is a Japanese term meaning literally "rare taste", but more appropriately "delicacy". They are local cuisines that have fallen out of popularity or those cuisines that are peculiar to a certain area. Many involved pickled seafood

Seafood

Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...

. The three best known chinmi of Japan are salt-pickled sea urchin

Sea urchin

Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...

 roe

Roe

Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...

 (uni), salt-pickled mullet

Mullet (fish)

The mullets or grey mullets are a family and order of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and in some species in fresh water. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since Roman times...

 roe (karasumi

Karasumi

Karasumi , Romaji: karasumi; ) is a food product made by salting mullet roe and drying it by the sunlight. A theory suggests that it got its name from its resemblance to a block of sumi imported from China and used in shodo...

) and pickled sea cucumber

Sea cucumber (food)

Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer in French, trepang in Indonesian, namako in Japanese and in the Philippines it is called balatan...

 innards. (konowata).

Hokkaidō Area

• Hizunamasu
• Ikanankotsu - Cooked soft bones of squid
  Squid
  Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
  
  
• Kankai - Dried Komai fish. It may be eaten as is, or broiled and eaten with a sauce made by mixing mayonnaise
  Mayonnaise
  Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
  
   and soy sauce and sprinkles of red pepper powder.
• Kirikomi
• Matsumaezuke
  Matsumaezuke
  is a pickled dish native to Matsumae, Hokkaidō area of Hokkaidō, Japan.It is made from fresh ingredients of Hokkaidō. Surume and konbu are wiped with wet cloth and then cut into thin stripes with scissors. Kazunoko are chopped into small bits, and carrot and ginger are julienned...
  
  
• Mefun
  Mefun
  is a local cuisine of Hokkaidō and a chinmi. The word Mefun is believed to be the Ainu word for liver. It is salt pickled liver and other internal organs of a male salmon. Its color is blackish and it is often served as a snack while drinking sake....
  
  
• Saketoba - A smoked salmon
• Tachikama
• Uni
  Sea urchin
  Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
  
  

Tohoku area

• Awabi no Kimo - Ground internal organs of abalone
  Abalone
  Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
  
  
• Donpiko - The heart of a salmon. As only one can be taken from a fish, it is very rare.
• Hoya - sea pineapple
  Sea pineapple
  The sea pineapple is an edible ascidian consumed primarily in Korea, where it is known as meongge , and to a lesser extent in Japan, where it is known as or ....
  
  
• Momijizuke - Shreds of fresh salmons and Ikura pickled together
• Tonburi - A speciality of Akita
  Akita Prefecture
  is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Akita.- History :The area of Akita has been created from the ancient provinces of Dewa and Mutsu....
  
   prefecture. The dried seeds of the hosagi
  Kochia scoparia
  Bassia scoparia is a shrub which is native to Eurasia. It has introduced populations in many parts of North America, where it is found in grassland, prairie, and desert shrub ecosystems...
  
  plant.

Kanto area

• Ankimo
  Ankimo
  is a Japanese dish made with monkfish liver.The liver is first rubbed with salt, then rinsed with sake. Then its veins are picked out and the liver is rolled into a cylinder and steamed. Ankimo is often served with chili-tinted grated daikon radish, thinly sliced green onions and ponzu sauce.Ankimo...
  
   - Either fresh or steamed liver of an Anko fish
• Chikuwabu
• Kusaya
  Kusaya
  is a Japanese style salted-dried fish and fermented fish. It is famous for its malodorousness, and it is often a subject of taste controversies, much like Marmite and blue cheese and even more like Swedish surströmming.-Taste:...
  
   - Dried and pickled fish of Izu islands

Chūbu area

• Fugu no Ranso no Nukazuke - detoxed blowfish ovary in rice-bran
• Hebo
• Ika no Maruboshi
• Inago no Tsukudani
• Konowata
• Kuchiko
• Kurozukuri
• Zazamushi

Kyūshū area

• Ganzuke (Saga
  Saga Prefecture
  is located in the northwest part of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. It touches both the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea. The western part of the prefecture is a region famous for producing ceramics and porcelain, particularly the towns of Karatsu, Imari, and Arita...
  
  )
• Karashi Mentaiko (Fukuoka
  Fukuoka, Fukuoka
  is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
  
  )
• Karashi Renkon (Kumamoto)
• Karasumi
  Karasumi
  Karasumi , Romaji: karasumi; ) is a food product made by salting mullet roe and drying it by the sunlight. A theory suggests that it got its name from its resemblance to a block of sumi imported from China and used in shodo...
  
   (Nagasaki)
• Okyuto (Fukuoka
  Fukuoka, Fukuoka
  is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
  
  )

Okinawa area

• Tofuyo
• Umibudo - A type of edible seaweed with tiny seeds that hangs from its stems