「やっぱり、うなぎ」　猛暑で盛況―土用丑の日・東京

　「やっぱり、うなぎ」。土用の丑（うし）の日を迎えた３０日、東京都内のうなぎ料理店では、続々とうなぎが焼き上げられた。猛暑続きの今年は、丑の日を待たず連日盛況。夏バテ防止に効くとされるうなぎを食べて暑さを乗り切ろうと、多くの人が列を作った。
　１９６０年代から続く老舗「鰻家（うなぎや）」（東京都豊島区）。持ち帰り用も販売するため、スタッフ総出でこの日に臨んだ。焼き場では、キャリア７０年を超す遠藤勲さんがうなぎのかば焼きを次々と焼き上げていた。仕入れ価格や光熱費の高騰で台所事情は苦しいが、一番手頃な価格の「蒲焼（梅）」は３０００円に据え置いた。
　開店直後に訪れた団体職員の６０代男性は「うな重弁当」を購入。「毎年買いに来ている。丑の日は、やっぱりうなぎだ」と顔をほころばせた。
　「八ツ目や　にしむら　目黒店」（東京都目黒区）は、大きいサイズのかば焼きを２７００円から３０００円に値上げしたが、前週から客足が途絶えない。丑の日当日は「猛暑の中で並ぶお客さんの体調が心配」（松本清店長）と、仕込みを始める時間を早め、素早くかば焼きを提供できるようにした。（2023/07/30-13:59）

Many people lined up in front of "kabayaki" grilled eel stores and restaurants in Japan on Sunday, this year's Day of the Ox, apparently hoping to survive the scorching heat by eating the summer delicacy.
   Japanese people have a tradition of eating nutritious grilled eels, believed to be good for restoring energy, on the midsummer Day of the Ox. Amid a long spell of extremely hot days this summer, kabayaki stores and restaurants have been busy since before the Day of the Ox.
   At Unagiya, a kabayaki restaurant in Tokyo's Toshima Ward that has been in business since the 1960s, all staff members worked hard to serve a number of customers on Sunday, with the restaurant also offering take-out services. At the grill, Isao Endo, a kabayaki cook with over 70 years of experience, tirelessly grilled eels one after another.
   Although Unagiya is facing financial difficulties amid surges in materials procurement costs and utility expenses, the restaurant kept the price of "Kabayaki (Ume)," its most reasonable dish, unchanged at 3,000 yen.
   A customer in his 60s who visited Unagiya shortly after its opening on Sunday purchased "Unaju Bento," a boxed lunch of rice topped with grilled eels. "I come here to buy this every year. On the Day of the Ox, it's eel after all," he said with a smile.