Miso

Since time is short and I wrote too much last week I'll just include a couple of pictures from this week and a write a few words about miso.

I'll just assume that you all know what miso is and just get to the point: today I went to the locally famous red miso, or Hacho miso as it is called, factories here in Okazaki. Tomoko and I visited two big factories, took their tours and ate their samples, and bought miso products to take home and give as gifts. The most interesting thing to me about the visit was how this centuries old industry has changed very little and how the fermentation process still involves placing by hand several tons of stones on top of each barrel full of prepared soybeans. The placement of the stones has to be just so, as to stay in place for the three years of fermentation and even to withstand minor earthquakes! Hundreds of huge cedar barrels were resting in the warehouse, each with it's pyramid of stones of different sizes, especially picked, and laid by specially trained stone-layers.

This has also been a great week for a sushi lover such as myself. My English class had a pot luck on before class this week and brought all sorts of goodies, including this "pressed sushi" which was served in a lovey lacquer ware box. Then, today, I went to a new (to me) conveyor-belt sushi place that was several notches above the one I had eaten at before. Tomoko and I shared all the plates, ate our fill and only paid a little over $10 each. When we first sat down at the counter, the lady sitting next to me exclaimed in amazement, and in English, " You can eat raw fish??". We assured her I could and that was the end of the conversation, but it sort of sums up how the Japanese perceive Westerners when it comes to Japanese food.