🍲 Kanimaki-jiru (crab miso soup)

"Kanimaki-jiru" is a local dish of Kitago Town in southern Miyazaki Prefecture, using Yamataro-gani (officially called Mokuzu-gani in Kitago Town, a member of the Shanghai crab family), which are caught from fall to winter in the Sakatani River and Hiroto River that run through Kitago Town. Yamataro-gani are born in the ocean, grow upriver, and then migrate downriver to spawn in the ocean, which is where they are fished. Yamataro-gani is a valuable source of protein in this region, and the "Kanimaki-jiru" is said to have gotten its name from the miso that envelops the crab's delicious flavor. Its unique flavor is a much-anticipated dish in the region in the fall.