Our Japanese restaurant in Bellevue is very familiar with how seriously sushi chefs tend to take their craft. In many restaurants in Japan, the diners can actually expect to see live fish butchered right in front of them to assure superior freshness. And, in places where this is somewhat less acceptable, the chefs need to get creative. This was the genesis of kaimin katsugyo.
Kaimin katsugyo, or “live fish, sleeping soundly”, is a practice utilizing some of the same theory of acupuncture, whereby a live fish destined for sushi is pierced by a series of needles in key places. This is designed to put the fish into a coma-like state, where they breathe steadily and can be bled out without stress. In this way, a fish can be effectively preserved with no composition as it is flown from Japan to the US, where it can allegedly be prepared with a greater taste than you would find in an untreated piece of fish. Whether or not this practice actually works is something of a mystery, but sushi prepared with kaimin katsugyo tends to cost roughly twice the price of a normal piece of sushi.