Top 7 Most Dangerous and Challenging Things to Eat in Japan

Do you consider yourself an adventurous eater? Maybe you’ve sampled some raw fish with your sushi or attempted a ramen-eating challenge. Whatever it is you have sampled, we bet it doesn’t come close to some of these extreme eats!

Japanese cuisine is known to push the limits, and these dangerous food challenges are sure to test you. Here are our top seven.

7. Raw Egg

It wouldn’t be a challenge if there were no risks or fears involved, so what eating adventure would be complete without the potential to get salmonella; food poisoning with the possibility of death!?

While the risk of getting salmonella poisoning from eating a raw egg is pretty minimal, it is still possible.

Some dishes see raw eggs placed on top of hot noodles or rice, and this is usually okay, as the heat from the dish is enough to kill the bacteria in the egg. However, there are a number of other Japanese dishes that use raw egg, such as sukiyaki, which is slices of meat dipped into raw egg.

6. Raw Liver

Sashimi lovers have long enjoyed the taste of slices of raw meat and fish. While some meats can work well raw, others pose more of a risk, with some people even dying after eating uncooked meats.

Raw liver is one such food that has recently been banned from being served in restaurants throughout Japan due to these risks. The challenge from raw liver is twofold, as firstly there is the risk of illness or death, and secondly the task of finding somewhere to get this dish, as technically it is illegal!

5. Habushu

"Habushu" by Scott R, CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Japanese challenges aren’t just reserved for the food; why not wash down the risky eats with an even more dangerous drink?

Habushu is a wine found in Okinawa that holds a poisonous Habu snake in the bottle. The snakes glare out at you from inside the bottle of rice wine, with their fangs menacingly on display.

While the alcohol will have dissolved away all of the snake’s venom, making the drink fairly risk-free, the fact that you are drinking wine containing a dangerous snake makes it a pretty hardcore beverage!

Having said that, one bottle of habushu once contained a living snake, despite it having been in the bottle for three months, and it bit a woman who was trying to have a drink! Many are willing to risk the potential snake bite though, as habushu is said to have an intense impact on the male sex drive, as habu snakes can mate for around 26 hours in a row!

4. Senbei Wasp Cracker

Senbei is a type of Japanese rice cracker that is commonly enjoyed. While a normal biscuit may be dotted with chocolate chips or raisins, this particular variety has wasps mixed in.

The type of wasps used in these crackers are either the Kurosuzume bachi or the Vespula flaviceps, which are farmed in central Japan for human consumption!

Those who have sampled these wasp-filled morcels describe the texture of the wasps as ‘squishy’, and also complain of having their little wings sticking to their teeth and gums; delightful. With that number of wasps per bite, you will get a good amount of protein out of it though!

3. Ōsuzumebachi

"Vespa mandarinia japonica" by KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Most people probably wouldn’t want to eat insects, although some more extreme eaters think nothing of munching on grub or grasshoppers. Even if you are happy to eat such harmless bugs, you may reconsider when faced with ōsuzumebachi.

Ōsuzumebachi are Japanese bees – we’re not talking a fluffy bumblebee though – as these killer hornets can be deadly to humans with only one sting, and can take out forty honeybees a minute alone.

While certainly not commonly eaten in Japan, there are several products made using ōsuzumebachi available for those brave enough to try.

Firstly, the energy drink ‘Vaam’ takes saliva extracted from the bees to help boost athletic ability, as the ōsuzumebachi can fly up to 62 miles each day! If that isn’t extreme enough, then some just eat the hornets whole, having lightly fried them. Again this tends to be for athletic purposes, although some people just enjoy a challenge.

2. Fugu

Fugu is a pretty notorious Japanese dish, which is also popular around the world.

Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish. The pufferfish has a potent poison within it that is more poisonous than cyanide and can cause horrific effects such as nausea, asphyxiation, paralysis, and even death if it is not dealt with quickly. To make things worse, there isn’t an antidote for fugu poisoning, so anyone who falls victim must have their stomach drained, be put on life support and hope for the best!

While this does seem like the most extreme food challenge, fugu does not make the top of our list as the risk of actually getting poisoned is rather low, as chefs must train for years, pass a test and get a license in order to be able to serve it.

1. Shirako

"Shirako gunkanmaki" by Schellack, CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Shirako is challenging primarily due to how gross it is. While fish eggs are considered something of a delicacy around the world, there may well be a reason that fish sperm sacs are not, but that is what shirako is.

Shirako can come from many different varieties of fish, but the most common include cod, salmon, squid, pufferfish and anglerfish.

Shirako, on the rare occasion when it is eaten, is often found topping sushi dishes. It is also ‘enjoyed’ with sake because you probably would have to be drinking alcohol to be able to swallow this down!

Which of these would you be most scared to try!? If you’d rather try some less risky oriental foods, then check out our range of Japanese foods in the UK!