UNI-believeable

So today's fieldtrip was a day of delicious dissection at the uni fishery. I have recently posted my abhorance for this japanese delicacy, but with THE BIG UNI (sea urchin) festival this Sunday, i must delve deeper into what is Taneichi's main industry. succumbing to enormous amounts of peer pressure, i tried uni 3 times (cooked, steamed in soup and raw). THANKFULLY i paid my dues as a foreigner subjected to such cruel culinary punishment BEFORE having experienced what i did today. and don't even grumble about how that juicy steak @ Timberlodge was a 'bit overdone' last nite...
1. After catching the uni, by hand, the students were given large buckets of crawling/squirming urchin. While alive, you take this scalpel/nut-cracker tool to break it open. Below, is a shot of what's inside...
2. Next, rip off the mouth (and purple dangling intestinal tract). Apparently, this is the only 'inedible' part of the urchin. Although all of the colon flakes and fecal matter doesn't qualify as 'edible' in my book, the Japanese way of 'resourcefulness' is commendable nonetheless.
3. Here is a student in mid-dissection. The yellow eggs/stomach/organs is 'oishii so' and gets dropped into a saltwater bucket to soak. The black spikes and purple/red mucus is tossed to the wayside.
4. Below is an empty urchin. The freakiest thing about the urchin is that after you stab it and rip out all of its insides, its STILL ALIVE! Still squirming, moving, walking! I let out a few frightening shrills when students put some 'dead' (aka: in the process of dying) urchin in my hands. I'm not a biology whiz...would someone explain this phenomenon to me! with no oxygen, no water, no INSIDES, HOW is it still alive?! after going under the knife, most urchin have another hour in 'em. maybe this is what celine dion was singing about...."My heart will go on...."
5. Below, students work methodically to salvage all internal organs. (while i completley lost my appetite for all japanese food today, i saw a couple hungry students sneaking a few bites here and there...man if they only knew of things like Chipotle).

Yknow, many of my students eat terrifying foods daily: octopus for breakfast, fermented soybeans for dessert, random oceanic bottom-feeding crustaceans etc....but a surprisingly high amount refuse to eat sea urchin! That says something for people that are incredibly NOT picky and have an 'anything goes' philosophy when it come to dinner time. Yet, all students, had to dissect 7 urchin a piece. By the end of the day, over $400 worth of uni was 'harvested'?

Nice work kids. If you gave me $400, I would dissect and eat uni too!

7. Couple of saltwater rinses, and voila! the final product is above, sea urchin is made 'ready to eat', lucky lucky. The lack of sanitation and OSHA standards, coupled with the fact that 13 year olds were entrusted to remove all of the 'in'edible parts that cause terrible indigestion...I just couldn't bring myself to sample it. No regrets, as puking in front of 100 shy Japanese people, being taken to the hospital to treat my then-dehydrated state by someone who can't speak English...well, i can find better ways to spend my last few days in japan.
and so i am met with continued bittersweet sentiments about japan. experiences like those today are truly unforgettable and horrific. im going to leave some nasty food behind, but im certainly going to bring back some fabulous stories!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO Kanami,....don't do it!