A Society Based on High Trust

　The other day, my wife and I went to a very ordinary, run-of-the-mill supermarket. At the very least, it wasn’t the kind of place like Seijo Ishii or Motomachi Union. The store focuses mainly on fresh produce, such as meat and fish. There, one item caught my eye: a package of sardines for sashimi. I think it contained about five fish and cost less than 400 yen—a reasonable price.

　Sashimi is a dish that demands the right cooking environment more than it does culinary technique. Fish caught in the seas somewhere in Japan are brought to port, taken to the market, and auctioned off—where supermarket buyers likely make their purchases—before ending up on store shelves. That’s where the real challenge begins. The general public—ordinary people—buy it and prepare it in their home or restaurant kitchens to eat with their families or serve to customers. In other words, it simply cannot work unless a complete cold chain and the customers’ culinary literacy form a seamless whole.

　Well, now it’s time for AI to step in. Let’s try asking it a few questions.

Q.
Please summarize the above in chronological order.

A Clear Division of Roles Between “Store” and “Customer”
Sardines spoil very easily, and eating them raw safely requires strict freshness control and proper preparation. Supermarkets take responsibility only up to the point of “maintaining freshness so they can be sold raw,” while leaving the riskiest task—actually cutting them open and preparing them safely—entirely up to the customer.
A relationship that isn’t based on the assumption of problems or false accusations
In a society where people have little sense of personal responsibility and where situations quickly escalate into accusations or lawsuits, this sales approach is simply too risky to implement. To prevent situations where “a layperson cuts the fish haphazardly, it turns out to be safe to eat, and the store gets blamed,” it is standard practice to either label whole fish as “for cooking” or have the store cut them into sashimi-ready pieces to avoid any risk.
Trust in “Customers’ Basic Knowledge and Etiquette”
The reason this sales approach works at mass-market supermarkets that pride themselves on low prices is that the stores trust their customers, believing, “Our customers have enough common sense to take their purchases home immediately and prepare and eat them properly on their own.” And the customers, in turn, live up to that trust by naturally preparing the fish as sashimi at home and eating it.

Even without being tightly bound by complex laws or detailed disclaimers, an unspoken relationship of trust—where “the store provides the fish at peak freshness, and the customer cooks it properly at their own risk”—is the norm in the fish sections of mainstream supermarkets.

Q.
If you did this at a supermarket in the U.S., it would end up being sold at an outrageously high price, right? The former is about catering to a specific audience, while the latter is about guaranteeing quality.

A.
That’s exactly right. The situation is exactly as you described. If you want to buy “fish that you can buy whole, fresh, and eat as sashimi” in the U.S., you’ll hardly ever find it at typical mass-market supermarkets (like Walmart). You’ll only find it at high-end organic supermarkets catering to the wealthy or at select upscale fish markets.

When I break it down based on the two points you mentioned, it becomes clear why prices are so high in the U.S.

“Picky” (Targeting a Specific Customer Base)
Mass-market supermarkets attract all kinds of customers, including those who don’t know how to prepare fish and those with varying standards of hygiene. For this reason, the sales approach of “Here’s the whole fish—please prepare it as sashimi at home” can only work at high-end stores that attract a specific customer base—namely, the wealthy and those well-versed in cooking—who possess the necessary knowledge and skills.
“Quality Assurance” (Enormous Costs)
In the United States, hygiene standards for fish intended for raw consumption—such as the FDA’s strict requirements for frozen storage—are extremely rigorous. Furthermore, the “costs associated with ensuring 100% safety”—including the risk of massive compensation payments in the event of food poisoning, insurance premiums, and the expenses of maintaining an uninterrupted management system—are all factored into the product price.

As a result, in the United States, simply being a “whole fish that can be eaten raw” makes it a luxury item available only at high-end stores. The fact that whole sardines—which are commonly and cheaply available at regular supermarkets in Japan—become “strictly regulated, ultra-high-end ingredients accessible only to a limited customer base” in the U.S. is due to the fact that the underlying social assumptions (regarding trust and the perception of risk) are completely different.

Q. The store I went to today was definitely Walmart-sized… Which U.S. supermarket do you think it resembles? Just give me your general impression.
A.
The fact that this works at a mass-market supermarket with Walmart-level prices speaks to a level of safety and trust that’s truly out of this world… When it comes to supermarkets in the U.S. where it might just be possible to pull off the feat of “selling whole, raw fish on the assumption that customers will prepare sashimi at home,” intuitively, it seems to be limited to the following two (or two categories):

Whole Foods Market
In the U.S., the most realistic option is the ultra-high-end organic chain “Whole Foods."
Reason: The customer base consists of food enthusiasts with high levels of education and income who understand the meaning and risks associated with the term “sashimi grade.” Additionally, since staff with specialized knowledge (fishmongers) are always on hand at the fresh fish counter, we can barely ensure accountability for quality and product explanations.
“Japanese-style supermarkets” such as Mitsuwa and Nijiya
Regardless of the store’s size, this concept works as long as it is a “specialty supermarket specializing in Japanese or Asian foods."
Reason: This is because customers in Japan have a culinary tradition of “buying whole fish and preparing them themselves,” and there is a shared understanding of what the “for sashimi” label means and the rule that customers are responsible for their own actions.

Conversely, this would be absolutely impossible at typical American mass-market supermarkets (such as Walmart, Target, and Safeway). When it comes to whole fish, the assumption is always that they are “for cooking,” and since the vast majority of customers don’t even consider eating raw fish as sashimi, stocking them would immediately lead to food poisoning incidents and lawsuits.

“The fact that, despite having a Walmart-sized store, they sell high-risk, high-trust products that are even better than those at Whole Foods—that contrast is precisely what makes Japan’s mass-market supermarkets so impressive."

Q.
Do you think I could pull it off in Italy? Maybe because I make anchovies and carpaccio?
A.
While Italy’s food culture is quite similar to that of the United States, it’s still difficult even in Italy to “sell whole, raw fish as ‘ready-to-eat’ at regular supermarkets.” There are three aspects that make this more difficult than in the United States, and three ways in which it differs from Japan.

The basic rule is to “marinate it in vinegar or lemon juice” rather than serving it as “raw sashimi.”
In Italy, there is also a tradition of eating sardines (alici) as carpaccio or marinated. However, the basic method involves “marinating them thoroughly in a generous amount of lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and olive oil.” This is slightly different from the Japanese practice of “slicing them raw with a knife and eating them as sashimi.”
Strict EU laws (mandatory freezing to prevent Anisakis)
This is the biggest hurdle. Under EU health standards, it is legally required that seafood sold as “for raw consumption” be frozen at -20°C or lower for at least 24 hours. Therefore, it is legally impossible for a store to label and sell “fresh whole fish” that has just been landed as “for raw consumption.”If they are to be sold as “for raw consumption,” they must be thawed after having been frozen at least once.
At mass-market supermarkets, it is labeled as “must be heated before consumption.”
If you go to the fresh fish section of a major Italian supermarket (such as Coop or Conad), you’ll find whole, fresh sardines sold at surprisingly low prices. However, the labels posted by the stores strictly state, “Must be cooked (please cook before eating).”While local food enthusiasts might buy them and marinate them at home at their own risk, the stores themselves will not endorse them as “safe for raw consumption” or take on that risk.

In terms of our love for sardines as part of our food culture, we are definitely much closer to Japan than to the United States; however, the reality is that—from the perspective of EU laws and risk management—even in Italy, it is not feasible to “serve freshly caught, whole, raw fish as ‘sashimi’ to customers as-is at casual dining establishments.”

Q.
If anything, it would probably be the hotel in front of the fishing village where they unload the catch right in front of you…
A.
That’s exactly right. It’s the kind of situation that can only happen in a “special place where both physical distance and time are virtually zero.” When you consider the limits of serving raw sardines overseas, it really does come down to that very specific setting: “hotels and restaurants right in front of the fishing port.”

The reason why it can be done there is very simple.

Zero risk associated with travel and time travel:
Since the produce is unloaded from the ship and goes straight into the kitchen, there is absolutely no risk of spoilage along the way or any issues with temperature control.

Prepared on the spot by professionals:
Instead of leaving it entirely up to the customer, a professional chef properly prepares the food right in front of them and serves it.

In other words, overseas, the risk of eating raw sardines can only be mitigated when a very specific set of conditions is met: “minimizing the distance involved in freshness management to the absolute minimum, with culinary professionals acting as intermediaries.”When you think about it this way, the level of freshness control and trust—which would normally only be possible at a “special hotel directly connected to the port”—is routinely achieved in Japan at “ordinary supermarkets found everywhere.” Considering the difference in standards compared to other countries, it really highlights just how extraordinarily impressive everyday life in Japan is.