10-year-old becomes Japan’s youngest licensed slicer and gutter of deadly pufferfish

TOKYO – A 10-year-old in Japan has become the youngest person authorised to prepare “fugu” or pufferfish – a delicacy that can kill if its poisonous parts are not properly removed.

Fifth-grader Karin Tabira passed a test this summer and is now certified to slice and gut the fish for consumption.

She recently used her new skills to serve a platter of paper-thin slices of fugu sashimi to the governor of southern Kumamoto region, where she lives.

“I was happy when the governor said ‘oishi’ (‘delicious’ in Japanese),” she told reporters at an event where Mr Takashi Kimura ate the dish.

Karin was among 60 people – mostly professional chefs – who passed the test in Yamaguchi region in summer 2024, out of 93 people who tried.

Clearing the hurdle was part of “a happy summer break”, she said.

Fugu is often served raw at high-end restaurants in Japan, and chefs must hold a licence proving they can safely slice around organs that contain a lethal poison.

Occasionally, unlicensed individuals eat fugu caught in the sea and die.

Karin’s interest was piqued by news that a sixth-grader in another region passed the test, and she trained since February at Fukunari, a Kumamoto-based farm and wholesaler.

She used a hammer to drive her butcher’s knife through the fugu’s tough bones, and “had to stand on a platform to use the kitchen counter”, Fukunari executive Yuki Hirao said.

“Even our adult staff can fail the test. For a 10-year-old to clear the test for the first time, it’s amazing,” she said. AFP