Gourmet Seafood in Mysterious Unattended Roadside Box
Throughout rural Japan, trusting farmers leave their fruits and vegetables at unattended stands by the side of the road for hungry passers-by. If you take anything at these stalls, you’re meant to just drop a coin into a box as payment.
What’s a bit more unusual is the unattended stand shown in this video:
The stand in Mie prefecture offers lobster (which fetches up to 5000 yen a head in Japan) and conch, or sazae (about 2000 yen each) for anyone who happens to drive around this bend to stop off and take. What’s more, the anonymous vendor asks for only 500 yen from the locals. On most days, the stand is totally sold out by the end of the day, but it is always replenished.
Soon enough, the vendor walks by to replenish his stand. It seems that he runs an Internet service selling lobster and sazae, and these are the extras he can’t sell. The man with a red jacket and green-rimmed bifocals (an ordinary guy who e-mailed Japanese television about his find) is overcome with gratitude to see such a selfless person and asks to shake his hand. “You’re really a very good person.”
–
Contributor Bio: Avery teaches English somewhere near Takeo. When he is not translating things, he is probably visiting haikyo or researching weird footnotes in Japanese history. He can be reached on Twitter at @ahm.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
