Processed staples
Nerimono (fish-paste products)
練り物
24 varieties
Nerimono covers Japan's fish-paste family: paste mounded on a board and steamed becomes kamaboko, wound around a stick and grilled becomes chikuwa. The earliest form on record, noted in an eleventh-century document, is said to have looked closer to today's chikuwa. Because the fish on hand and what gets kneaded into the paste differ by port, the same word kamaboko comes out steamed in one region and fire-baked in another. This section follows how each local type took shape.
Dishes tied to a place13
- Ago ChikuwaあごちくわTottoriflying fish surimi grilled into a chikuwa with a crackling skin
- Ago-yakiあご野焼きShimane IzumoIzumo's fire-baked flying-fish cake
- ArumadoアルマドNagasaki Hiradoa Hirado kamaboko log with a hard-boiled egg dyed pink at its core
- Gobomakiごぼう巻きYamaguchi Hagiburdock root skewered, wrapped in fish skin, and grilled
- Kani Kamabokoかに風味かまぼこIshikawa Nanaothe imitation crab that conquered the world
- Kuro Hanpen黒はんぺんShizuoka City, ShizuokaKuro-hanpen — Shizuoka's dark, unbleached fish cake
- NarutomakiなるとShizuoka Yaizuthe swirl-patterned fish roll
- Noyaki野焼きShimane IzumoIzumo's skewerless, fire-baked fish cake
- Obitenおび天Miyazaki Nichinandeep-fried fish cake bound with tofu and sweetened with brown sugar
- Odawara Kamaboko小田原かまぼこKanagawa Odawarasteamed fish cake from a Tokaido post town
- Sasa Kamaboko笹かまぼこMiyagi SendaiSasa-kamaboko — leaf-shaped, fire-baked fish cake from Sendai
- Tofu Chikuwaとうふ竹輪Tottori City, TottoriTottori's fish-light chikuwa
- Toyohashi Chikuwa豊橋ちくわAichi Toyohashia 190-year chikuwa from Mikawa Bay
No single place of origin11
- Chikuwafish paste grilled around a stick
- Datemakisweet rolled egg-and-fish cake
- Gyoniku SausageFish Sausage — Japan's tuna-surplus invention
- Hanpenairy, half-moon white fish cake
- Itawasasliced kamaboko with wasabi
- Kamabokomolded, steamed fish-paste cake
- Kobumaki KamabokoToyama's kelp-wrapped fish cake
- Shirayaki KamabokoYamaguchi's crimped, unbrowned fish cake
- Surimithe frozen fish paste that remade the industry
- Tsumirehand-torn fish dumplings
- Zaiku KamabokoToyama's sculpted celebration fish cake
View all Nerimono (fish-paste products) on the map
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.