Life In Japan: Rice Balls

When Americans needs to eat on the fly, they grab a hamburger.

When Japanese need to eat on the fly, they grab a rice ball.

The basic rice ball — actually there are no fancy rice balls — costs around 98 yen [$0.68].

Hamburgers can of course be upgraded with an enormous array of options. In an upscale restaurant, they can be over $18.00, in that case with the hamburger experience significantly enhanced by having it delivered to your table — the one with a view of the city skyline — by a lovely waitress or handsome waiter, smiling ear-to-ear. Even at McDonald’s, a Double Bacon Quarter Pounder with cheese sets you back $6.99 [1005 yen]. The most basic hamburger at McDonald’s — meat and bun, no cheese — pictured above, is $1.59 [229 yen], almost 2 1/2 times what a rice ball costs.

Then again, you get a lot in an American hamburger that you don’t get in a Japanese rice ball. There’s the preservatives, the growth hormones, the antibiotics, the residues of pesticides and herbicides, the traces of antipsychotics, blood pressure modulators, sleep aids, cocaine, MDMA and other recreational drugs commonly found in the drinking water in the U.S., micro-plastics, maybe depleted uranium.

Both being fast foods, hamburgers and rice balls come ready to eat. Theoretically, you can start chomping them down as soon as you pay for them, right at the check-out counter. For certain, you can eat them in your car or even walking to your car.

Unwrapping them is slightly different. I’ve had friends back in the U.S. who actually don’t even bother unwrapping a McDonald’s hamburger. They eat the wrapping right along with the burger and say it tastes pretty much the same, nice and greasy.

Unwrapping the rice ball is a little more involved. Masumi patiently instructed me in what she calls the 1-2-3 method and with some practice, I managed to master it. Here it is . . .

Now as long as this went according to plan, the delicious rice ball is ready for consumption!

Every culture has its advantages and disadvantages. I really love a good hamburger but I was never convinced that McDonald’s hamburgers were actual food. A long long time ago, when I was a pimply 20-something musician, I confess to being hooked on Big Macs. I recall they tasted really good, especially sitting in a park listening to some other local band.

Nutritional advice was not so readily available back then, at least not to the dumb-downed public, of which I was a clueless member. The most profound meme — this was before the word ‘meme’ had even been invented — on eating was: ‘You are what you eat.’ Which was among the reasons I never ate truck tires or dog poop.

Now, everything you wanted to know and a lot you don’t want to know is available on the web. There are no excuses for the eating habits — and yes, they are habits — of people and countries.

I’m not going to preach. I’ll close by making a couple points . . .

First, the most delicious rice ball doesn’t come close to tasting as good as the most delicious hamburger. That’s just a reality.

Here’s another reality, a statistical reality.

The life expectancy in the U.S. is 76.1 and falling. The life expectancy in Japan is 85.0 and rising.

Conclusion: Choose what you eat as if your life depended on it.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Rice Balls | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Good Hamburger Hunting

I’ve made it abundantly clear that I LOVE JAPANESE FOOD!

Having said that does not exclude the possibility of occasional cravings for the tastes and textures of cuisine from the homeland.

I’ve already praised R-H Bagels, an excellent LOCAL restaurant, a leisurely bike ride from our house, for its New York-style bagels.

And I’m sure I’ve mentioned that Masumi and I make a pretty darn good pizza right here at home. We even bought a pizza oven, so we can get those required high temperatures!

What I haven’t mentioned are my shameful failures at recreating a truly genuine, mouth-watering hamburger experience, despite more tries than I want to confess to. The problem mainly seems to be the bun. I’ve even resorted to croissant burgers, since I simply cannot find a decent hamburger bun or good approximation of one. I’m over-simplifying, of course, maybe to let myself off light. Okay . . . it’s more than just the bun. It’s getting the hamburger itself right as well. Apparently, I’ve lost my touch! Boo hoo!

This has driven us over the 14 years we’ve been together, in a desperate search for a truly great American-style hamburger. One that oozes bloody juices, clogs the arteries just sitting on the plate, and creates visions of one of the few things the U.S. actually still gets right these days.

Our first breakthrough arrived somewhat unexpectedly, though the only reason I didn’t expect it is because I didn’t stop to think about it. Actually, it should have been obvious. This was during a summer holiday in 2016.

Because the main island of Okinawa, in particular the major city there of Naha, is overrun by Americans — the whole island, much to the outrage of the locals, hosts numerous U.S. military bases — we found a spectacular hamburger joint called Gordie’s. Gordie? Actually, in all my years in the U.S. I can honestly say I never met someone who called himself ‘Gordie’. There was a legendary hockey player when I was growing up named Gordie Howe. But he was Canadian. Whatever.

Gordie’s in Okinawa is pretty cool! I highly recommend it.

But let’s face it. Okinawa is not exactly convenient.

A little more convenient, but still not that convenient, is a hamburger restaurant we found in Himeji, a place called Lamp’s Bakery. This was late 2018 when our friend Alex Malherbe came back for his second visit to Japan.

Certainly, Himeji is a great place to visit and we’ve been there together at least three times. BUT it’s over two hours away. This has made it incumbent on us to find something a little closer to home.

There are two hamburger cafés right in town. We won’t talk about them. You know why.

But hope springs eternal! (Or is that infernal?) Because . . .

In nearby Sanda — about a 30 minute drive — right downtown near the main JR train station, is Alto Hamburgers. Don’t have a photo right now. It’s a tiny restaurant, seats maybe 16 people. Interesting story behind it. The place is owned by college students, who crowdfunded the whole project, and obviously did their homework. They have a number of very good deluxe hamburgers — bacon, avocado, mushroom, of course cheese, teriyaki, etc. — but in my book, the real draw is their onion rings, which are to die for!

Having lavished all this praise on Alto, I now confess that while it puts up some serious competition, the real #1 hamburger slinger is a restaurant/antique shop/farm way out in the country — which says a lot considering how far out in the country Tambasasayama is — in Kasuga, a forty-minute drive from our house, but one well worth every second of it.

Ladies, gentlemen, gays, lez, bi, trans, double-transitioned, pan, non-binary, non-indexed, no-preference, self-cancelers, and protoplasmic virtue signalers from every whispered and howling corner of the human genome, let me introduce you to Locasse Farm Lab!

And there you have it! Driven by my desire to recapture the joy of devouring an American hamburger, our search is a success. Let’s hope that Alto and Locasse remain in business for the foreseeable and my arteries don’t gunge up with saturated the meat-based calking compound delivered by their HMDs — hamburgers of mass destruction.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Good Hamburger Hunting | John Rachel

What is more evil than pure evil?

 

My Japanese wife in her quest to understand Western
culture regularly runs by me some very interesting, sometimes entirely
bizarre web sites. Recently she directed me to one strangely called  
vegetariansareevil.com,from which I borrowed the image you see posted 
here. The site is now shut down, I guess because they couldn't pay their 
bill or maybe there are still some sane people in the world who had the 
good taste to delete it.

I have to say that while I am pretty jaded about what pops up on the internet, 
this one truly pushed the envelope of absurdity.

Offering a twisted taint-by-association logic __ which even makes the outlandish
satire of The Onion seem tame by comparison __ the web site seemed to be
promoting more meat consumption, based on the intrinsic evil of being a
vegetarian. Right! Just what we need. More heart attacks, colon cancer,
strokes, hypertension, clogged arteries. More stinking blood-drenched
meat farms and global warming resulting from even more massive herds of
steroid-plumped beef cattle farting continent-engulfing eddies of
methane gas. More tectonic escarpments of slimy pig shit and tidal waves
of cattle piss to foul the waterways and aquifers of our fragile
ecosystems.

It can safely be assumed that whoever is behind this __ if it is not a complete
put-on, in which case my hat goes off to them for their entirely
brilliant if bizarre bit of mockery __ suffers from severe blockage of
the arteries that supplies blood to their brains. But that's a whole
other can of beans. Or spam. Or something. Maybe a Double Down from KFC?

The reasoning is as direct as it is specious . . .

Hitler was evil incarnate. Hitler was a vegetarian. So vegetarianism is evil incarnate.

I am reluctant to point this out __ since I don't want to trivialize the
extent to which such thinking can impede any constructive exchange of
ideas __ but I have it on good authority that Hitler also breathed. So
we all should stop breathing? Because clearly such imitative behavior is
evil incarnate? Inhaling an endorsement and praise of the Holocaust?
Exhaling like clicking our heels together and yelling 'Sieg Heil!'

Maybe more interesting, or at least sensible, is to ask: Exactly why was Hitler a
vegetarian? The answer is brilliant on many levels and the perfect cause
for disbelief and indignation.

First we have this quote from Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda,
asserting the extent of Hitler's devotion to the idea . . . 

"The Führer is a convinced vegetarian, on principle. His arguments cannot
be refuted on any serious basis.  They are totally unanswerable . . .  He
believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of
course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food
system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem
also." 

Then we have the words of Hitler himself . . . 

"One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of
the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I
can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be
vegetarian." 

It appears that Hitler based his vegetarianism on an opposition to causing
suffering to animals __ isn't that ironic? __ and rooted in the  
writings of Richard Wagner . . . 

"When first it dawned on human wisdom that the same thing
breathed in animals as in mankind, it appeared too late to avert the
curse which, ranging ourselves with the beasts of prey,
we seemed to have called down upon us through the taste
of animal food: disease and misery of every kind, to
which we did not see mere vegetable-eating men exposed." 

So here is a man whose demented policies resulted in cruel human experimentation,
the cold-blooded torture and murder of millions of people, a man
responsible for collecting gold fillings from freshly killed victims and
turning people into lampshades, the man who stacked human corpses like
they were cobs of corn during the autumn harvest . . . the same man who
found the killing of animals for consumption as food, indelicate, cruel,
unsavory.

Whew!

Let's try to get a handle on Der Führer, some perspective on him and his times.

Remember that the German people in the 1930s and 40s looked at Hitler as a great
man. He was revered and regarded by millions of Germans, both in Germany
and in enclaves of Germans in bordering countries, as a demigod. Most,
of course, subsequently denied any knowledge of his savage treatment of
the Jews, gypsies, Poles, and others he regarded as 'subhuman'.

I personally believe that many, if not a majority, had a strong inkling of
what was going on. It's hard to be downwind of the human barbecues
taking place at Auschwitz-Birkenau and conclude the stench coming from
the ovens was yet another splendid meal of sausage or beef steak for the
residents, who for some reason looked extremely anorexic.

But citizens somehow looked the other way. They gave Herr Hitler a pass.
Anything which might cast doubt on his noble work on behalf of the
German people was swept aside in the torrents of praise. Why question
this remarkable man? After all, he was telling them what they
desperately wanted to hear, that Germans were a great people, an exceptional
people  __ destined to lead the rest of the world into an era where
Germany would oversee a grand new world order. He told them to stand
tall, be proud and patriotic, serve their country, to support the wars,
and let him and the Third Reich create an empire which would raise them
to their rightful place as the leaders of the world.

(By the way, does this sound at all familiar?)

 

Yes, Hitler turned the faltering German economy around. Hitler restored the
faith of the German people in themselves and their country. Hitler loved
dogs. Hitler loved children. Children loved Hitler! Hitler made his
people proud. Germans worshiped their Führer. He loved his people! By
golly, he was so gently and caring he was even a vegetarian.
What a great guy! So they proffered one of the most savage men in
history the blind eye of absolution, a total pardon for his less than
humane activities, the not-so-pleasant collateral damage, necessary
evils __ the pogroms, the slave and concentration camps, the terrifying
and indiscriminate civilian massacres of the Blitzkrieg, all of the
unpleasant but requisite slaughter necessary to achieve the greater
glory of Germany.

As one of my favorite contemporary philosophers says . . . 

"Rationalization is the evil step-brother of rationality." 

Now with the hindsight of history and the clarity of victory, we know Hitler was
pure evil. Worse than pure evil! Evil evil evil! How convenient, because
our bully pulpit blowhards have the perfect tool at hand to demonize
anyone they don't like. How often we now hear the hysterical screaming . . .

"[Fill in name of latest evil bogeyman here] is another Hitler! He must be destroyed!" 

Now I'm not about to make any such comparison between Adolph and any living
politician or national leader. I'll leave that to the purveyors of
panic, a congested field of hysterical pundits and desperate politicos
who lie and spit their hatred in pursuit of their insatiable appetites
for plunder, death and destruction.

What I want to point out here is that there is an important lesson to be learned.

At the time of Hitler's reign, the German people saw him as a savior, a hero, a
man who would restore dignity and worth and greatness to the German
nation. They looked very selectively at all of the positive things about
the man, ignoring the blatant signs that they were in the throes of a
love affair with a madman, whose unprecedented cruelties knew no bounds,
whose egomania and visions of hell drove his destructive delusions.
Obviously, we now benefit from a more complete understanding. All of the
niceties and personal charm, the propaganda and spin which mesmerized
the German nation and infused them with a pathological reverence for
their leader is horribly irrelevant against the massively cruel,
psychopathic crimes their Führer inflicted on humankind.

And that is the lesson we must learn from this.

I'm not going to name names here. All of you are big people you can figure this
out on your own who this might apply to. These idols who substitute
charisma and charm for character and honor are scattered far and wide
across the political landscapes of the world. We have them here where I
live in Japan, though I'd like you to focus on America and its European
allies, since the West is the center of power in the world, at least for now, and 
represents the greatest existential threat to humankind.

Having said that . . .

When our contemporary leaders give their inspiring speeches, when they appeal to
our pride, declare America the greatest nation in the world, declare
Americans to be superior and exceptional, appealing to our already
bloated pride. When they calculatingly take popular stands on
"hotbutton" issues sure to bring them easy support because these are
intensely emotional and appealing matters, for example, when they
support gay marriage and minorities and other human rights, when they
voice their concerns for the vulnerable, the sick and the less fortunate
members of our society, even come out in favor of legalizing marijuana,
then maybe give a little boost to the budget to help the unemployed or
shove a nice plate of food in front of a hungry kid at school. There's
no question, these are on their own terms good things. These show common
decency and compassion and common sense. These are fine, genuinely
heartening gestures for sure. They feel good and give us the warm and 
comfortable feeling that we're in good hands.

By golly . . . they're just like loving children and dogs and being vegetarian.

Hmm.

The point is, when these same people then slaughter tens of thousands of innocent
citizens around the world, start unnecessary wars over oil or other
resources, promote aggression to enrich the corporate stockholders of
our vast defense industries, sponsor extrajudicial torture and killing
__ drone and special ops assassinations __ refuse to sign or approve treaties like banning land mines and cluster munitions, when these same leaders support ruthless murderous regimes around the world, and through all of the horror of these and other crimes against humanity, we look the other way, are we any better than the German citizens were before and during WWII?

Aren't we just giving these putatively wonderful men and women a pass on the things that are the true measure of their moral leadership, the things which will blot our history for generations to come with the blood stains of our savage disregard for human life?

Of course, none of our splendid current leaders will ever reach the level of
depravity and notoriety in history books as the man who was more evil
than pure evil . . . Herr Hitler. 

Our leaders can be forgiven for their sins.

They still eat hamburgers.

Just like us.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]