FreshFreshFresh Fish or seafood?

I want to eat the freshest seafood in Japan. My Japanese friend told me to go to Shikoku or anywhere near water/sea. Can you suggest a great place? I have been to Miyajima, Hiroshima, and Yuda onsen where I had the best freshest seafood. I have also been to tsukiji and it was just ok.
I think there is some other place where I can find the freshest ever seafood. Please help.

I've heard that Toyama prefecture (on the Sea of Japan side) is where you find great seafood, but have not been there myself :)

I cannot remember exactly where but it was in the Izu Peninsula near Shimoda. I was driving with my mother when we came across a little make shift hut on the beach with a small fishing boat next to it. We walked over, and they were serving live sashimi of fish that are still alive. The fisherman/cook pinned the head of a livve small fish (I forgot what kind it was but only about 8 inches long) on a wooden board then cleaned the inner organs in about 15 seconds, and opened the flesh, chopped it into pieces still within the fish's body, and served it to us to eat right there. The whole process took less than a minute.

We picked the raw flesh directly from the body of the fish which was still moving its tail and head. It was delicious as well as an unforgettable experience. The flesh caused a little electrical tinge on my tongue becuse muscle fibers were still firing actively.

I heard they have similar kind of restaurants in the cities but they are too expensive so I never went to them. But maybe someone can recommend them in this thread.

Chad

"Iki-zukuri" sashimi as mentioned above is certainly fresh, as it is basically still alive, but there are ethical questions that go with it. In my country iki-zukuri is actually illegal due to animal cruelty issues.

Surely fish at Tsukiji is about as fresh as it gets?

I would have to second Tsukiji market for the freshest fish. Go super early; i.e., dawn, and you can get all kinds of fish, literally right off the boat. Or, go to Sushi Oki (at Tsukiji), and have the freshest sushi breakfast in the entire world!

Is the 24 hour sushi place in Tsukiji good? I think the name of the restaurant is Meguro? do you have the website? how much all you can eat for 24 hours?

Is the 24 hour sushi place in Tsukiji good?
Perhaps it is not so expensive as no-24h sushi restaurant. The reason why they can open the restaurant all the day is that almost all of their fishes are frozen. And fish itself might be farmed by a raising company. A wild raw fish is at least twice as expensive as a farmed frozen one.
Regarding Freshness, there are many fishing ports throughout Japan. So I think it depends what kind of fish you prefer to eat. However, if you don't want to eat frozen fish, you cannot eat every kinds of good fish in every season. There is the best season to eat for each fish.

Wouldn't "fresh" seafood be anything, anywhere taken directly out of the ocean?

Japan has fisheries everywhere and any coastal area should be able to offer you freshly caught fish at a majority of higher-end restaurants.

Any port town can offer a wide selection of fish caught the day-of or the day before. If you visit a fish market during the morning catch, you can choose your own fish while it's still flopping around and then eat it for breakfast.

Note that sushi and sashimi probably SHOULD be frozen before eating or the risk for bacterial/parasite poisoning is much higher.

Note that sushi and sashimi probably SHOULD be frozen before eating or the risk for bacterial/parasite poisoning is much higher.
This should be true, however, I don't think this idea hasn't become a common sense yet in Japan. Because most of the high-class restaurants, ex. 30,000yen for one dinner, are proud of their serving no-frozen fishes. Once the fish is frozen, its taste can't help but damaged. So the customers at high-class restaurant usually don't mind its poisoned risk.

This should be true, however, I don't think this idea hasn't become a common sense yet in Japan. Because most of the high-class restaurants, ex. 30,000yen for one dinner, are proud of their serving no-frozen fishes. Once the fish is frozen, its taste can't help but damaged. So the customers at high-class restaurant usually don't mind its poisoned risk.

Actually with the new technologies, flash frozen fish are virtually indistinguishable from fresh. Something like 50-60 percent of sushi grade fish imported into the US has been frozen at some point, and yes it is served in the high end restaurants where $300 dinners are not unusual.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E0D9...

Also, I think it frozen fish is rather commonly known and accepted in Japan. Think of where the majority of people eat their sushi. Its not at high end restaurants, rather at kaiten zushi and local sushiya, where the economics of frozen fish have made it a staple.

Anyway, fresh seafood is available pretty much throughout Japan, but some places that come to mind that are particularly famous include:

Tsukiji, Hokkaido, Niigata, Kanazawa, Shikoku, and Shimonosaki