Mei-Shun is used to 日高昆布, dried kelp grown in Hokkaido, for miso soup. However, her favorite net shop runs out of this breed these days. She therefore tried 利尻昆布, from another city in the same prefecture. To her astonishment, much of that fermented soybean paste is trapped by stronger viscosity of the latter. Saltiness is released after a night, contracts her tongue and eyes in the morning.