SASEBO, Nagasaki – As Japan once again opens up to foreign tourists, Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture, has released an English-language guide map of the best local restaurants offering fried Japanese horse mackerel – a dish the city claims as its own .
As the horse mackerel, or “aji”, is less familiar in Western countries, the English leaflet explains that the fish inhabits large areas of waters off Japan and is high in protein, making it one of the most familiar to Japanese tables. The brochure also mentions that “Aji fry teishoku”, or a set meal of fried horse mackerel complete with rice, miso soup, pickles and a side dish, is a popular meal here.
Seeking to warmly welcome foreign tourists in search of their fried specialty, the flyer introduces Matsuura as the “Home of Aji Fry” and introduces the local restaurants that offer it, along with their addresses, prices and photos of the unique view of every store on the aji. fry.
The initiative to release 30,000 copies of the English map was adopted as one of Japan Tourism Agency’s projects to enhance the attractiveness of regional Japan, and the city spent 9 million yen (about 67,000 dollars) for the project.
The card will be distributed at tourist spots and restaurants offering fried horse mackerel in the city, as well as shopping complexes in the Fukuoka metropolitan area. The Matsuura Municipal Government also plans to release maps in other languages in the future.
(Japanese original by Hiroshi Watanuki, Sasebo Office)
