Octopus and Jelly Fish

A lot of news outlets seemed to have picked up an article on the international expansion of takoyaki restaurants.  Here is an execerpt from Mainichi’s version:

If Morio Sase has his way, hungry teenagers around the world will soon be snacking on something more exotic than McDonald’s hamburgers: takoyaki, or octopus dumplings.

With already over 350 takeout stores in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Sase’s Gindaco chain is one of a barrage of fast-food companies bringing lowbrow Japanese chow to overseas markets. Its first U.S. store is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2007, and it hopes to open 20 stores in California by 2010.

“When I was a small boy, it was street food that made me feel good and warm inside,” Sase said at a recent interview at the Tokyo headquarters of HotLand Corp., which runs Gindaco.

Hand-grilled in iron molds by cooks behind a large display window, the octopus dumplings are made from wheat flour paste mixed with fish stock, spring onions and boiled octopus chunks, and drizzled with a sweet sauce, dried bonito flakes and seaweed.

So the accepted translation of takoyaki is “octopus dumplings”?  I still prefer to call them “octopus balls”.

In other seafood news, giant jellyfish are menacing the Sea of Japan.  Some experts are claiming that the jelly fish invasion is coming from China, where water pollution is driving the vile creatures out.  I knew it was China’s fault!!