On Sunday, my two boys and I went “net fishing” in Kojima Bay, we were invited M-san to join him and his family.

This kind of fishing takes place at night. There are a series of weather-worn shanty shacks along the water that have a big square net that is electrically lowered and raised on a boom over the roof of the shack. A light above the net attracts the fish and we raised the net up about every 30 minutes or so. After raising the big net, you collect the fish using a long bamboo pole with a regular fishing net attached to the end.

We caught a lot of red shrimp and a few small fish including some small shad and a blackhead seabream, which we cut up into some delicious sashimi.

We had grilled meat (including boar) for dinner and plenty of good beer. The boys did some fireworks, too.

The weather was perfect, neither hot nor cold and we had a nice breeze while we slept with the sound of lapping water in the background. We woke up early on Monday morning so that the boys could get back in time to head to school.

Ayumi cooked up the fish and shrimp that we took home. It was so good!