Japanese people really love eels dish although it is a relatively expensive dish. People enjoy eating not only the meat, but also other parts of the fish, such as fins and guts as you can see in the photos. In Japan it is said that there is no part in Unagi (eels) that you can't eat.
However, the number of Japanese eels is clearly in decline each year and it has been a big concern among people since there is no complete farming system for eels yet. Shops are selling "Farmed Eels" and "Wild Eels" in Japan, but in fact the "Farmed Eels" means eels raised in a farm after they were caught as baby eels. So they are half wild eels. Of course eels fully grown in wild are much more expensive, but even half wild eels can't be an everyday food.
Actually eels have a very mysterious ecology and it is still under research. Just recently researchers finally discovered a spawning ground for Japanese eels. It was in the middle of Pacific Ocean, although the adult eels live in Japanese rivers. I heard Japanese researchers wrote a grid lines on a chart of Pacific Ocean in the beginning, and searched the squares one by one like treasure hunters. Eventually they found the treasure, the spawning ground, but still it would take a long time to establish a complete farming system to provide sufficient suply of eels.
Then, what will Unagi (eels) lovers do? Would they give up eating Kaba-yaki dish often? The answer is "No". Last year, there was a news about a new research relating to Unagi (eels). Some researchers created a new 'catfish' that tastes similar to Unagi (eels). Since catfishes are common farm-raised fish, the new kind is expected to be a substitute of eels. It's funny but Japanese people's passion for eating eels led them to make a new eel-tasting catfish.
By the way, apparently ancient Japanese people somehow believed that a type of long Japanese yam potatoes become eels, that's how they suddenly came out in rivers as adult fish. I guess many people would've hoped that to be true!
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