Sushi and I have a long history. I discovered the joys of raw fish on sticky rice back in the 80s, when I lived in Los Angeles.
I was a bit of a sushi snob back then, not because I’m class conscious, but because the people I was hanging out with at the time had a lot of disposable income.
Sushi scene in “Defending Your Life”
There’s a great romantic comedy film called “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. The two sushi chefs in that film had a fabulous sushi restaurant frequented by movie industry types — moguls and celebrities. They were the “rock stars” of the sushi scene in that area of town, which is why they ended up in the film. These two geniuses were my initiation in perhaps the best sushi in the entire Universe! That’s how I became a sushi snob.
When I moved to Portland, Oregon I was heartened to find one phenomenal sushi bar, unfortunately now out of business. I was home free! The competition wasn’t exactly stiff. Portland’s unofficial motto is still to this day ‘Keep Portland Weird’.
Predictably there were some very bizarre places that passed themselves off as sushi restaurants. One was called Rock ‘n Roll Sushi. I tried it. It was horrible! Other places were run by individuals who clearly had no training in the fine art of sushi making, weren’t remotely Japanese, probably thought miso soup was just bad English, as in “Me so glad to see you, Yoko!”
It was in Portland I first heard of conveyor belt sushi. I immediately dismissed it as just more Portland weirdness, glanced in the window of the new conveyor restaurant only once — yes, it was the talk of the town and I was curious — and thought, what a stupid gimmick!
I was pretty confident I wasn’t missing anything. Here’s what one customer said about it: “Sushi Mioga may not serve the best sushi in town but for the price and with tons of options, this is my new favorite conveyor-belt-sushi restaurant for now.”
Whatever. Sushi delivered on a conveyor belt? Ha! What a joke!
Of course, I was wrong about at least part of the story. Conveyor belt sushi was invented by a Japanese sushi restaurant owner back in 1958. His name was Yoshiaki Shiraishi, and he was looking for an effective way to get his sushi quickly to his customers. A visit to a local Asahi brewery, which used conveyor belts to speedily move the beer through the process of bottling and packaging, was his inspiration.
So Portland wasn’t being weird or innovative or anything of the like. It took someone there almost 50 years to discover and capitalize on this clever invention. By then, Japan had entire conveyor belt sushi restaurant chains up and running across the nation. The most well-known and successful is Sushiro, which has been in business for over 30 years.
Sushi tends to be very polarizing. Either people absolutely LOVE IT or are nauseated by the thought of eating raw fish.
I guess I’m pretty lucky living here, since I’m a hard-core sushi and sashimi lover. Both are as common here, both at home and when eating out, as pizza or fries are in America. Masumi and I went to a cook-out at a friend’s house and along with the usual things that you’d see at a backyard barbecue, there was the huge plate of yellowtail sashimi pictured here. That would cost over $100 at a restaurant in the U.S. And here it was being served as a snack like you’d serve cheese and crackers. I was in heaven!
We don’t eat out all that often — both Masumi and I love to cook and she’s certainly a genius in the kitchen — but on average we eat conveyor belt sushi once a month. Our favorite place is in nearby Tanba-shi. Usually we go with Masumi’s mom and her two daughters who live near us in Sasayama.
It’s not only incredibly delicious and inexpensive but I frankly find it to be a lot of fun. There’s always the anticipation of what the sushi chefs have coming down the belt next. Sometimes some real surprises!
Since conveyor belt sushi is extremely popular, for the lunch or dinner rush hour it’s generally a good idea to make an online reservation a few hours in advance. Last time we were there, however, it wasn’t peak time and the place wasn’t as crowded as is usual.
Even though they weren’t blasting Megadeath over the speaker system and the waitresses didn’t look like something out of Zombie Goth Apocalypse, we still had an excellent time!
Life In Japan: Udon, Soba & Ramen
Granted, ‘Udon, Soba & Ramen’ sounds like a law firm based in Yokohama.
Actually, these are the three most common forms of noodles here in Japan, and are among the staples of the healthy diet of this country.
My history with ‘noodles’ is pretty sketchy. My mom used to serve me chicken noodle soup, typically Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. I tried to smile and show my gratitude but I’ve never forgiven her for serving me this slop in a can.
I’m now recalling the name of the character Robert De Niro played in one of my favorite gangland movies, Once Upon a Time in America. Yes, It was ‘Noodles’.
Hmm . . . let’s see. I used to eat buttered egg noodles for lunch sometimes.
There you have it. A lifetime noodling around. Until I arrived here.
Like everything here in Japan, the science and art of noodle-making has been perfected to the highest possible level.
There is, for example, a whole prefecture — a prefecture is the equivalent of a state in the U.S. or a province in Canada — devoted to creating the finest udon in the Universe. It’s called Kagawa Prefecture. I’ve been there! There are hundreds of udon restaurants, and you can watch them make noodles from scratch as you sit there waiting for your meal. They make dough, roll it, cut it, then toss it into boiling water. You can’t get udon any fresher than that!
Udon (うどん) is a thick wheat-flour noodle, served in a very basic broth. The slippery texture makes it enormously fun to eat. The toppings are a real bonus. They include varieties of tempura, soft- or hard-boiled eggs, fish paste, fish cakes, shrimp, with the whole affair then sprinkled to taste with chopped scallions. We eat udon at least once a week. A real treat is to serve a basic udon generously blended with Japanese curry.
Soba (蕎麦) is made from buckwheat flour and despite the name, buckwheat bears no relation to wheat. It’s made from grinding the seeds of Fagopyrum esculentum, a plant which is not a grass like wheat is. It took me a while to develop a taste for buckwheat. I had tried buckwheat pancakes in the U.S. and thought they were odd, certainly not at all an improvement on regular pancakes. Slowly here in Japan I’ve grown to enjoy the unique flavor of buckwheat and soba itself.
Most soba restaurants seem to be more traditional institutions, so the dining experience embraces atmospherics as well tongue tantalizing. My wife really loves soba, so at least once a month we go to her favorite restaurant tucked away on a country road in the middle of nowhere.
If you happen to go to this place, I’m sure you’ll be as amazed as I always am that anyone can find it. But there’s always a line at the door of expectant soba-aficionados eager to get their fix.
Ramen (ラーメン) is the least healthy of the three. Lots and lots of grease. Which means it tastes great! It’s based on Chinese wheat noodles, a meat or fish broth — usually it’s pork — and like udon is garnished with all sorts of yummy ingredients. Slices of butaniku (pork) are very common. Some people dump in tons of garlic or green onions, or peppery spices. Many regions of Japan have their own distinctive version of ramen. For example, tonkotsu is the ramen unique to Kyushu and miso ramen that of Hokkaido.
Ramen and people’s devotion to it sometimes have religious or cult overtones. This was beautifully captured in a very funny comedic film called The Ramen Girl, about an American lass who is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend, and apprentices to a ramen master to get her life back together. I highly recommend it!
(Disclaimer: This movie has no transgender CIA assassins who side-by-side with comic book superheroes attempt to defeat an invading swarm of 6-dimensional extraterrestrial nano-spiders. But it’s still outstanding!)
There you have it. Come to Japan. Join in on the fun.
Or if you’re already here, you know . . . the Japanese take noodles very seriously!