Comments on: Getting Pregnant in Japan - Part Five: Something Fishy About Mercury Levels?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:22:32 +0000

Interesting, in NZ pregnant women are generally advised to avoid all shellfish (cooked or raw) due to the risk of listeria whcih can have very severe implications for the foetus, but here in Japan no one seems to have heard of it. But then again, they do eat oysters in summer here (which to me is an absolute no!).

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:02:09 +0000

You really should stop saying “the West”. You’d never call Norway and Italy the same thing if you weren’t talking about Japan, right? Contrary to what the kanji textbooks say, “west” is not the opposite of “Japan”.

By: Sofa

Sofa — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:42:28 +0000

Given that the missus (Japanese) completely went off fish during her “tsuwari” (morning sickness) period, we never really had major discussions on the pros & cons of eating fish early on. BUT, she is a big sushi fan (I like it but don’t really go crazy over it) and it was quite pleasing to hear that she had done her research and was quite concerned about the mercury in fish and decided to stay away from sushi and sashimi as much as possible.

I’d say during the 9 (10 if you’ve been converted) month period, we would have had sushi on about 3 occasions, treating it as something like a special treat as all husbands like to do for their wives from time to time.

Like alcohol during pregnancy, everyone has their own opinion, but at the end of the day the key word is moderation.

By: pork chop

pork chop — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:28:45 +0000

I just found out that my wife is pregnant. We had a huge feed of sushi at one of those places with no sign. Splashed out to celebrate the pregnancy. Very awesome. Haven’t had O-toro like that since my Shukatsu days.

Didn’t really think about the mercury though….oops. After reading this article, I had a flashback of gnarled joints and dribbling dudes in wheelchairs from that visit in Minamata.

By: Mr V

Mr V — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:55:04 +0000

Judging from the date in the original post, and this latest one, his baby has been born. I think the stress of having a pregnant wife stopped his plans for writing these while the pregnancy was actually happening! Anyway, this is a good reference for me. I have one child, but we are about to have another. Will show the wife, and let you know how it goes.

By: richard

richard — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:04:11 +0000

wait till the baby’s born…then the real superstitions, wives tales, and folklore kicks in.

good luck!

By: puri

puri — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:05:05 +0000

Off the topic but, from my direct experience, pregnant mothers (and sick people) in Thailand are advised not to eat spicy food.