If You Want Really Good Sushi...Don't Go To Japan...

[SteyrAUG]

So a close friend of mine just got back from two years abroad in Japan and Okinawa, worked out well for him since they were already wearing masks before the whole covid thing.

Spent the weekend as he traveled through the midwest visiting teachers, students and friends, he was there specifically to train with a few martial arts instructors who were the teachers of his teachers in the US.

Of all the things he told me about life in modern Japan, the one that shocked me most is the end of the family owned sushi bar. If you ever enjoyed sitting down at the refrigerated bar and ordering nigiri combos and made in front of you rolls that is now a mostly US thing as they are virtually extinct in Japan, especially Tokyo.

He was last there about 8 years ago and every single favored location was out of business. They have all largely been replaced with automats, you might recall we experimented with them in the 1950s where it's kind of like a coke machine but it's little glass doors with a lunch on a plate behind it, you put in your money like a vending machine and take out your plate or box in the case of most sushi.

To me it is probably the least appealing way to eat sushi, I don't even want a sandwhich that has been sitting out two hours (despite refrigeration) much less red tuna. But apparently the Japanese don't care. Corporate owned automats have driven out all the mom and pop counters and bars where a dedicated itamae expertly cuts premium grade fish and creates interesting rolls.

The only other surviving sushi restaurants are the exotic $1,000 a plate novelty locations where the super rich impress visiting tourists and business contacts.

In Okinawa they still have many quality seafood restaurants who will even make you sushi and sashimi (of course) but their cooked fish is generally so amazing most people don't bother.

He was of course stunned to discover that my small town in Iowa had just opened a pretty decent sushi bar that was exceptional by Iowa standards. He also brought me a giant PVC tube of custom made martial arts weapons as a gift so I'm pretty stoked even if I'm sad for the sushi fans in Japan.

Thankfully I don't think raw fish automats will ever fly in the US so our sushi bars should be pretty safe. But it will be painfully ironic if Japanese people travel to the US in order to get some decent sushi.

Another end of an era thing I thought I'd never see (or hear of).

[Firefly]

Japanese food is usually disgusting. Sushi doubly so.

I did catch a taste for Southern Chinese/Vietnamese food that I just have to eat once in a while. Or Bulgogi.

But you can miss me all day with Sushi. I think it was on Rotten.com or somewhere years ago where some dude ended up with worms on his brain from eating that crap too much.

[titsonritz]

They have all largely been replaced with automats, you might recall we experimented with them in the 1950s where it's kind of like a coke machine but it's little glass doors with a lunch on a plate behind it, you put in your money like a vending machine and take out your plate or box in the case of most sushi.

That's just gross. I have to see my sushi hand rolled, I won't even eat the packaged stuff you see in stores claiming to be fresh.

[SteyrAUG]

Japanese food is usually disgusting. Sushi doubly so.

I did catch a taste for Southern Chinese/Vietnamese food that I just have to eat once in a while. Or Bulgogi.

But you can miss me all day with Sushi. I think it was on Rotten.com or somewhere years ago where some dude ended up with worms on his brain from eating that crap too much.

If you just eat whatever raw fish, it can have bad consequences.

But I love fresh salmon and can knock that shit back all day.

[titsonritz]

If you just eat whatever raw fish, it can have bad consequences.

But I love fresh salmon and can knock that shit back all day.

I'll mow down on yellowfin and bluefin.

[SteyrAUG]

I'll mow down on yellowfin and bluefin.

Those too. Just skip the roe, shrimp (basically cocktail shrimp), white fish and octopus.

[titsonritz]

Those too. Just skip the roe, shrimp (basically cocktail shrimp), white fish and octopus.

Not much for uni either.

[caporider]

Japanese food is usually disgusting. Sushi doubly so.

I did catch a taste for Southern Chinese/Vietnamese food that I just have to eat once in a while. Or Bulgogi.

But you can miss me all day with Sushi. I think it was on Rotten.com or somewhere years ago where some dude ended up with worms on his brain from eating that crap too much.

Clearly you've never been to the Ramen Museum.

[jbjh]

I didn’t find that to be the case when I was in Osaka in 2018. I was in a small town south of the city (Kaizuka), but even in Osaka proper, and Seki as well, there were some awesome sushi places. Definitely want to go back and do a food tour of Kyoto and Hiroshima (that place is amazing).

Sucks that people have given up on them in so many cities though.


Sent from 80ms in the future

[SteyrAUG]

I didn’t find that to be the case when I was in Osaka in 2018. I was in a small town south of the city (Kaizuka), but even in Osaka proper, and Seki as well, there were some awesome sushi places. Definitely want to go back and do a food tour of Kyoto and Hiroshima (that place is amazing).

Sucks that people have given up on them in so many cities though.


Sent from 80ms in the future

Either you got in on the end of a good thing or some smaller cities are being hold outs. Wouldn't surprise me to learn that Kyoto might hold onto their old ways.