Of Sushi

Another bright and sunny day here in Kyoto. Spring has finally arrived, and it's beautiful. With that in mind, classes started the other day. Things are going well so far. I'm in B class. They go from F to A, A being the highest before you're put into seiki level, which is when you can take classes in Japanese with Japanese students. As is, I can take classes in English with them, but not their normal Japanese classes. Not gonna' lie, understanding is fine, so I may sneak into a couple this semester anyway if I get the chance. As is, right now I'm taking a Comprehensive Japanese class, a Listening & Speaking class, a Writing course, as well as International Organizations (which focuses on NGOs, etc.), Political Economies of East Asia (comparing Japan, China, Korea), possibly a Women's Studies course which is focused on women in war (I know. Not my specialty, but interesting), and last but not least, hopefully a International Management course (which looks at the logistics and marketing strategies of an international corporation). Overall, a pretty decent schedule if I do say so myself.

To answer a quick question that was posted in comments, classes will continue as normal. Kansai is in fact so fine that nothing will change whatsoever with regard to classes. We may take in some more students though who are refugees. Therefore, no worries with class schedules changing unless something major strikes Kansai. The rest of Japan is obviously a bit more affected. According to Tai, Rikkyo University is only taking in two international students this semester because the rest cancelled due to fears of going to Tokyo. I'd like to say that I'm personally proud of those students and especially one of them since he is also from Miami.

What people aren't understanding abroad is that Japan is quite a big country. The problem is that it's normally compared to California. People therefore get a little nervous because California is only 1 state in a country of 50 of them. However, Japan is also relatively the same size as Italy. Because Italy is a country and not a state (by the American English definition of course), people suddenly become much calmer. Therefore, I'd like to propose comparing Japan to Italy in size for the rest of time.

Due to the belief that Japan is a small country, people are refusing to buy fish from Japan. I understand as much as the next person that when you hear about radioactive materials being dumped into the ocean, the last thing you want to do is go eat fish. Most of Japan's fishing is done farther away from the coast though. This is due to past overfishing problems. But Michelle, you might say, fish swim. They can swim close to the coast. And yes, they can. I don't deny it. But if you're concerned about that, then don't eat fish that live close to shore. Those that live out in deeper waters should of course be checked, but if they make it into your markets, they are safe. Japan's economy depends on exports. They will be responsible in this.

In order to prevent more radiation from escaping to the ocean though, TEPCO has installed steel barriers and silt fences. Although I'm not sure about the effectiveness of this, we can only trust them for now.

I love me a good plate of sushi and honestly, if I can eat it here, then you can eat it thousands of miles away. Furthermore, most sushi restaurants abroad are actually switching to fish from other places. Even Japan is not necessarily making sushi from locally caught fish at times. If you're eating salmon sushi for example, it much more likely that it will be from Norway, and your tuna will likely be from Spain. The term sushi (寿司) refers to fish that is offered with vinegared rice. It is a preparation style, and in no way requires the fish to be harvested from Japanese waters. The only requirement of that fish is that it must be of an exceptionally high quality to serve raw. If it is not, you could end up making your customers sick. 

So, this begs the question, which is sushi? In the West, it often refers to what is called makizushi (巻寿司) here in Japan. This is the rolled sushi. It is rice, fish, and sometimes vegetables wrapped with rice in a piece of nori (海苔) or seaweed. A second of type of sushi is nigirizushi (握り寿司). This is hand-formed sushi which is a bit of rice, some wasabi, and fish or something on top. There is also oshizushi (押し寿司), which is literally "pressed sushi." This is specialty in Osaka, where a block-type sushi is formed. There is also inarizushi (稲荷寿司), which is a wrapper made of fried tofu filled with sushi rice. It was believed to be a favorite of the god Inari. I actually find this to be quite sweet, and normally reserve it as a dessert-type sushi for this reason. Second to last, we have chirashizushi (ちらし寿司), which is literally a "scattered sushi." This is when the fish is put on top of rice in a bowl. Lastly, there is narezushi (熟れ寿司), which I actually haven't had yet, but it's been fermented. Considering that Kyoto is known for it's fermented foods, I'll have to check it out.

So, now that we got cleared up. Please don't put your local sushi restaurant out of business. Go support them. It's delicious, and you should at enjoy it when you know its safe.

Oh, and before I go, I'd just like to state that I want a subscription to NIKKEI Shinbun so bad. Because I currently don't have a subscription, their newest articles right now are locked. I have to figure out the cost of it, but I think it'd be nice.

Sources:

Grab Your Chopsticks and Geiger Counters (WSJ)

TEPCO Installs Barrier to Prevent Sea Contamination (WSJ)

Of Jishuku

Well-rested and English working properly again, I feel as if I can write a blog post to everyone now. In a brief update about last night's 7.4 quake, I'd like to note that no significant damage occurred. Only 2 people are known to have died, and a few injured. The Fukushima Daiichi Plant is as stable as it was before the earthquake. Workers were briefly evacuated due to tsunami concerns, but that tsunami warning was lifted, so they went back to fixing the reactor. And before you comment on hearing that there was a tsunami, please understand that it was a meter high. That's nothing. It's like a wave. So, continuing on with things that not overblown in the US news. After doing some silicone gel work, it seems like the leak was slowed and possibly stopped the other day. Not sure on this though because I admit I've been a tad busy as of late.

The lack of food in the Touhoku region is still continuing to hurt the residents there. It's a shame that they've survived through all this only to have to face possible starvation. The government and other groups are distributing food of course, but having the food and having the manpower to distribute the food are different. Japan can get through this, but it's going to take an army of volunteers to do it.

The yen is slowly falling. In a way, this is good. It means that Japanese products will become cheaper for consumers abroad, but at the same time, this is a problem because it's somewhat indicative of a future recession.

Other countries have banned or are checking Japanese products carefully. Although it is understandable, the bans are a shame. The last thing Japan needs right now is for people not to buy its exports. The answer is rather simple in this case. Don't buy things from the area directly near the plant. Kansai and further south are fine. That means things like Kobe beef are safe.

Tourists to Japan are still few. So the Japanese economy is suffering in this way as well.

Actually, the point of this post is to talk about something called jishuku (自粛), or self-restraint. Something amazing has happened to Japan since the quake. In a country which quite frankly prefers expensive goods over cheap ones and brand names over non-brand names, the practice of jishuku was rarer earlier this year. For example, let's look at a fairly common brand name in the States, which is Coach. Coach sells purses, bags, wallets, etc. It's a fine leather maker shop, and it's pretty well-respected in my opinion. In the US, Coach is also considered ridiculously expensive, and for good reason. If you sold bags at the same price in Japan as what you sell in them in the US though, people would not buy them because they would be too cheap for a brand name. That means brand name goods are tripled normally in cost. So if a bag costs $100 in the US, it will cost $300 in Japan. Levi jeans are another good example. I think you can buy them for $20 in the States. The cheapest that I've found them in Japan is $150, and that's the absolute cheapest. I've seen them go for as high as $300. So, what does this have to do with jishuku?

People prided themselves in the past on having luxury goods. It's the same the world round I suppose, but it was definitely theme here in Japan. However, since the earthquake, the practice of jishuku has come back in full force. Watching the TV, hearing the news, and looking at refugees who continue to stream into safer areas, the majority of people have decided to engage in the practice of jishuku. They just don't feel as if they deserve to enjoy a luxury product at the moment when some people don't even have houses, let alone food. In some ways, this has really helped Japan. Japan was supposed to suffer from planned rolling blackouts through April, but because people were conserving so much power, that idea was able to be cancelled. In the summer when energy use increases, we'll see if they're reinstated, but for now, this is definitely a positive. However, the cabinet ministers are urging people not to engage in jishuku when it comes to commodities. Japan needs money to rebuild and it can't do that when people aren't spending money. This of course is a double-edged sword though. If you tell people not to restrain themselves, will they start using goods that they should conserve, like food, water, electricity, gas, etc. If that's true, then it's dangerous to say to stop the feeling of self-restraint. Personally though, I'm for the idea. The economy needs to be boosted, and if you can emphasize still conserving on necessary goods while not necessarily conserving on luxury goods, maybe it would help things out.

Sources:
China concerned at Japan's prolonged nuclear crisis (Reuters)
「自粛ムードやめよう」閣僚から発言相次ぐ (朝日新聞)