No matter the section of tuna, it tastes great all-around. Even though fatty to medium-fatty, and lean red tuna are the most popular as sushi, the portions between the ribs are absolutely fantastic red meat, while the cheeks are incredible when turned into steak. Even the tails are a great source of collagen and iron when stewed, with the skin being great when processed into bacon. I believe that tuna cuisine symbolizes Japanese dietary culture through appreciation of sea life and consumption without waste.

During my 20s, when I searched the world for bluefin tuna, I found that demand for bluefin tuna was not as high in foreign countries due to the differences in dietary culture. However, in the Japanese gourmet boom during the bubble period, bluefin tuna became valued as high-quality fish. As a consequence, bluefin tuna became an export item to Japan. Later, local consumption also commenced due to popularization of sushi abroad. This lead to increase of catch, consequent concern of overfishing and tuna becoming an endangered species.

What can be done to protect bluefin tuna and the future of Japanese dietary culture? This was when I conceived of catching fully-grown bluefin tuna, raise them inside a natural preserve, and later ship whenever there was demand. Tuna raised within such a quasi-natural environment had high quality. The added benefit was, that we could ship as much as required whenever the needed arose, meaning, the pricing was stable. This could should have stopped one-time overfishing and price-dumping of tuna. In addition, if we could find a way to farm eggs within the preserve to release back to nature, then increase of fishing resources could be expected. That was my idea.

<<Everyone thought it was impossible at the beginning>>

Still, tuna is a migratory fish that could die from suffocation if it couldn’t swim at the speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour. Trying to raise a school of tuna each weighing over 200 kilograms was considered absurd, and no one from the fishing industry would even consider my idea, all though something like this was impossible.

But I had to find a way to save them from extinction. First, I conducted an experiment with smaller Pacific tuna of about 15 to 20 kilograms that were kept inside a 30 by 30 meter preserve in Australia. After some time researching, I sometimes even jumped inside the preserve to study the biology of the tuna, and eventually found that they could live within the preserve for a year through implementation of the right methods. Then, I tried this in the Mediterranean with larger tuna each weighing close to 200 kilograms that were kept inside a 50 by 50 meter preserve. As a result, I found that even larger bluefin tuna were able to migrate within the enclosure through implementation of the right methods. By this I succeeded in operating a natural fish preserve to house and farm bluefin tuna. This is what I was previously referring to as “tuna reserve.”
Nowadays, we have several of these preserves all over the world, and we only take out just what we need and ship by air to serve at our SUSHIZANMAI shops in Japan. From the fish preserves in the Atlantic Ocean we ship to Madrid or Paris, from those on the Eastern side of the US we ship to Boston or New York airport, from where the tuna is flown to Haneda or Narita Airport, where after passing through customs, it is available for delivery to SUSHIZANMAI shops nationwide. Although the recent annual total quota for Atlantic bluefin tuna is 20 something thousand tons, 10 years ago, it was next to impossible to reach this number within 3 months. However, due to the spread of “tuna reserves” and “tuna farming,” rampant overfishing has decreased. If we combine the “inventory tuna,” the total quantity of bluefin tuna has increased to a year’s worth of catch in a single day.

<<Aside from bluefin tuna, this production method is also applied to other species>>

Sardines, horse mackerel, and mackerel, are all migratory fish just like bluefin tuna. These too are caught whenever they migrate close to the seas of Japan, and are placed inside small fish preserves at various domestic locations, and later shipped whenever the supply numbers lower.

Although breeding bluefin tuna has been considered as impossible, we were somehow able to do it. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force that I was formally affiliated with is often considered to be “daring and resolute, but chaotic.” My attitude of going against the grain and taking on challenges, must have been acquired during the days in the Air Self-Defense Forces.