Protected local food
Lake Abashiri Shijimi
網走湖産しじみ貝
Large Yamato shijimi clams from Lake Abashiri in eastern Hokkaido, which grow for seven years or more in the cold water. Glossy, meaty and rich.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 18 November 2020
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Official name in Japanese
- 網走湖産しじみ貝
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 北海道網走市及び網走郡大空町
Seven years in cold water
In the cool climate of Abashiri, on the Sea of Okhotsk in Hokkaido, shijimi grow slowly, taking about seven years or more to reach full size. Lake Abashiri was the pioneer of shijimi fishing in Hokkaido.
Big, glossy, carefully managed
The clams are large, with good colour and gloss, and satisfying to eat, so they sell for about 1.5 times the national average. Fishers work with researchers and the government to survey stocks and set yearly and daily limits. Boats head out at dawn and finish before the day warms up, to keep the clams fresh.
How to eat it
Shijimi miso soup is the classic. Big Abashiri clams are also good steamed with sake or in ramen.
Good to know
- Abashiri is famous for winter drift ice cruises and its old prison museum. A bowl of shijimi soup warms you up after.
- Compare with Lake Shinji Shijimi and Jusanko Yamato Shijimi.
Questions travellers ask
Why are they so big?
They grow slowly in cold water for about seven years or more before they are fished.
Where is Lake Abashiri?
Beside Abashiri city in eastern Hokkaido, near the Sea of Okhotsk.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Coal, steel and port: Hokkaido's northern industrial revolution
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Otaru, the heart of Hokkaido: a merchant city saved by its people
- Sacred land of salmon: 10,000 years on the Nemuro Strait
- Takaoka: the castle town that became a merchant town
- The Kamikawa Ainu: living with the kamuy of Daisetsuzan
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.