MASTERING THE ART OF SUSHI

     Julie Child gave Americans the Art of French Cooking.  The Tokyo Sushi Academy gave this American the opportunity to be a culinary artist for a morning and to make what the world has embraced as the ultimate finger food...sushi.

     Encapsulated into a 3-hour course is an hands-on experience learning to make this popular finger food which everyone can master.  Best of all, you get to eat what you create !

     Within a 2-minute walk of the Nishi-Shinjuku exit of the Marunouchi Metro line is the hidden world of the Tokyo Sushi Academy.  Serious culinary students from around the world come here for 8-weeks of intensive instruction in the art of creating sushi.  I on the otherhand was tiptoeing in for a sticky morning of what can best be described as "a two fingured symphony."

     If I didn't find the real students separated by only a glass partition intimidating enough, I thought I had bought the farm when a three color schematic with the steps to manipulating rice, fish and wasabi was presented.  I find my best learning is by doing and not thinking.  Following charts has never been my forte.  Oh well., here we go.

     I was immediately put at ease by an apron, my very own work station, a tub of prepared sushi rice and three French vsitors who saved my ego from total destruction by being more perplexed than I or Julie Child.

The process was light hearted and organized in immaculate Japanese fashion to be inclusive vs. exclusive.   Our instructor spoke better English than I and made the morning entertaining without being Benihana'esque.     

My sushi creations were relished with cold mugi-cha, one mouthful at a time until they were completely gone.  And now, me thinks I need to catch the Metro to Tsukiji and sit at a counter and see where a few more years of practice can take me. 

                       

For further information about this experience visit:

http://www.sushitokyo.jp/apply_pri.html

Tokyo Sushi Academy

8-2-5 Nishi Shinjuku

Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023 Japan

BONSAI: Creating Nature in a Dish

     As with many cultural things in Japan, Bonsai (pronounced bone-sigh) has it's origins in China.  Legend has it, a Han Dynasty (206B.C.-220A.D.) Emperor created a landsape in his garden representing the hills, valleys and forests of his kingdom so that he could view it from his palace window.

     Fast forward to the Heian Peridod of Japan (794-1191 A.D.) when a Buddhist monk brings this miniturist landscape design to Japan.   This small island country not only understood but embraced the concept.  The Japanese understood the utiliarian beauty of miniturizing Nature to the extent that they metamorphosed this Chinese model and elevated Bonsai to an art which is now recongized as exclusively Japanese.

     Bonsai literally translates "dish planting," and was an early-on province for only the wealthy noblemen of Japan.  It was from the 17th century that bonsai broke it's elitist bonds and was embraced by the wider populace.  The merchant class and their demand for the esthetic brought bonsai to the practiced art as we enjoy it today.

     I had an opportunity this trip to visit a Bonsai master, Kunio Kobayashi, in his home, workshop and museum.  Etched on his face was the love for each of the ancient treasures he has been charged with nurturing.   I sat and had tea and Japanese rice crackers with him while he talked about his art and his family.

     He showed me around his collection and pointed out some of the different types of trees, explaining the form and shape.  He showed me the 40 year development of a maple which was recently published in a Bonsai magazine.

     I knew at that point I was a goner.   Like so many passions, I should have started at an earlier age.  But, Master Kobayashi unleashed me in his studio, gave me a sapling, some clippers and wire and sent me home with a greater understanding and appreciation for the beauty that we can each create even in a few hours.

Shunkaen Bonsai Museum

Nihori 1-29-16 Edogawa-ku,

Tokyo,  Japan 132-0001

http://www.kunio-kobayashi,com/

TAKAO SAN: Mount Takao, Tokyo

TOKYO'S MOST  POPULAR MOUNTAIN GETAWAY

    

     Located just one hour from Shinjuku Station are the wild forests of eastern Tokyo.  Thick pine woods, hillsides blanketed with Rhododendron and Azalea abound.  In Spring, the cherry blossom prevails, in Fall the flaming Japanese maple reins supreme.

     Today, I was a city slicker going with the school groups and the strollers.  From the Takaosanguchi Station where the Shinjuku train deposits, it is a brief stroll to Kiyotaki Station and the cable car.

     Here are some of my delightful cable car companions...

     The cable car provides Japan's steepest verticle ascent.  It runs 1,000 meters between Kiyotaki and the ridge line, taking 5 minutes.  I sat facing downhill and thought I was going to tumble into the lap of the gentleman seated across from me facing uphill.

From the end of the cable car, strollers continue to Yakuo-in Temple.  This Buddhist temple was established in 744 by the orders of the Emperor Shomu.  The founding abbot was Gyoki, the charismatic priest who was instrumental in the erection of the Great Buddha of Todaiji Temple in Nara. 

The balance of the stroll to the summit was less than 20 minutes.   Not to diminish the experience,  there were Tokyoites with their orange mohawk hair and leather jackets, stylish young maids in their heels and senior groups with their tan hiking hats and towels around their necks.  

And lest you fear from the possiblity of starvation,  there is little chance as the summit comes complete with a panoramic view of Mt. Fuji and Yokohama and ten assorted vending machines, plus the ubiquitous omiage shop selling ice cream cones, okashi (Japanese junk food), key chains and other momentos of a lovely excursion into the wild.