Mainichi: Feckless fishmonger faces flak for foisting fatal fugu on famished foreign female
Criminal charges hanging over a fishmonger for selling deadly puffer fish to a foreign woman who died after eating it are not worthy of sympathy, but instead are his just desserts, anglers tell Shukan Shincho... It's common knowledge among Japanese that the delicacy should only be eaten after careful preparation to remove its poisonous innards. So it would seem natural to have some sympathy for the chairman of Morita Suisan, the fishmonger from Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, now facing criminal charges for selling puffer fish to a Thai woman who boiled it whole and ate it, suffering a week of agony before she died as a result of the puffer fish's poison flowing through her body. But that doesn't seem to be the case. In defense of Morita Suisan, it's common knowledge that the fugu is dangerous. Even the 45-year-old Thai woman who died questioned the seller about a lack of a license before she bought it. The fishmonger reassured her, saying that she'd be safe as long as she removed the scales before eating it. Normally, scaling a fugu also involves taking out its toxic organs. What the fishmonger didn't realize was that the woman would take the scales off the fish, but keep its insides intact as she used the fugu to flavor a bowl of Thai-style tom yang kun soup -- with deadly results. Few Hitachinaka locals, however, are prepared to show sympathy toward the seller, Morita Suisan, for what some may say appears to have been a tragic accident...more...