When I lived in Japan I was very fortunate to be able to make a living doing my favorite hobby, which is scuba diving. My wife and I ran a scuba diving store in the city of Hadano in the Kanagawa prefecture. I was able to dive in the Izu Penninsula which is one of my favorite parts of Japan. My job meant that I was able to go to either the west or east side of Izu every weekend and often during the week. It is such a beautiful area of Japan that unfortunately most foreigners never get to see.
In Japan, most dive stores will have ski trips in the winter since it is so cold and the average diver does not want to dive in such cold water even though the winter ocean in the Izu Penninsula is the most beautiful of all the seasons. My wife and I also ran a few ski trips a year and the first one that we held was in the Nagano area where the winter Olympics were held. Even though I grew up in Northern Michigan I never got to go skiing so this was my first time. It was a great experience even though I was very terrible at first! When we drove back to the Kanagawa prefecture we stopped in to a country style restaurant that was beautiful! Very large and open with a huge hearth in the middle. Most of the food offered was available only to that area. When all the food came to the table, all of us shared and I immediately started eating what I thought was sashimi. It was a little darker in color with a stronger taste but very good. When I mentioned that I really liked this kind of “sashimi” some of the people at the table laughed and then I realized it wasn’t fish! I asked what it was and somebody made the sound of a horse! That was my first experience with basashi! I really, really liked it and everytime I had a chance to eat it I did. Of course one can not eat it in the US so everytime I go back to Japan I eat it if possible.