Jakoten: Uwajima's Deep-Fried Small-Fish Cake

Jakoten is a deep-fried fish cake from Uwajima and the surrounding Uwa Sea coast in southern Ehime, made by grinding small fish whole — bones included — rather than using boneless fillets. That gives it a slightly grainy texture and a noticeably stronger, more distinctly fishy flavor than the smoother satsuma-age fish cakes found elsewhere in Japan. It's a strong flavor by fish-cake standards, and not every visitor loves it on first try, which is worth knowing before ordering a large batch.

This is everyday food, not a special-occasion dish — you'll find it in markets, supermarkets, and as a lunchbox or side-dish staple across the region, sold plain or ready to warm at home. It's also simmered in oden and used in other home cooking. It's inexpensive and sold in small portions, so a reasonable approach for a first-time visitor is to try a single piece from a market stall before deciding whether to buy more.