Fresh Dinner: This post may not be suitable for vegetarians or the faint of heart

After we returned to Ishinomaki from our outing to Naruko, we went out for an amazing dinner. We all had eel tempura over rice (unagi-don). We sat at the bar of the small restaurant and chatted with the chefs as we watched them preparing food.

This was my dinner.

And this was my dinner's home until about 10 minutes before we ate.
The chef that prepared our meals reached into the tank with a net, grabbed an eel in his hand and brought it , squirming , over to his cutting board.
He stuck a metal thing through its head , pinning it in place, though its reflexes still made it twitch and it didn't lie flat right away. But he very quickly and skillfully cleaned and deboned it in seconds. He sliced it and brought it back to the kitchen and was ready to grab another eel. Nathan made a video of our food being prepared.
Food doesn't get any fresher than this. It was absolutely delicious.

Meanwhile , the other chef prepared this beautiful plate of sashimi while chatting away with us. Sadly, this tray was for someone else. The eel was quite filling for us.