Deadly delights of fugu

In keeping with the national pastime of going over the edge with a simple idea - think of sumo wrestling and the Tokyo Shock Boys - the Land of the Rising Sun has given the world the fugu fish. Where most countries would think of a poisonous fish as best left alone, the Japanese call it a delicacy. Moreover, they are prepared to shell out big bucks for it.

The fugu fish - sometimes known as the puffer fish, globefish or, in simple fishing parlance, the 'blowie' - has over 100 different types worldwide, and they're all as poisonous as hell. For instance, the/fugu rubripes/ (the species most served up as dinner fare) is 1250 times more deadly than cyanide, and the toxin found in an average fugu fish can kill up to 30 adults.

Theoretically, death from fugu consumption should not occur. Chefs undergo a rigorous and lengthy apprenticeship before they can slice and dice this particular sashimi, but despite these precautions, some deaths still occur. This hasn't stopped fugu connoisseurs from playing Russian roulette; in fact, it only seems to add to the frisson.

To the squeamish or the reasonably cautious, eating fugu (at any price) is an inexplicable and slightly perverse attraction. It's not as if the Japanese themselves have underestimated the potentially morbid effects of fugu: one particularly blunt senryu verse goes, 'Last night he and I ate fugu; today I help carry his coffin'.

Some say the delicate chickeny flavour is the main attraction; others insist that fugu testes in a glass of hot sake is the best aphrodisiac in town; others are partial to the warm tingling and slight numbing of the lips (the pleasant symptoms of systemic paralysis and ensuing respiratory failure); but without a doubt the biggest thrill is the conspicuous hubris of the event, the showy risk-taking that involves so much for so little.

It's bungee jumping for the indoorsy type; really, who cares what it tastes like as long as you live to tell the tale.

These days the fish are cultivated on farms and sold at Haedomari Market in Shimonoseki for up to $140 per fish. By the time it reaches your table, you can be paying upward of $200 for the privilege of surviving the ordeal.