A hotel operator in the Tohoku region is one of a small number of companies that have launched businesses in depopulated rural areas to raise torafugu, a high-quality variety of the poisonous puffer fish prized as a delicacy in Japan, using tanks filled with hot spring water.
Torafugu raised in this manner, however, are free of the toxins that often require the fish to be prepared by licensed chefs, and also grow much faster than those farmed at sea, according to hotel chain Akita Kyoei Kanko in Akita Prefecture.
The company started offering full-course meals based on the tiger puffer fish, including thin slices of sashimi, the most popular serving method, to guests in December.