The savory, smoky aroma of grilled unagi eel whets the appetite for many in Japan during the midsummer Day of the Ox, which fell on Tuesday and will occur again Aug. 2.
Unagi is traditionally eaten on this day, which comes once or twice every year.
A cook at the kabayaki-style unagi restaurant Shibuya Matsukawa in Shibuya Ward started grilling the freshwater eels from the morning. The restaurant prepared about 500 servings, four times more than usual.
According to the Fisheries Agency, the domestic catch of unagi in the form of glass eels, or young eels, from December 2019 to April was about five times more than the same period last year.
"There have been more requests for delivery because of the novel coronavirus," said Shunsuke Sanda, the president of the restaurant and chairman of a national federation of kabayaki-style unagi restaurants. "I'm happy if unagi has become a bit cheaper and customers get an energy boost from eating them."
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