The birthplace of GeGeGe no Kitaro is also the home of Japan’s biggest catch of Red Queen Crab. These crabs, hauled into Sakaiminato between September and July, are characterized by the deep red colour their name suggests; locally they’re called simply benigani, or ‘red crab’. Their size and shape is nearly the same as the Matsuba crab. Almost no part is discarded in processing, so useful is the red crab in such a variety of dishes.
Enjoying Red Queen Crab
◆Sakaiminato shin-kani meshi
This dish contains an entire red queen crab caught at Sakaiminato, served in wrapping paper to be torn open like a present. It made its debut in 2011 as a new dish to be on the lookout for as capturing the essence of Sakaiminato. Open up this gift wrap and savour the aroma of a fresh and gorgeous crab delight, piping hot with the flavour of crab meat and other ingredients penetrating their bed of rice.
◆Stewed crab
Red queen crab is boiled at the processing plant and sold directly for a delicious kani meal at a reasonable price.