Hiroyuki

Nameko (Na-me-ko) Today, I have found some interesting sites on nameko on the Internet. I'd like to share them with you. First, this one: http://www3.omn.ne.jp/~furuyama/nameko%20phot.html Click on any photo to enlarge. You will see how nameko are cultivated. The next one: http://www.world-mushroom.com/nameko/e_nameko.htm Again, click on any photo to enlarge. This page is from the following website: http://www.world-mushroom.com/e_newgallery.htm Enjoy other varieties of mushrooms. (Some links are broken, though.) You can learn how they are cultivated. The following site tells you how to make 32 different dishes using nameko: http://www12.wind.ne.jp/misawa7/ryouri/ryouri.html It's entirely in Japanese, so just enjoy the photos. I love nameko. Miso soup with nameko and tofu is one of my favorites. How about you? Do you like nameko?

You gave me such a silly question that I forgot to answer the second one. Not yet. But that's exactly what my son and I intend to do this fall. We also want to gather hon shimeji.

Somehow, someway, that particular sentence of yours lingers on, especially the expression, "it tastes DEAD"; what a direct expression! I once had just the opposite experience: An acquaintance in Shiozawa town gave me some Shiozawa Koshihikari rice. I cooked it, nice and hot, and I took a mouthful of it with my chopsticks. As I munched, I felt the power of the rice. It asserted itself. Forgive me for saying this, because I just have to say this: If you really are to explore the world of rice, allow me to suggest putting Koshihikari rice, especially Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice, on the top of your list.

Well, I'd like to talk about it when mushrooms are in season.

Sell them?? Go out into the woods and get them!! I'll show you a picture of them when I get them in... probably next fall.

Have you ever tried brown enoki? http://www.chinjuh.mydns.jp/hakubutu/kinoko/enoki01.htm Look at the photo under 11. http://www.bimiranman.jp/processes/enoki/ The one on the left is a bunch of white enoki, the one on the right brown enoki. I have bought brown enoki several times, and I think that brown enoki taste almost the same as white enoki. Now I don't want to buy them any longer mainly because the price is twice or three times higher than that of white enoki. Do you know what wild enoki look like? Quite different from cultured ones. http://www.cx.sakura.ne.jp/~kinoko/00jap/enokitake01.htm Beautiful, aren't they?

No doubt about it: The rice in Japan is expensive. But I'm not in despair. There are signs of hope. Japan will not be able to sustain all of its high-cost structures in the near future, or it will go bankrupt. The change from the obsolete Shokkan Ho to the new Shokuryo Ho in 1994 (effective in 1995) was largely due to the poor crop of the previous year (1993). It was the "weather" that caused that change. What we Japanese now need is a change from within ourselves. Let me point out that the average annual salary in Japan is 4 million and 470 thousand (4,470,000) yen in 2002, including bonuses. It's been on the decrease for five years in a row. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/atmoney/mnews/20031229mh02.htm (in Japanese) An analyst says that the salaries of a majority of Japanese will further go down to the 3 million yen level. It is then that Japanese will make a change from within themselves. That's what I hope. Japan could do with a revolution or two. Don't you think?

Thank you, Prasantin, for such a quick reply. It IS an eye-opener. So, maybe they use microwave ovens in Japan, too. That figures. When I was working there, there were only burgers, french fries, apple pies, and so on. Now they offer a lot other items. It is no wonder that they started to resort to microwave ovens. When I was working there, they had very silly, strict rules, like, french fries must be disposed of in seven minutes, burgers in ten (?) minutes; you must not keep customers waiting for three (?) minutes or longer, and so on. Things seem to have changed since then, though. Anyway, thank you again, Prasantin.

I just came home from shopping. I bought 10-kg, 100% Shiozawa-san Koshihikari brown rice for 5,600 yen, and milled it into white rice by myself at a 100-yen rice mill (100円精米所 100-yen se-i-ma-i-jo) nearby. When you mill brown rice into white one, the rice reduces by about 10% in weight. Just for your reference. *** Sorry, pirate, I still cannot take a photo of the label you wanted to see.

I once worked as "arubaito" (part-timer) at McDonald's at Shibuya in Tokyo when I was a university studient, way back in the early 1980s. They never used microwave ovens at that time. Do they use them now?

Do you know this site: http://www.gohan.ne.jp/okome-data/komedb.html お米データベース A complete database on rice. The problem is..., it's entirely in Japanese!

I found two sites (both in Japanese): http://www.maisen.co.jp/genmai.html This tells you that brown rice 玄米 gen-mai has the capability of removing kankyo hormones and food additives from your body (at the bottom of the page). http://www.gohan.ne.jp/okome-data/01/123.html This tells you that rice is grown with no fertilizers or agricultural chemicals in Thiland. Wanna try?

A great reply. You must be a good cook.

Yes, there is. In April 2001 (quite recently), 有機JAS法 Yu-u-ki JAS (pronounced "jas", not J-A-S) Hoh (Organic JAS Law) was put into effect. Organic products have this mark, 有機JASマーク, yu-u-ki JAS mark, on them: http://www.no1yuki.com/yukijas.html You see the green mark in the middle. That's the one. Don't trust anyone until you see the mark. The term 有機 yu-u-ki (organic) used to be abused so much. Even today, there are so many people who just don't know the exact definition of that term. There used to be farmers who claimed their farm products were "organic" just because they used organic fertilizers, and there used to be supermarkets selling vegetables mislabeled as organic ones. I read the Japanese version of the Roppongi Hills Club message http://www.roppongihillsclub.com/essence/vol12/index.html#1 Full of beautiful words, but no mention of the yu-u-ki JAS mark. Ask them if they use the real organic rice (有機米 yu-u-ki ma-i). Needless to say, there are frauds: http://www.no1yuki.com/yukijas.html#fusei I found one organic rice store on the web: http://www.no1yuki.com/index.html This stores deals in this rice, from the United States: http://www.lundberg.com/ Prices: http://www.no1yuki.com/syohin.html Related information: Japan Organic Inspectors Association (not much useful information, though) http://www.ops.dti.ne.jp/~joia/english_pages/index_e.html There are three levels of cultivation with low or no agricultural chemicals: 1) 有機 yu-u-ki, just mentioned above 2) 無農薬 mu-nouyaku (no agricultural chemicals) 3) 減農薬 gen-nouyaku (reduced agricultural chemicals) 有機 has the stringent rules. Farm products cultivated with the other two levels must NOT have the 有機JAS マーク, mentioned above. The other subject: Before I can give you any meaningful comments, you'll have to answer the question: You thought that the article was an eye-opener because 1) it made you realize that Japanese rice was expensive because of excessive use of chemicals OR because 2) it made you realize that Japanese rice contained a lot of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and was hazardous. Which is it? Or, both? At this point, let me point out the following: 1) The high price of Japanese rice is a "structural problem". It's not something that you can solve by fixing a single element alone. The cost of chemicals (probably) accounts for a fraction of the total rice production cost. I have no data available at the moment to prove this, though. 2) The article is dated June 19, 2000; simply "outdated". We are in 2004. We all know more about EDCs (EDCs are more commonly known in Japan as 環境ホルモン kankyo hormones). We all know that they are hazardous. We all know that agricultural chemicals are sources of EDCs, but we also know that other foods, especially fish, are major sources of such hazardous substances. My personal opinion is this: In this highly industrialized society of ours, we cannot escape from the hazard of such substances (and food additives). You can live in the mountains and lead a healthy, self-sufficient life, free from all those substances, getting away from it all. But I can't. The 20th century was a century of expansion. The 21st century will be an environmental century, a green century, and above all, a "golden century". We are in the middle of the transition to a better world. But, in the meantime, we are the victims of those substances. What do you say? Waiting for a reply.

That's it. Thank you, torakris.

Sorry to have interrupted your conversation, but I've never thought of buying a cooking magazine for just a recipe. I've always thought the essence of Japanese cuisine is a combination of soy sauce and mirin. Beef bowl, yakitori, sukiyaki, and what have you. For someone like me, "recipes" are just... not necessary, simple put. I like 男の料理　"otoko no ryori" mens' cooking. Cut this, cut that, put this in, put that it, add soy sauce, add mirin, ... OK, it's done. Let's eat! Itadakimasu! (Do you follow me?) I read in a book when I was still a teenager that soy sauce delayed the progress of Japanese cuisine by one hundred years because of its perfection. Don't you agree? (I see disapproval in your eyes.) Sorry. Carry on. I'm out of here.

Talking of mochi ice cream, I don't care much for Yukimi Daifuku　雪見だいふく because it's rather expensive as compared to its volume. What I like the most is Rakuto Ice (Lacto Ice??) type of ice cream because it's less expensive and contains less fat. I don't care for Haagen-dazs ice cream, either, because it's just heavy for me. My life loves it, though. I wonder if there is already a thread on ice cream.

If you say so. But it's kind of a local topic, I mean, a topic specific to Japan, a country with so many matsutake lovers. In September 2002, 東洋きのこ農園, Toyo Kinoko Noen, in Hiroshima Prefecture, started releasing this mushroom, called Matsu Kinoko, which they claimed was produced with what they called "fusion" technology, fusing Matsutake and Shiitake fungi on the same culture, the technology being developed by a private-sector researcher in Yamaguchi prefecture. The Noen said that they were making Matsu Kinoko by fusing 80%-Matsutake and 20%-Shiitake fungi. It was on April 19, 2003, that this topic was taken up by Nikkei Shimbun (Nikkei). Subsequently, major national newspaper companies such as Mainichi Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun covered the story, as well as major TV stations including NHK, sending Japanese people into such a frenzy. But in May, the Forestry Agency requested the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute to appraise the product. On June 17, the Institute determined that Matsu Kinoko was a shiitake because of its several characteristics. On June 20, NHK reported that the artificially cultivated matsutake, Matsu Kinoko, was a shiitake. http://www.geocities.co.jp/Technopolis/6868/nten.htm What was silly about this incident was that those mass media reported this mushroom without any scientific basis, without waiting for the results of a DNA analysis. The silliest thing is that the researcher had admitted that it was a shiitake. http://www.geocities.co.jp/Technopolis/6868/ikasama4.htm. (in Japanese. If you don't read Japanese, never mind. It's for those who read it.) Fame, publicity, commercialism, mass media, ... What do you think? You know, that's why I always go for this product: Matsutake soup (松茸の味 お吸い物) of Nagatanien (永谷園） http://www.rakuten.co.jp/mindtrips/479578/479583/ It's a fake. But it's good. There is a website specializing in a variety of fake matsutake! (in Japanese): http://www.geocities.co.jp/Technopolis/6868/index.html This TV program tells you that edamame (young soy beans) have the same flavor as one of Matustake's two flavors. http://www.ntv.co.jp/megaten/library/date/02/11/1110.html (in Japanese only)

Quick Report 2 Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the one and only, world's first, authentic cultivated matsutake, "Matsu Kinoko"!! Come and get it from here: http://www.hint.or.jp/kozan/matukinoko/matukinoko.htm I lied. I deceived you. No hard feelings. After all, I just deceived you and a couple of other guys only. But, let me remind you that just one year ago, one hundred and twenty million Japanese people were deceived in much the same way as you were just now, by the press, the manufacturer, and above all, the "inventor" of Matsu Kinoko. Of course, I was one of those people. You don't want to hear any more, do you?

Wow, I'm glad to hear that!! Thank you for your information.

Hi, sizzleteeth, I'm back. How are you? I wonder if you are still there. Now, the basics: Basically, there are two types of fungi: 1) Decay fungi: Destroy wood to live. Easy to cultivate. Examples: Maitake, Shiitake, Enoki, Buna Shimeji 2) Mycorrhizal fungi: Live in a symbiotic relationship with trees. Difficult to cultivate. Examples: Truffle, Matsutake, Hon Shimeji I understand that truffles are cultivated in what you might call an "orchard" approach. As far as I know, such an approach has never been taken in Japan to grow matsutake or hon shimeji. But a similar approach is being taken in Tanba, Kyoto, the biggest matsutake producing district in Japan: http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/forest/sinrin/matutake.htm (in Japanese) under the slogan of "採るマツタケからつくるマツタケ" (shift from matsutake gathering to matsutake making) because of sharp decreases in annual production; mere 40 tons on average in the last decade from 1,200 tons or greater before the war. And there is a book available that "proposes" an orchard approach to matsutake cultivation: http://bookweb2.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi...NIPS=9970202553 (in Japanese) As for hon shimeji, however, probably because of their lower market price, no such approach seems to be taken. I have found two sites about two cases of successful hon shimeji cultivation: http://www.kippo.or.jp/KansaiWindowHtml/Ne...61119_NEWS.HTML (2nd story) (in English!) http://www.kippo.or.jp/KansaiWindowHtml/Ne...11205_NEWS.HTML (4th story) (in English again!) These two successes are just experimental. When I first read the story about the real cultivated hon shimeji, I suspected it was just another fake: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/wine/news_g/20040208uj22.htm (already mentioned in my previous post) I made an inquiry to the manufacturer, ヤマサ醤油 (Yamasa Shoyu), and they said they were 本物, genuine. They also said they are on sale only at Ikegukuro Seibu department store in Tokyo at the moment (probably because of the low annual production of 300-500 kg). According to the site above, the hon shimeji have been on sale at that store since the end of last year. A box of 300-gram hon simeji is 1000 yen, which is about one-third that of wild ones. I have no clear clue as to how those particular hon shimeji are cultivated; the above website does not give a description of it and I cannot find any other sources. Probably, they are cultivated in much the same way as other types of mushroom such as maitake, that is, in a limited indoor space with air conditioning, rather than an open field, but I can never be sure. Sorry, this is not much of a "full report", contrary to my initial intention. I wonder if this has cleared up your confusion. Give me a reply when you have time. Till then, bye!

Forgive me if I have misinterpreted your post, but "tempura ice cream" has been around in Japan, too, for so many years. I just can't recall since when. So, I think the expression "has reached Japan" is rather inappropriate. On the other subject, "mochi ice cream", do you mean 雪見だいふく　Yukimi Daifuku of LOTTE? http://www2.ias.biglobe.ne.jp/patent/SUB-Topi03-8.html http://www.nikkei.co.jp/newpro/news/20031119e000y66919.html Sorry again, if I have misinterpreted your description. I'm not familiar with what's happening in the U.S.

Me: クリス先生、ありがとうございました。　(Cris-Sensei, Thank you very much.) The end of a Sunday lecture...

Me: クリス先生!　(Kris-sensei)! Kris-sensei: 何ですか？　Nan desuka? (What it it?) Me: アクって英語で何ていうか教えて下さい　"Aku"tte eigo de nan te iu ka oshiete kudasai (Please tell me how to call "aku" in English.) *** You have already answered that question. Thanks.

Yesterday, my daughter and I went for a walk and picked up some fukinoto and tsukushi (horsetails). (土筆　つくし　tsukushi a reproductive shoot of the field horsetail. according to Microsoft Bookshelf Basic Ver. 3.0, preinstalled on my computer) My wife made fukinoto no tempura and tsukushi no kinpira. To make tsukushi no kinpira, you must first boil the tsukushi to get rid of "aku" (harshness) (I still don't know the exact equivalent in English), then fry them with oil, Japanese sake, soy sauce, and sugar.