OSATSU, Japan -- I am sitting inside a wooden hut, a simple structure known as an amagoya, in the fishing village of Osatsu, on the east coast of the Ise Peninsula, an area of great beauty located on the southwestern coast of Japan's main island of Honshu.
I watch as the women divers, or ama, wearing white bonnets embroidered with star symbols known as seiman, turn oysters over red-hot coals. It is one of those culinary experiences that is as much about culture as food -- in this instance, an ancient marine culture.
