Photo/Illutration A grilled domestic eel box served in Narita, Chiba Prefecture (Nobufumi Yamada)

Food was the subject of many “tanka” poems penned by Mokichi Saito (1882-1953).

At age 39, he went to Europe for medical research, where he demonstrated a robust appetite and wrote verses about wine, venison and all sorts of food and drink.

Here’s one: “A squeeze of lemon juice on shucked black clams/ Resembles an old poem.”

But one cannot say his name without mentioning “unagi”(eel), of which he was inordinately fond.

When Saito hosted a marriage matchmaking meeting at a Tokyo restaurant for his son, Shigeta (1916-2003), the prospective bride was nervous and left some of her unagi uneaten.

Saito asked her for the leftover, and finished it. Quite an episode, I’d say.

According to a person who went over Saito’s diary, he had unagi 552 times between 1935 and 1944. On some days, he had it for lunch as well as supper.

Not that this is any of my business, but I can’t help wondering: Did this never give him indigestion?

A poem went to the effect: “Sitting alone at my desk at dusk and eating unagi/ How delightful.”

Perhaps Saito is sighing in relief now in the other world.

Member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITE)—also known as the Washington Treaty—on Dec. 5 rejected a proposal by the European Union and other countries to regulate international trade in all species of eels.

Not only is this good news for Japan and its food culture but also a pleasant surprise.

When the convention voted, European eels were already subject to trade regulations, and Japan was bracing for the possibility of its own breed of eels coming under similar restrictions.

That said, however, it does not mean that the importance of protecting elvers has diminished in any way. We cannot let the present generation devour and “finish off” the entire eel population for good.

For the sake of proper resource management, I believe we must sometimes practice self-denial, no matter how much we crave the item.

Saito was capable of enjoying food, even when he could not have what he really wanted. “Any food that’s available is fine,” he said.

Especially in this age of overindulgence in food, I believe it is important to know when enough is enough.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 6

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.