Daigo Fujiwara, Editor-in-Chief, next to a whole lot of paper
About a week ago, ima magazine staff took a tour of Gannett Offset in Norwood, MA, who will be printing the magazine. I'm bummed I didn't get to go. It sounded exciting.
We also surpassed our Kickstarter goal of $4,000 last week! Thanks to everyone who donated! There's still 21 hours left if you still want to donate. Every little bit helps!
Our first all staff meeting was on Saturday before and during the snowstorm. Lots of interesting stuff planned for the first issue! We're really excited!
I was still a baby the last time I was in Japan on Christmas so I don't remember a thing about Christmas in Japan. I was surprised to learn from a friend that if you were to ask a Japanese person to name the thing they most associate with Christmas (or rather Kurisumasu), they'd say KFC. Apparently, back in the '70s, some brilliant KFC Japan employee decided they should market their fried chicken as a special Christmas meal, and thus, a new Japanese tradition was born. Some people report that this was because expats couldn't find turkey anywhere in Japan and KFC was the closest they could get. Whatever the origin, it's paid of massively for KFC.
I was just looking at the ima magazineTwitter feed and learned the sad news that Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii passed away yesterday. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that he died of a respiratory ailment.
Unlike most Japanese Americans in the United States, Senator Inouye was able to escape incarceration during WWII because he was living in Hawaii, where very few Japanese Americans were taken away. Instead, he enlisted and was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Unit, comprised mostly of nisei from Hawaii and some nisei who left camps on the mainland. Their motto was "Go for broke," a pidgin English phrase meaning to bet it all and win or lose big.
Per the White House, Senator Inouye was the "second-longest serving Senator in the history of the chamber." When I was growing up in the 80s, Senator Inouye was one of the few famous Japanese Americans I could look up. After Mark Takano takes office next year, there will be just five Japanese Americans in Congress. This is a great loss for Hawaii, and really a great loss for America. Aloha, Dan. "Go For Broke: 442nd Combat Team Song" music & lyrics written by Pfc. Harry Kamada
Jake Shimabukuro's beautiful tribute also titled "Go For Broke,"
"In honor of the Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJA) soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives in World War II, Jake Shimabukuro released “Go For Broke,” a heartfelt tribute to the men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Infantry Battalion, the 1399th Engineering Construction Battalion, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS)."
I'm reposting something I posted a week ago. There's 15 days left in the ima magazineKickstarter campaign and they need around $1,500 to reach their goal. Please help make this publication a reality by donating and/or posting to social media. Thanks!
Saturday December 8, 2012:
My friends are launching an ambitious project - publishing Boston's first bilingual Japanese-English print and online magazine "for Japanese or Japanese-Americans who live in Boston, and Bostonians who are interested in Japan." The publication, ima magazine, will cover and analyze news, culture, entertainment, sports, and area events. [Ima (今, pronounced ee-ma) means "now" in Japanese.]
I'm really excited that they've decided to do this. I've long wished for a central place where Japanese Americans and Japanese could interact. While a magazine isn't a "place" per se, it will provide a central point of contact between both communities. I've been invited to write for ima magazine and hope I'll be able to contribute!
The magazine will be available for free around Boston. They're hoping to publish their first issue in February 2013. To get the first issue out, they're running a Kickstarter campaign until December 31, 2012, at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time). Please donate if you can!
Left: Yume Wo Katare Ramen without garlic Right: Sapporo House Ramen without scallions
People always ask me, "Which is better - Yume Wo Katare or Sapporo?" I don't think it's a fair question, because it's like comparing apples and oranges.
Before Yume Wo Katare opened I wondered if it wasn't a little unfair of them to open so close to Sapporo Ramen when there are so many other parts of town that are lacking in nearby ramen. I wondered if Sapporo was worried about competition. After having my first bowl of Yume Wo Katare ramen I realized they're really not in direct competition. Just about the only thing Yume Wo Katare ramen and Sapporo ramen have in common is that they're bowls of soup noodles with veggies and meat on top. That's where the similarities end.
I have to confess to no longer being a fan of Sapporo. I used to eat there quite regularly, but a few years ago they changed their broth and menu and got rid of one of my favorites (Seaweed Ramen). I tried the new ramen a few times and went as recently as this week with a friend who doesn't eat pork, and I still don't understand why it's so popular. I stopped going to Sapporo a while ago because I found the new broth fairly flavorless. My recent visit was the same. It's possible that other ramen at Sapporo has more flavor, but due to food allergies, the House Ramen is the only one I can eat.
Aside from the broth, my biggest problem with Sapporo is that I'm still hungry when I'm done eating. I've even tried ordering their ramen with extra noodles. Still hungry. If I'm paying $10+ (including tip) for a meal, I don't want to leave hungry. Pikaichi serves slightly more noodles in their Tokyo Shoyu Ramen, but when I was ordering just ramen, I would leave a little hungry. Then I noticed you can add a bowl of curry (or cha-su don) for $1.99. Problem solved. Sapporo has sides, but none sized for an individual. My current favorite of Sapporo, Pikaichi, and Mentei is Pikaichi. Yume Wo Katare is in a class by itself. I find their ramen too rich to eat regularly, although I've noticed some of their customers eat there weekly or even more than once a week.
I've heard that Sapporo's business is up since Yume Wo Katare opened. Many people don't want to stand in a 2 hour line at Yume Wo Katare, but they want a bowl a noodles, so they'll head over to Sapporo. The wait time at Yume Wo Katare continues to be long even though they recently expanded their hours by an hour each night. Others leave Yume Wo Katare after learning they serve only pork ramen since they can't or don't eat pork (or even meat). Sapporo's main broth is made with chicken & vegetables and they also have a vegetarian broth.
I tell everyone who likes pork that they should try Yume Wo Katare. Their ramen is definitely more value for your dollar, but not everyone can/wants to eat a bowl of noodles as calorific as theirs or stand in line in the cold for 1-2 hours. Since opinion on Sapporo is so divided, I recommend that people try it for themselves even though I'm not a fan. Really, with only four ramen restaurants in Boston, it's easy to try all four and decide for yourself.
Comparison
Yume Wo Katare Ramen - $12 (including tax)
Broth: Extremely rich (some say too rich), fairly salty (some say too salty), a little sweet tonkotsu (pork & soy sauce) broth (some have described it as being closer to a light gravy).
Noodles: 350g of wide, dense, house-made noodles cooked al dente. Chewy but soft.
Pork: Two large, thick, fatty slices of rolled pork belly. They're not always consistent - some days saltier than others, some pieces fattier than others.
Other Toppings: Briefly boiled bean sprouts & cabbage (fairly consistent from day to day), seabura (pork back fat - some people find this too rich), and a heap of fresh minced garlic. Extra toppings are free.
Sapporo House Ramen - $9.50 (including tax)
Broth: Thick but flavorless (to me anyway - some people rave about the flavor of their broth) chicken & vegetable broth. I've heard people refer to their broth as "rich." It's certainly a little richer than your average ramen broth, but I don't find it rich. I feel that the broth is lacking in depth.
Noodles: I'm not sure what the portion is but it's on the small side - my guess is around 140g of thin, light, commercially-made noodles cooked al dente. I find their noodles are usually more al dente than I'd like but I always forget to ask them to cook them longer.
Pork: Two small, thin slices of lean pork with very little flavor.
Other Toppings: Sweet corn, raw bean sprouts, half of a medium well boiled egg (I thought mine was perfectly boiled the other day but I've seen a lot of complaints about their overcooked eggs), one tiny square of nori (roasted seaweed), and scallions. There is a charge for extra toppings.
Tewassa's Christmas concert is just a few days away. New raffle prizes keep coming in and we now have over $1,200$1,305 $1,320 worth of prizes from many local Japanese businesses. Hope you can make it!
Our Christmas quilt will be on display. It's headed to the Ivy Baby Home nursery in Yamagata, along with some toys.
I recently learned through the New England JACL newsletter that Boston has a food pantry for Asians! While I'd imagine they probably aren't serving Japanese families, I wanted to publicize their work.
The Rice Sticks and Tea Asian Food Pantry has been around for 14 years, "serving over 120 pre-screened low-income Asian immigrant and refugee families each month. Those 120 households represent over 300 children, adults and seniors. It is the only food pantry program in the region whose mission is to serve the Asian community and provide food that is consistent with their cultural cooking traditions and preferences. The program began as a collaboration between the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry and the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence. RST was created in response to legislation that denied food stamps to all immigrants regardless of their circumstances. Battered immigrant women and children as well as the elderly are among the most affected."
Monetary donations can be made online or by mail. You can also volunteer on the second Friday and Saturday of every month when they pack and distribute the food.
I have a backlog of half-written posts, most of which are about Yume Wo Katare. In the meantime I thought I'd share that they have gorgeous new chopsticks that were hand-delivered from Japan a couple of weeks ago. Tsuyoshi-san described them as having a "tornado" grip. I have to admit to having a fondness for their old wooden chopsticks, but I haven't had a chance to eat with the new chopsticks so they may well be more awesome.
Rumor has it that Ittoku plans to open before the end of the month! I haven't managed to confirm this with Chiki-san or Carlos Garcia yet, but will see what I can find out.
Update 12/12/12: I should have known better than to post this without confirming. Chiki-san told me tonight that although they received approval for the transfer of the Le Petit Robert's liquor license to them, they don't have it in hand yet. He expects they will have it before the end of the month. After that, construction & inspections. They're aiming for a February/March 2013 opening.
I just stumbled across an interesting volunteer organization in Ishinomaki via a lip dub some of their members made. In spite of the silliness of the lip dub, It's Not Just Mud (INJM) is doing serious rebuilding work in the Tohoku region.
INJM was founded last year by Jamie El-Banna, a British former English teacher who had been working in Osaka. He told the BBC that prior to 3/11/11 he "had never done any volunteer work in [his] life." He didn't start out with the intention of forming a non-profit but things snowballed and they received official status as a non-profit this year.
I love that they have a F.U.E. (Frequently Used Excuses) list on their website that addresses the excuses people make for why they can't volunteer. I told myself for years that I was going to start volunteering when I had the time, but other than a few random bits of volunteering here and there, I didn't commit to long-term volunteering until I joined Tewassa this year. When I think of all the hours of my life I've wasted doing meaningless things, I'm sorry that I didn't start volunteering sooner! Check out their video in which volunteers answer the question, "Why did you volunteer?"
I enjoy working with Tewassa but feel that I'm still fairly disconnected from really understanding what people in the Tohoku area are going through. This also seems to be common for Japanese in Japan who live outside Tohoku. Some of our members have delivered our quilts to schools in the area so they've been able to see things first-hand and talk to people directly affected, but for those of us who haven't gone on one of these deliveries yet, I don't think we can really grasp what they've been through and what the challenges are from the pictures and reports of other members.
I haven't been to Japan in nearly 25 years and I have to admit that my memories of my visits are dim and I have no recollection of living there (we moved to the US when I was two and a half). In spite of the fact that my memories of Japan are so fragmented and mostly exist in photographs, I was deeply saddened by the images of Japan in the aftermath of 3/11/11. I looked around for volunteer opportunities, but at the time, it was difficult to find English-language organizations looking for unskilled volunteers and it seemed the consensus was that it wasn't helpful for non-Japanese speaking volunteers without specialized skills (like search & rescue) to go because you'd be more of a burden than a help.
Things seem to have changed now that Japan is out of the initial crisis phase. I really like that INJM encourages people to volunteer with them regardless of their Japanese or English language abilities. They appear to do a good job providing information in both languages. I have my own special F.U.E. (multiple food allergies) for why it would be a bad idea for me to go to Japan, but perhaps I'll look volunteering with them at some point.
My friends are launching an ambitious project - publishing Boston's first bilingual Japanese-English print and online magazine "for Japanese or Japanese-Americans who live in Boston, and Bostonians who are interested in Japan." The publication, ima magazine, will cover and analyze news, culture, entertainment, sports, and area events. [Ima (今, pronounced ee-ma) means "now" in Japanese.]
I'm really excited that they've decided to do this. I've long wished for a central place where Japanese Americans and Japanese could interact. While a magazine isn't a "place" per se, it will provide a central point of contact between both communities. I've been invited to write for ima magazine and hope I'll be able to contribute!
The magazine will be available for free around Boston. They're hoping to publish their first issue in February 2013. To get the first issue out, they're running a Kickstarter campaign until December 31, 2012, at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time). Please donate if you can!
