Simply Sushi

Jay McInerney from the New York Times has reviewed two recently published books on sushi. You can find the review of the article here. The two books are: Trevor Corson's "The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket" and Sasha Issenberg's "The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy."

Recently, the power-that-be in the sushidom of Japan started wanting to police the existence of the internationally-known delicacy. They felt the need to maintain a certain standard of the practice by issuing certificates or stamps of approvals to vendors around the world. They found it disturbing that sushi had been bastardized by the existence of such invention of the California rolls and the spicy this-and-that rolls (yeah, and you may not want to ask real sushi chefs in the most revered sushi bars and restaurants in Tokyo about such rolls either unless you are ready to be met with swords flying from their eyes).

What I did not know was that California roll, for instance, was born out of necessity (and necessity, as you know, is the mother of invention). In the mid-60s, a Los Angeles Japanese restaurant Tokyo Kaikan's sushi chef Mashita Ichiro used avocado as a substitute for fresh fatty tuna belly (toro) because such item was hard (or none) to come by; and thus was born the California roll. In the words of Edie Beale, "I don't know whether you know that; I mean, dya know that?"

Find the article here.

(Original illustration for the New York Times by Nick Dewar)

Run for Your Waistline

That title is meant metaphorically AND literally. If you are going to keep your waistline slim, then run as far away as possible from what is coming to Tokyo: BURGER KING. But, if you are going to start consuming yet another unhealthy fare, then you better run a lot to get rid off the calories. BK's Press Preview took place today (June 6, 2007) at the restaurant, six years after it closed shop. To give it a local flavor, Teriyaki Whopper will be in its menu.

The Lamentable, Irrepressible, and Regrettable Effects of Supersize Me

On May 7, 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Developing Nation: Japanese Clothiers Update Their Lines," which regrettably had nothing to do with a new, fantastic line from the likes of Yamamoto, Kawakubo, Kenzo, Watanabe, Mori, and Miyake (read the article HERE; but rather, it had all to do with the expanding girth of the female Japanese population.

Japanese used to subsist on a vegetable-and-fish diet, but in recent times this has changed with the advent of the less-than-healthy American import such as: Krispy Kreme (in Shinjuku), Cold Stone Creamery (in Roppongi), and now the inevitable MacDonald's MegaMac that featured not two, not three, but FOUR beef patties in a three-bun sandwich (read the article HERE).

Some tends to want to put the blame on the American side for exporting such unhealthy and irresponsible food like those mentioned above, but there has to be a demand in Japan that those things are actually here. The almost two-hour wait at Krispy Kreme (six months since its opening) and the line at Cold Stone Creamery (more than a year after it opened its counter) is a testament to this. Part of the reasons may be the "American-ness" or the foreign aspect of it combined with the novelty of the item that appealed to the masses in major cities like Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Not wanting to be left in the dust, local food producers competed with their foreign brethren to attract the appetite of the masses; the release of Dekao (Huge King) and Super Cup instant noodles are but two examples of this. According to the Mainichi article, "One product even contains a staggering 1,100 calories, almost half the daily recommended 2,500-calorie intake of the average Japanese male." I noticed this a couple of years ago when I encountered a bigger package of spicy Korean noodles sold here in Japan (and in California): it used to be that these "ramen" or noodles packages were relatively small and would be just enough for one quick meal; but this particular spicy Korean noodle package was almost twice the size of their predecessors. Freshness Burger, a Japanese burger chain, came up with Classic Double-Double Burger; meanwhile, American-import Wendy's answer was the Big Triple.

I suppose one has to wait to see when the line will diminish, but for now, supersizing and girth-expanding diet are here to stay. Guess who is coming back this month to Japan after folding its tent for being expensive in their former foray into the Japanese food market? None other than the originator of the Whoppers: Burger King. The big department stores that used to relegate the "big sizes" to one corner can now safely "expand" their collection.

Tarako Hell

During the holiday season last month, my partner and I were in Tokyu Hands, hearing in the distance a faint sound of a children song that turned out to be a Siren Song from Hell. Why, you ask? Well, watch the video, and see if you can get the darned song and dance out of your mind for good!!! If you succeed, let me know how you do it...

Apparently, "tarako" is Japanese for cod roe. These videos are commercials, hawking tomato-based cod roe sauce. There is indeed Japanese pasta dish that is served with such sauce. I happen to like the dish, dang it! The video above was the one we saw at Tokyu Hands, sold as DVD for kids, and as you can see, it is a sing-along video complete with the lyrics down at the bottom of the screen (if you can read Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana, by all means, sing along!)

Here are the lyrics for the original Tarako music video (thanks to JapanNewbie.com):

たったら　たったら　たらたら　たらこ [x2]

tattara tattara taratara tarako [x2]

おなかが鳴ると　やって来る
なかまを連れて　やって来る

onaka ga naru to yattekuru [when your stomach growls, it (tarako) comes]
nakama wo tsurete yattekuru [it comes bringing its friends]

たらこ　かぶって　顔出して
スイッチョ　スイッチョ　出かけます

tarako kabutte kaodashite [It wears the tarako hood and sticks its face out]
suiccyo suiccyo dekakemasu [suiccyo steps out for the day]

ふと気づけば　窓の外
ふと気づくと　家の中

futo kidukeba mado no soto [suddenly you notice, it’s just outside your window]
futo kidukuto ie no naka [suddenly you notice, it’s in your house]

たらこ　たらこ　たっぷり　たらこ
たらこ　たらこ　たっぷり

tarako tarako tappuri tarako [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]
tarako tarako tappuri [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]

たらこが　やって来る
たらこ　たらこ　つぶつぶ　たらこ

tarako ga yattekuru [tarako is coming]
tarako tarako tsubutsubu tarako [tarako tarako lumpy-lumpy tarako]

たらこ　たらこ　つぶつぶ
たらこが　やって来る

tarako tarako tsubutsubu [tarako tarako lumpy-lumpy]
tarako ga yattekuru [tarako is coming!]

たらこ　たっぷり　たっぷり　たらこ
たらこ　たっぷり　たっぷり　たらこ

tarako tappuri tappuri tarako [x2] [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]

パスタゆでると　やって来る
きれいに並んで　やって来る

pasuta yuderu to yattekuru [when you boil pasta, it (tarako) comes]
kirei ni narande yattekuru [it comes all neatly lined up]

いつも　ニコニコ　素敵な笑顔
チャカボコ　チャカラカ　チャーミング

itsumo nikoniko sutekina egao [always ginning with a nice smile]
cyakaboko cyakaboka charming [cyakaboko cyakaboka charming]

ふと気づけば　肩の上
ふと気づくと　皿の中

futo kidukeba katano ue [suddenly you notice, it’s (tarako is) on your shoulder]
futo kidukubo sara no naka [suddenly you notice, it’s in your plate]

たらこ　たらこ　たっぷり　たらこ
たらこ　たらこ　たっぷり

tarako tarako tappuri tarako [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]
tarako tarako tappuri [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]

たらこが　やって来る
たらこ　たらこ　つぶつぶ　たらこ

tarako ga yattekuru [tarako is coming!]
tarako tarako tsubutsubu tarako [tarako tarako lumpy-lumpy tarako]

たらこ　たらこ　つぶつぶ
たらこが　やって来る

tarako tarako tsubutsubu [tarako tarako lumpy-lumpy]
tarako ga yattekuru [tarako is coming!]

たらこ　たっぷり　たっぷり　たらこ
たらこ　たっぷり　たっぷり　たらこ

tarako tappuri tappuri tarako [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]
tarako tappuri tappuri tarako [tarako tarako plenty of tarako]

***

Here is another video, and that sachet of tomato-based cod roe sauce was exactly what I had sometime last year, except I did not look as scary as that girl eating it.

R.I.P.: Ando Momofuku (1910-2007)

Inventor of the instant noodles died at 96. Ration condition after World War II inspired the man to develop the first instant-noodle ever. Starting with Chicken Ramen in 1958, he followed in 1971 with the ubiquitous Cup Noodle, found in supermarket shelves as well as Cathay Pacific galleys.

Read the original article HERE.

Bridges, Creeks, and Maple Trees

If I ever imagine a Japanese Eden it would be in the form of Ukai-Toriyama in Takao-san (Mt. Takao), a sprawling compound of lush greens and Japanese Maple trees, divided by creeks, united by bridges, and dotted with a multitude of pavilions, none of which has the same architectural design.

When my friend asked me out to eat lunch here -a mountainous area 50 minutes away from Tokyo's Shinjuku station by an express train- I had no earthly idea that I would end up in such heavenly a place. From Shinjuku-eki, we took the Keio train to Takaosanguchi. A complimentary bus from the Ukai Toriyama company picked us up and delivered us to the second restaurant (the first was a smaller one at a lower level of the mountain).

Reservation had been made for 4 people the day before; otherwise, it would be almost impossible just to walk in and expect to get a pavilion. There is no dining hall; instead, the vast area is host to numerous pavilions scattered throughout. To reach any of these private rooms, one has to navigate on a pebble track under a canopy of trees while listening to the sound of flowing water in the creek down beneath the many bridges that have to be crossed. I do not think anyone would mind.

We chose the highest course in the menu and were rewarded with a parade of small dishes containing many different Japanese vegetables and meats. At one point, each of us was given a suspended rock that was really hot. This was to be the place to put our raw beef with ground miso topping. As there really is no such thing as "main entrée" in a Japanese meal, each dish bears equal weight.

(When we left Tokyo, it was actually raining very hard. As we were waiting in a station somewhere along Tokyo and Takao-san, an earthquake shook the northern part of the country [6.8 in the Richter scale]. We did feel the train rocked back and forth while in its stationary position.)

It was still grey when we reached the mountain, but as we consumed our repast, the cloud broke and the sun appeared, sending his mighty rays to our compound but they were filtered by the leaves of the Maple trees. The effect was just so beautiful that neither words nor photographs could capture its essence.

Would you mind my sharing with you a little bit more of the pictures I had taken from my outing today? Please visit www.flickr.com/photos/bloompy.

The Last Shabu-Shabu

Hanezawa Outdoor Dining, originally uploaded by bloompy.

After a 3-day winter-like weather that brought rain and cold wind across the city, Tokyo re-emerged into the sunlight on Thursday, although unaccompanied by the glory of the cherry blossoms. Today the Hanezawa Garden, a favorite restaurant near where I live, offers its last shabu-shabu lunch and dinner for the season. Beginning next week, the Korean BBQ will again be featured as the main and only attraction in the outdoor dining at this elegant restaurant complex.

I was given a seat that was partially shaded by the tree; yet giving me full access to the bath of light available in front of me. The cherry blossoms in this garden still retained some of their flowers, but the look was pretty much emaciated. Throughout lunch, the petals were blown by the wind and fell down to the earth as if scattered by the hands of the gods and goddesses. The effect was magical. The shower of petals looked like a summer snow.

As lunch progressed, the comfort of the shade left me exposed to the mighty sun. Unlike the winter sun whose effect one could hardly feel, this one made its presence known. While enjoying my book -Marco Livingstone's David Hockney- I felt the heat becoming slightly unbearable. The presence of a standing waiter nearby provided a much-needed temporary shelter, but alas, his shadow went with him as he was called by a customer at a far-away table. I was once again exposed.

I am not complaining. After a three-day insistence by the grey winter weather to stay in the city, I welcome the change of weather. Spring, hopefully, is here to stay.

(For a review of the Hanezawa Garden, please consult http://bloompyeats.blogspot.com)

Xin Tian Di and the French Concession

The Tranquil Sinan Lu in the Shanghai French Concession, originally uploaded by bloompy.

Xin Tian Di (the New Heaven and Earth) is located at the periphery of the French Concession. In the olden days, Shanghai is divided into different districts as a result of the Westerners trying to carve out a part of the city for their own fellow compatriots. Thus, Shanghai has the British Concession, the American Concession (these two later became the International Settlement), and the French Concession.

When I arrived at Xin Tian Di, I saw immediately the restaurant that my friend had recommended, Xin Ji Shi. I thought of going in but decided to walk around and take pictures first. The area retained and renovated the beautiful old-brick shikumen-style buildings (stone gatehouses). The complex, opened in 2001, is buzzing at night with the young crowd converging for eats and drinks and a little shopping. Instead of neon-advertising lights, the area employs small flags to announce the names of the businesses.

It was fortunate that I decided to walk around first, because then I bumped into T8, a restaurant that had been widely praised by critics and included in the Conde Nast top 50 restaurants in the world. My friend had also mentioned this restaurant to me, although he himself had never been. I will write a review of this restaurant in my yet-to-be created site, but for now, let it be known that this restaurant with a cuisine of Mediterranean and Asian fusion is worth going. The "M on the Bund" may have a balcony with a nice view of the Huang Pu River, but the food pales in comparison to T8. Stephen Wright, the executive chef here, is very friendly and approachable. The open kitchen -a square area where he and his staff performed their daily and nightly culinary tasks, protrudes into the dining room. From here he can survey the entire ground floor.

After this very satisfying lunch, I went to take a very long stroll into the French Concession, a walk that lasted for about 4 hours. I just followed the recommended stroll by the guidebook but occasionally strayed and went into the alleys and back ways, which always provided great opportunities for viewing the old "shikumen" style architecture. Of the 111 pictures shot today, some were of adults sitting, reading, working, socializing, and children playing. Yes, 111 pictures today and about 147 yesterday: ah, the joy of digital camera. You can just take as many with no worries about the developing cost. Even if you make a mistake, you can just take another one and delete the undesired ones later.

There was not much of a landmark in today's walk, except for the former house of Sun Yat Sen and Zhou En Lai on Sinan Lu; but the neighborhood alone was remarkable. I was surprised to find how clean Shanghai was: no trash lying around. (It was etched rather deep in my mind that most, if not all, Chinatowns in the western world and in Indonesia were always messy and littered with trash.) Just like the ones I found in the Bund area, the sidewalks and some of the buildings seemed very grimy, polluted, and could benefit from extreme scrubbing; but otherwise, the area was devoid of littered trash. Even when there was a construction (major and minor), the debris and trash were kept within its respective compound. Another friend did tell me that he had walked a little bit away from the city center, and that was where he found the run-down neighborhood with trash and puddles everywhere. There is a huge gap between wealth and poverty in the city.

Today I also came in contact with a lot of vehicular traffic; the fume proved too much at one point that I had to escape to a nearby garden, which happened to be the tranquil Ruijin Guesthouse, a sprawling compound with several buildings that are currently used for hotel rooms. I kept telling myself that I had to wash my face after I returned to my hotel. I must have looked like that grimy sidewalk by the end of the day; I need an extreme scrubbing as well, I suppose.

The Bund by the Huang Pu River

The Bund by the Huang Pu River, originally uploaded by bloompy.

Once in an exhibition at the now defunct Mill/Short Gallery in San Francisco, I attended the photographic show of a well-known Hong Kong artist named Fan Ho. The work was done decades before the gallery even existed, and the subject was Shanghai. The play of light and shadow in those black and white photographs remained permanently etched in the deepest pocket of memory. I dreamed that one day I would be able to see the architecture by the river that was immortalized by his camera.

That dream became a reality this morning as I went to see the Western-influenced architecture of the Bund by the Huang Pu (Wang Pu) River. I was originally planning to walk from my hotel to the site, but the concierge told me that it would take an hour by foot. Also, I was constantly reminded by the guidebook that Shanghai was not really a walking town the way Tokyo, London, and Paris were. Indeed, the taxi ride took some time but the traffic going to the Bund was not bad at all. While gobbling his breakfast, the enthusiastic driver slowed down to show me the vista as we approached the area. This caused the other drivers behind us to start honking like mad. I was delivered right in the middle of the Bund stretch, in front of the historic Peace Hotel (formerly the Cathay), whose ground floor currently housed the Citibank, the very institution I happened to need to visit.

According to the Lonely Planet Shanghai guidebook, the Bund got its Anglo-Indian name from the embankments built up to discourage flooding (in Hindi, "band" means embankment.) Bund buildings were first built on concrete rafts that were fixed onto wood pilings, which were allowed to sink into the mud. Thus, the bottom entrance step usually originated 2m in the air and sank to ground level with the weight of the building (Lonely Planet Shanghai, p. 30.) The architecture firm of Palmer and Turner was responsible for most of the buildings that became the famous façade of this mile-long stretch.

The area has changed drastically since the days the Cantonese photographer took his pictures of the Bund: The image of a solitary old man pulling a cart has been replaced by a mixture of noises coming from the creaking buses, screeching cars, and squeaking bikes. Across the Bund, right by the bank of the river, the city built a raised platform, parallel to the stretch, from which one could view the Bund on the one side, and the Pudong area on the other side. Pudong, the area East of the river, is the new development area of Shanghai where most of the new buildings took place. People say that the real Shanghai or the Old Shanghai is Puxi (the area west of the river) where the Bund is. Pudong is also the site of the Oriental Pearl Tower, a sight not unfamiliar in many of Shanghai's souvenir postcards.

Unfortunately, throughout my visit today, the haze never left the area. There was the sun peeking from behind the clouds, but this thin veil never really lifted up, leaving a gauzy impression of the Pudong cityscape. The angle of the sun also made it difficult to shoot a good picture, and as the name implied, "photography" depends very much on proper lighting. When I had my fill of shooting pictures, I crossed over the street by way of an overpass, and arrived at the side of the architecture. Aided by my guidebook and a culinary recommendation from a friend, I headed for the "M on the Bund" restaurant. I did not have a reservation, but I thought I would give it a try. As luck would have it, the famous restaurant, with a great vista from the balcony, was not full at all. I was seated not too far from the window. During the cold weather season, they closed the balcony, but the window provided a sneak peek at how charming it would have been to sit outdoors in a milder weather.

I ordered the set menu and set on reading my guidebook. Then I reviewed my pictures inside the camera, as well as took some shots from where I sat. By then, no one sat in the non-smoking area except for myself, so I had complete privacy. I took my time in that place, and when I finally felt satisfied, I left. I went on a second walking trip, this time along a stretch a block away from the main drag, but still running parallel to the Bund. I looked mainly at buildings that held some significance back in the heyday of Shanghai, around the 1930s, like the matching Hamilton House and the Metropole Hotel; and a Tudor building that used to house the former offices of the company that catered to Martini & Rossi. Although in general these areas are clean, the sidewalks are really grimy. They could benefit from some cleaning, but that may not be a priority in this city. The city is too busy focusing on building the skyscrapers across the river. I am just glad that they had the wisdom to keep this nostalgic façade of the Bund.

I shot some 145 pictures, although I sincerely doubted that any one of them would match any photograph of Fan Ho's, that Cantonese photographer.

From 0 to 100?

Odd but true. Some Japanese food labels carry the description of "Ages 0 to 100." Very interesting, indeed. One label was found on a bottle of salad dressing. It makes me think: are people over 100 years of age being advised not to consume any of these dressings because it may be too oily, too sour, or too salty? For crying out loud, they reach their centennial already. Let them have whatever they want! Or are they saying that babies right after birth could technically be bottle-fed with milk with a dash of vinegary dressing?

Soy Sauce Made from Human Hair

I did not know this, but today I was sent a link to an article that talked about how the Chinese and the Japanese used human hair for the production of soy-sauce. Further, the article said that the amino acid that was present in human hair provided an alternative to soy beans in giving soy sauce its flavor. What makes it dangerous is that the chemicals used to extract these amino acids are carcinogenic. While the Japanese used this method during the World War II because of soybean shortage (because of food shortages, soybean was consumed as soybean, instead of being used to make soy sauce), they stop the practice some time ago. The Japanese put a ban on the production of soy sauce from anything other than organic proteins. The Chinese soy sauce manufacturer, on the other hand, saw the use of human hair as a cheaper alternative to using real soybeans. For full view of the article, click the heading on this blog, or go to http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/index.html