Japan takes curry fare to new heights, depthsThe Japan Times, Oct 7
....Sea lion, bear and deer are among more than 800 different kinds of ingredients contained in curry offered as regional specialties, often sold as boil-in-the-bag souvenirs.
Shoppers might be surprised to see sea lion reheat-and-eat curry, but they will find that its dark brown meat tastes like beef jerky, thanks to spices that keep the smell very much subdued.
... Tamba-Sasayama district in Hyogo Prefecture has made a big name out of its curry with locally grown black soybeans...There are also curries featuring such high-grade ingredients as king crab, fugu and shark fin. Others include turbo shellfish, cuttlefish ink and loquat, a small plumlike fruit.....
...Takahisa Inoue, a producer at the Yokohama Curry Museum, predicts the curry boom will continue and more surprising dishes will emerge.