Commonly eaten in North America and Europe, from salmon steaks and smoked salmon to lox, the Japanese didn’t have a taste for salmon until after about the 90’s.
Back 70’s, Japan was self-sufficient when it came to seafood. But due to overfishing, rising population, and rising incomes with the economic boom of the time, Japan needed to start importing fish. It was never used in the traditional Edo-mae style of sushi and eaten raw, because of the Pacific salmon’s propensity for infection by parasites. Before modern refrigeration and aquaculture techniques were available, it’d be pretty risky to consume salmon raw.
In the 60’s and 70’s, Norwegian entrepreneurs started experimenting with aquaculture farming. Being farm raised, the salmon had no parasites, and could be grown with higher fat content. With government subsidies and improved techniques, they were so successful in raising salmon, they ended up with a surplus. The country of Norway has a small population and limited market, therefore they looked to other countries to export their salmon.
It wasn’t until 1985 that Listau returned to Japan with a delegation riding twenty deep, representing Norwegian seafood exporters, ministers and organizations to explore market potentials for Norwegian seafood. Convinced it was a viable market to sell the glut of salmon piling up in Norway, they launched “Project Japan” the following year in 1986, to help promote Norwegian seafood in Japan.
It took the Norwegian government close to 10 years from the start of the project to change the minds of the average Japanese consumer to eat salmon sushi. They spent a total of 30 million NOK (3.75 million USD in today’s dollars) over the life time of the project on marketing, that in the end came up with the concept of salmon sushi.
In fact, we could say salmon sushi is a Norwegian invention.
Eat Up the Past 