Dried fish, Kombu and the chainsmoking Native
We started early for our daytrip as we had to drive four hours to reach the Kombu factory (Japanese edible algae) on the Pacific coast. En route we stopped at a village famous for it’s fish and at the home of an Ainu man, kind enough to enlighten us in the traditional way of making salmon leather.
The Ainu man is hammering the dried salmon skin until it is soft
…and transformed into soft leather
Yen Yi wearing a traditional Ainu dress made from salmon skin
Stacks of dried Kombu. The factory buys the algae of fishermen, who can only land and dry it on the calm and sunny days of July and August. This year, due to a typhoon it was only possible on two days (normally around twenty). Kombu is widely used as an ingredient in soups and snacks and to add flavour to rice.
