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Shirako — the sperm sac (milt) of cod, puffer fish, or other white fish — is one of Japan's most prized winter delicacies and one of its most challenging ingredients for uninitiated Western palates. The name translates as 'white children', an elegant euphemism for what is biologically an extraordinary textural experience: completely smooth, rich, and cream-like in consistency, with a mild oceanic sweetness and a faint brine. The most prized shirako comes from fugu (puffer fish) and from true cod (madara) harvested in the deep winter months when the testes are fully developed and at maximum size. The preparation options range from raw (served as sashimi on its own with ponzu and momiji-oroshi — grated radish with chilli), lightly poached in dashi, deep-fried in a thin batter until just set inside, or simmered in miso soup. The most refined presentation is simply steamed or briefly poached in kombu dashi, allowing the delicate, almost custard-like texture to be the focus without secondary flavours. Alongside shirako, the sea urchin (uni) category dominates Japanese luxury raw seafood: hokkaido Ezo-bafun uni (short-spined sea urchin, deep orange, with concentrated sweetness and low iodine bitterness), compared to the lighter, more delicate kita-murasaki uni (purple sea urchin), and the boxed ikura salmon roe that frequently accompanies both — together forming the canon of Japanese marine luxury.

Japanese cuisine employs a sophisticated ebi (shrimp and prawn) hierarchy that distinguishes between species, preparation state (raw/cooked), and seasonal availability in ways that have no parallel in most Western culinary traditions. The premium raw consumption category — ama ebi (sweet shrimp, Pandalus borealis), botan ebi (peony shrimp, Pandalus nipponensis), and shiro ebi (white shrimp, Pasiphaea japonica) — represents the pinnacle of cold-water sweetness available for sashimi service. Ama ebi, harvested from the cold deep waters of the Sea of Japan and served raw, derives its sweet name from its intensely sugary flavour — glycine amino acids accumulate in the flesh as an anti-freeze adaptation to cold water, producing a sweetness that cooked shrimp never achieves. Premium botan ebi is larger and even sweeter than ama ebi, with a more substantial body and a characteristic peony-pink colour that gives it its name. Shiro ebi (ghost shrimp) from Toyama Bay is perhaps the most distinctive: tiny, translucent, and of extraordinary delicacy — served as kakiage (mixed vegetable and shrimp tempura), as sashimi in small quantities, or dried and used as a garnish. The cooked ebi tradition includes the giant tiger prawn (kuruma ebi — 'vehicle shrimp' for its stripes) used in tempura and kaiseki, the kuruma ebi alive-boiled tradition for maximum sweetness, and the prized ise ebi (Japanese spiny lobster) that bridges the shrimp-lobster divide in formal kaiseki service.