Fishing for Aji, Saba, and elusive Japanese words

My brain is running extra fast these days, and so are my legs. Possibly the crispy weather. Or the new mixes I've been assembling for my early morning jogs. More likely it's all the fish I've been eating since last Friday, when I went fishing with two teachers from school. The trip was a success, with each of us hauling in 20 or so fish. Almost all were either Aji (sea bream) or Saba (mackerel).

A few days prior to the trip, Mashima-san and Tanaka-san handed me a printed map and pointed to the following hand-written text:
3:45 AM
8°
2 red dots (one for the location of my house on the map, the other for the corner of the road where they will pick me up at 3:45 am when it's predicted to be 8 degrees). Luckily, it wasn't cold at all. But it was early. Mashima and Tanaka don't speak much English, so many stretches of the 6 hours that we were on the boat there were extended silences interupted occasionally by a fish on the line.

Ahh, happiness is coming home with a cooler full of fish. Every meal, other than breakfast, that I ate for the ensuing 5 days included a fish or two. Sashimi, fried, salt-baked, with sweet "arani" sauce. I ate it all, and now that it's gone, I want more. Even if I have to wake up at 3:30.

This is a picture of Mashima with a Boda, which I don't know how to say in English.