opportunity to taste tiny, transparent, freshwater whitefish and eat them while still alive as they squirm in a mixture of beaten egg and soy sauce. Quite curiously, while they put up a tremendous fight to resist being eaten, once into the mouth they stop movement immediately. They were able to survive swimming in the sauce for over ten minutes, slowly turning from transparent to a light red color as they absorbed the color of the liquid. The chance to indulge in this delight comes but once a year for a two week period as the fish spawn. I realize that this is not for everyone, as even some of the Japanese nationals in our party were repelled at the sight of the writhing mass.
Raw prawns were in the pink of condition and sweet to the taste and in the many tanks were turtles and Fugu (Balloon fish) along with a really unattractive shell called Akabe.
The thick and crispy Nori (dried seaweed) had a praiseworthy flavor and when wrapped around crab tomalley and sushi rice there could not have been a more admirable finish to this gastronomic dinner.
