Japanese restaurant lets diners catch their own fish

October 31, 2022

A Japanese restaurant that lets you catch your own fish has recently gone viral.

In a video posted by Tina (@hangrybynature) on Instagram and TikTok on Oct. 23, the content creator can be seen pointing at a large expanse of water inside the restaurant.

“One of the craziest things you can do in Japan is to catch your own food at a restaurant,” the video’s onscreen text reads.

On her way to fish, Tina shares that the restaurant is Zaou Fishing Restaurant, which is located in Osaka, Japan.

Customers are given the opportunity to “fish out the window from a booth, fish off a boat or fish from the sidelines,” according to the content creator’s now-viral video, which has already received over 5.8 million views and more than 330,000 likes on Instagram and over 11.4 million views and more than 1.2 million likes on TikTok.

After a customer successfully catches a fish, one of the restaurant’s employees will bang a drum so that “your victory will be heard across the entire restaurant.” Then, the fish is handed over to the restaurant’s chefs to get fried, steamed or turned into sashimi.

Countless Instagram and TikTok users shared their mixed opinions on the Osaka restaurant after watching Tina’s video. While some expressed interest in the self-fishing establishment, others expressed pity for the fish.

“I would come here with my child. Make them choose a fosh [sic] and, catch that fish, let them bond with it, and turn that fish into food,” a TikTok user wrote, to which other commenters said, “Try to imagine this from the point of view of the fish…. their chaos is real” and “Poor fish looked terrified.”

“Fishing from a tank… making sure animals are as miserable as it gets,” an Instagram user wrote, while another said, “My kids have been asking to go fishing so I’m adding this to my ever expanding (thanks to you) Japan list!”

Featured Image via @hangrybynature

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