Katsuura: Tuna, a Harbour Footbath and Japan's Football Roots

Overview

Nachikatsuura sits at the south-eastern tip of the Kii Peninsula, three and a half hours by car from central Osaka. The drive is long, and it delivers three things at once: tuna, hot water and an unlikely chapter of football history. Katsuura is one of Japan's leading ports for fresh, never-frozen tuna, and at Nigiwai Ichiba on the quayside the fish auctioned that morning goes almost straight onto the counters. Ask for mochi-maguro, an uncommon deep-water tuna with a dense, faintly springy texture; the donburi that made its name is 2,600 yen. The hall pairs food stalls with a direct-sales corner for local produce, and opens 8am to 4pm, closed Tuesdays.

A few steps away, inside the fishing port itself, Uminoyu is a large footbath that costs nothing to use, facing the water where the boats come and go; a tuna is painted on the floor of the pool, and it opens 6am to 10pm every day of the year. To sit down for longer, cafe Amaai occupies a corner of the retro Showa-era arcade nearby — wooden chairs, low lighting, lunches and sweets built on local produce — where tuna menchi-katsu with tomato tartare is 900 yen.

The last stop is Michi-no-Eki Nachi, next to JR Nachi Station. Nakamura Kakunosuke, credited with introducing football to Japan, came from what is now Nachikatsuura; a monument to him stands in front of the station, and inside are displays on the national teams, including a shirt signed by the Nadeshiko Japan squad that won the World Cup. The three-legged crow on the Japan Football Association's badge is the yatagarasu of the Kumano shrines, which places the game's Japanese origins firmly on this coast. The site also holds the Kumano Nachi World Heritage Information Centre and a farm stand.