Probably the most famous Japanese fish for people living outside of Japan. Especially the word fugu is known better than pufferfish to people whose mother tongue is not English.
Fugu is a poisonous fish, which special license is needed to cook in Japan. The lethal internal organs must be kept away from other kitchen wastes and stored securely in a locked box. Therefore fugu cannot be found at diners or cafeterias.
Then, there are basically three ways to eat fugu. Raw; sashimi called tessa, deep fried and hot pot; tecchiri. Usually restaurants offer course menu including tessa, deep fried fugu and tecchiri.
Fugu is a local specialty of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi prefecture. Wild fugu is rare and expensive but farmed fugu is quite reasonable. Therefore the prices can be varied depending on serving wild one or farmed one.
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