Fugu

Fugu is the centerpiece of a dinner that makes James Bond’s lessons in Japan tangible: a beautifully presented delicacy whose possible danger gives the meal an edge of bravado. Served during his final evening with Tiger Tanaka before he is to leave the nest, it becomes at once a culinary experience, a test of manners, and a measure of the patience between the two men.

Presentation and Preparation

The restaurant announces its specialty with a giant blowfish sign above the door. Inside, the expected guests find their table prepared. Before the Fugu arrives, James Bond jokes that he will not undertake an honourable suicide without first drinking at least five bottles of sake. The flasks are brought, and he drinks them all, one tumbler at a time, presenting his bravado as a condition for facing the fish.

The dish arrives with ceremony on a white porcelain platter as large as a bicycle wheel. Thin, nearly transparent slices of white fish are arranged petal upon petal in the shape of a huge flower. The presentation makes the meal an elaborate visual display before it becomes a matter of taste.

The Meal

James Bond follows Tiger Tanaka’s example and eats with chopsticks, taking pride in what he regards as his black-belt proficiency with them. The fish itself tastes of nothing, not even of fish, though Bond finds it pleasant on the palate. His compliments are particularly emphatic because Tiger is visibly savoring each piece and expects him to respond appreciatively.

The meal continues beyond the sliced fish: other parts of it are served as side dishes, accompanied by more sake, this time containing raw Fugu fins. The sequence presents the delicacy not as a single striking plate but as a progression through different preparations and drinking customs.

Risk, Manners, and the Farewell

Bond’s opening joke casts eating Fugu as a possible brush with death, and he links that danger to the mission awaiting him: if the fish kills him, he says, it will do a good turn to their enemy in his castle. The remark makes the meal’s risk part of his larger circumstances, while keeping his response characteristically irreverent. The episode does not report that the fish harms him; instead, he eats it, praises it, and finishes the dinner safely.

Afterward, Bond asks Tiger to grade his education as he prepares to leave the next day. Tiger gives him seventy-five out of a hundred, praising his progress but noting his tendency to make Western jokes about Eastern customs. Fugu thus belongs to a farewell that is also an assessment: the meal offers Bond an opportunity to participate in a custom, while his joke reveals the distance he has not entirely crossed.