🍚 Shirasu Don (Whitebait on top of rice)
Whitebait fishing reaches its peak from late March until May. During that time, lots of young Japanese anchovy, Japanese sardine or round herring are caught. Especially, Kada area in Wakayama City and Yuasa in Arita-gun are prominent areas for whitebait industry; fresh whitebait in Kada and boiled whitebait in Yuasa. In Yuasa area, which boasts the top amount of catching whitebait, the fishers use the technique called ‘batch ami' when catching whitebait. They pull the fine nets with two small boats to surround groups of fish. The name of this technique came from men's underwear called ‘batch' because the net looks like it. The fishers in Enjugahama area, close to Yuasa, have been catching whitebait with traditional seine-fishing. Fresh whitebait is delivered to factories nearby immediately, then boiled with salt in the huge kettles. It will be dried under sunshine after boiled. ‘Shirasu Don' is a dish with this whitebait put on top of the rice. The locals enjoy it with Yuasa soy sauce or Kinzanji Miso in Yuasa. Some restaurants offer 'Shirasu Don' with fresh whitebait. It is unique specialty in fishery port.