Sashimi Log

Richard sometimes takes us to a delicious and very cheap izakaya in 本郷三丁目 (hongo-san-chome). This is a photograph of the sashimi "log" they serve. Sashimi is raw fish without rice. It is generally smeared with a small amount of wasabi (a hot green paste), and more rarely wrapped in a shiso leaf that has a mint-like flavor.

This is the only restaurant where I have been served abalone and raw rock shrimp as part of a standard sashimi set.

One question about the log: Do they have a storehouse of these logs spare in the back? (In Japan, the answer is: likely!) It is rather ornamental and is only, as I have seen, used to serve sashimi.