Green Agricultural Tourism in Kamaishi

When most people travel, they expect to be the onlookers. Green Tourism was designed in Kamaishi specifically to give tourists a on hands experience doing activities that have to do with cultivating and preparing food specific to this area. Although there are many different activities available, two of the most unique experiences that I highly recommend is the Capturing and deshelling of scallops, and the deshelling and preparation process of uni, sea urchin.

The Clams that have Grown to Full Size after One Year are Ready to be Harvested

The activity of harvesting and cleaning scallops was the first example of Green Tourism that I experienced. In the late morning, I was driven to a sea port. After putting on a life vest, I climbed in the fisherman's boat and we sailed out to the various round buoys in the ocean. The fisherman then anchored the boat and lifted a long rope out of the ocean where baby clams were attached about a year ago. Now, these clams have grown to the adult size and were ready to be harvested. We were able to collect them as well as the sea plants that had grown on the bottom of the rope which are often eaten as well. Once back at port, we climbed out of the boat onto the dock where the fisherman gave a demonstration on how to open, clean, and collect the scallops. Then, I was able to collect the scallops using his instruction.　I had never had the opportunity to actually collect, open, and clean clams before but I found this, along with the ride in the ocean, to be a fun and different late morning activity.

Fisherman Giving Us a Demonstration on How to Open the Clams

The View of the Inside of a Clam Once It's First Opened

The Finish Product: a Cleaned Fresh Scallop

The second Green Tourism that I partook in was the deshelling and preparation of uni, sea urchin. When I first arrived, I was shocked to see about a hundred balls of sea urchins on a table moving around their `thistles'. At first, I was a afraid of even touching one of them for fear of being stung. The demonstrators assured my safety and I held one in my hands and found it to be exciting and fun. I felt like a small child experiencing a petting zoo for the first time. The first step was to open the sea urchin using a special tool. Next, a person removed the inedible parts as well as the `bony' mouth. Next, the eggs of the sea urchin are passed to us in a strainer where we separate any leftover inedible parts and wash them in water. It was very cool to not only feel and touch the sea urchins, but also to almost experiment the dissection of it; kelp that the sea urchins had eaten could be seen. Although I am personally not a fan of uni sushi, I absolute loved this activity and completely new experience. 

The Inside Edible Parts of a Sea Urchin

Live Sea Urchins and the Tool Used to Open them