Kaitenzushi

Happy Groundhogs Day (I'm a bit early) from over here in Japan. I hope the fury of Winter weather softens into a nice mild Spring.

The title of today's venture is Kaitenzushi which refers to the best low-quality sushi you can find in Japan. Kaiten means revolving and zushi is sushi with the first letter changed because of the n preceding it. Yes, Japanese is a crazy language much like English; and the more you learn, the less you find you actually know.

When I was in training, they gave us a sample lesson in Japanese to give us the feeling of the students learning in our English class. The lesson was actually a great tool to give us humility and show us our challenges through our own ignorance.

During that lesson, we "went" to a Kaitenzushi restaurant and ordered sushi. Making orders in Japanese was the target of the lesson. The funny thing is that you actually don't have to speak at kaitenzushi restaurants (they translated it as conveyor belt sushi). If you look at the picture above, you can see that there are plates on a belt revolving around. This concept couldn't work in the States because our Food Safety groups would go ape-s**t over raw fish sitting out of refrigeration.

Before passing judgement on these restaurants, I would like to draw your attention to the computer screen at the top of the picture. It gives you a taste of the future of fast food dining allowing you to place an order by selecting food items (pictures included). The food is then shipped out on a bullet train and you then push the button currently lit in the picture to send the train back. If you notice, the sushi is still on the train in the picture. My date was so involved in getting the picture, she forgot to take the food before sending the train back. The chef in the back sent it out with the rest of the order we had made.

I didn't go to these restaurants when I lived in Gunma because there wasn't one within biking distance. Now that I live in Kyoto, I make trips at least once per month to enjoy mouth-watering sushi and free hot tea. The best part of it all is that each plate at this particular restaurant is roughly a dollar (a little more now with the weak dollar).

I highly recommend going to one of these places when you hit Japan. There aren't any california rolls, just good (cheap) fish, rice, and seaweed at an affordable price.

Buraku

Touching on the subject of race is a touchy subject that must be handled with kids gloves; however, I will attempt to attack the subject of race relations within the Japanese population. I am referring to the burakumin or buraku people whom the Japanese still segregate against in the 21st century. This comes from a story published by the International Herald Tribue on January 16 (read here). The current Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso (whose last name sounds similar to a body part below the waste that also serves as a good description of his personality), was against having a buraku as Prime Minister simply because the man was a buraku.

As the article briefly mentions, no one really knows the origins of the buraku since they are ethnically Japanese, but it is believed that they were the old butcher class in feudal Japan. Buddhist beliefs deemed anyone who dealt in the trades of the flesh "unpure" and thus all of them and their descendants have been deemed unpure by society. This legacy is carried on into the 21st century through the registry that all Japanese citizens belong to that trace their history and their "status."

Prior to a law passed similar to the 13th Amendmant in the U.S., it was common for companies and fathers to check the "status" of their future employees or, in the case of the fathers, son or daughter-in-law. This remains important to some such as Taro Aso, and some fathers that will still hire someone to look into the status of their child's love interest. How depressing would it be to have your family line merged into the descrimination that has followed the buraku for centuries!

The author chose the momentious occasion of Obama's election as the reason for bringing this topic to light. I still don't see the Japanese as being open enough to follow the example of America on this issue though. Especially when considering the fact that they just passed a law recognizing the natives of their land, the Ainu (which look just like our Native Americans), as a race separate from the Japanese race and recognizing that they still exist in Japan (mostly in the northern island of Hokkaido). This is after a long campaign of trying to assimilate them into Japanese culture/society. It's a sad case, but honestly, there isn't much left of Ainu culture in the 21st century. Even if they wanted to give them reservations like America gave to Native Americans, it is way too little and way too late.

But it's not too late to elect a buraku to the role of Prime Ministership. If America can elect a burakku (the word black put into the Japanese syllabic alphabet) President, Japan can elect a buraku Prime Minister, right? Here's looking forward to the day when everyone has a fair and equal chance to achieve their dreams and we just won't divide people by race, sex, Phish-listeners, or any other way we tend to divide instead of unite.

And a Happy New Year to you too

With promises come disappointment, and as Obama reminds everyone that he will save the economy, he also adds that there may be some "false starts." I too will use that excuse in explaining why I have not written a blog entry for my few readers over the past few weeks even though I promised at least one entry per week.

Since I last posted, the world entered 2009, over 1000 people died in Gaza, hundreds of thousands lost jobs in the U.S. alone, and I finally fixed my bike's front break. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone with my attempt at dry humor, but aren't we all guilty of being self-centered and caring more about our daily challenges than the world's problems. In my study of politics, I've found that global affairs can never beat the economy in opinion polls and in the hearts of the people. With that brief editorial on why I'm wasting my life studying something that will never be number one in your heart, I wish the best to all of you around the world and hope 2009 will bear you a first-born son (old English for good fortune).

How did Kintama spend his New Year's Eve is actually the true topic of this entry although I haven't touched it yet in this long commentary on nothing. In order to not break my second promise of keeping my entries short, I will be brief.

As expected, Japanese people have their own way of bringing in the new year. In the case of most of the Japanese people I know, they didn't go to some bar or open public space to countdown, but rather watched the musical competition on NHK, the Japanese equivalent of the British BBC, with their families. They then got dressed up and visited shrines to pray for good luck in 2009. They continue to file into the shrines for a few days after the new year actually begins. I was surprised by the number of people going to Kiyomizu Temple since it is a temple and not a shrine. I'm not sure if this is because they were here in Kyoto and wanted to see it or they actually believed they were going to a shrine when it is called temple.Another tradition is to eat soba on New Year's Eve. This toshikoshi soba (crossing over into the new year soba) is a Japanese favorite.

However, I did not partake in any of this. I spent the day doing work in my one room apartment and slowly crept out and returned to civilization a couple of hours before midnight. In typical western fashion, I attended a gathering at Kyoto station for the countdown. The Japanese people that were there were mostly there for the free live concert by a Japanese band I still don't know the name of (and don't really care to). Following countdown, the band played one more song and everybody dispersed. So much for partying into the new year. I also tried to go to a shrine, but the number of people visiting was actually greater than the suffocating amount that were here in Kyoto during the peak of "red leave viewing" season.

Below is a short video of that NHK program I tuned into from my cellphone. I recorded it to show you what the program was like, but also to show you how advanced my cheapest-I-could-get cellphone is far ahead of the tech in the States. Watching TV is free which is a good thing for someone living a Spartan lifestyle with no internet or TV in my one room "mansion." Happy New Year and enjoy!