In Japan, the dried pollack is also called dried pollack.

I vividly remember my maternal grandmother boiling dried pollack in a cauldron for my mother, who had just given birth to my younger sibling when I was very young, and saying that dried pollack would not die easily if placed in boiling water in a cauldron.

Before black bass fishing became popular, the squid, which provides a pleasant taste to anglers, was a popular target fish for Japanese lure anglers, and it is still a popular fish today.

However, the Japanese squid is designated as an alien species that causes damage to the ecosystem under Japan’s Alien Species Act. Let’s take a look at the origin of why the Japanese squid has the same name as our Korean squid.

In Japan, when referring to snakehead, it is written in Chinese characters as thunderfish (雷魚) and pronounced as ライギョ. In a broad sense, it refers to the snakehead, Taiwanese snakehead, and Koutai (コウタイ), which has the scientific name Channa asiatica and is called small snakehead in English, but in a narrow sense, it refers to the snakehead.

The origin of how the Korean gamulchi came to be called gamulchi after crossing over to Japan is described in the book Eoshinsaroku (魚紳士録: Sakana Shinshiroku) written by a Japanese ichthyologist named Kimura Shigeru.

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According to this book, there are three possible origins of the spread of Korean gizzard shad to Japan. The first is that a goldfish farmer living in Koriyama City, Nara Prefecture, brought it from Joseon at the time and raised it in a nearby pond, where it spread.

The second is that the principal of an agricultural school in Chiba Prefecture brought it back as an ornamental plant while traveling in Korea and was growing it in a pond when the great flood of the fall of 1935 caused it to flow into the Tone River and spread.

The photo shows Sanjo Bridge, which was washed away by the great flood of 1935.

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The last third is said to have been the first time that the Inba Reservoir Fisheries Association in Chiba Prefecture imported carp fry from Joseon.

In any case, it is clear that the introduction of Korean and Taiwanese croakers to Japan was done by Japan, which ruled Korea and Taiwan by force at the time, for food and ornamental purposes.

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But why is it that in Japan, the name for the fish is Kamuruchi (カムルチー), which is the same as the Korean name for the fish, but it is written in Chinese characters as Noeo (雷魚)?

The origin of this name is not known exactly, but it is said that it came from its aggressive habit of not letting go of its prey even when thunder strikes, and another theory is that it was named thunderfish because its habit of eating everything it catches is similar to that of a torpedo (魚雷).

In any case, among the three types of thunderfish that live in Japan, the koutai is 30 cm long and the Taiwanese shad is about 80 cm long, while the Korean shad often exceeds 1 meter, so there is no doubt that they have eaten the champion.

Image: Captured from

Top: Taiwanese mudfish, Bottom: mudfish

When fishing for croaker, it is important to focus on attacking the same spot because the croaker will continue to attack even if you fail to catch it. This is similar to the Korean people who have continued to endure despite foreign invasions, which is a somewhat exaggerated analogy.

As I watched Japan fail to acknowledge South Korea’s status as a model country for preventing the spread of COVID-19, which is spreading worldwide, I suddenly thought of Japan’s drought and wrote a few words.