Nikkei Chronicles #6—Itadakimasu 2! Another Taste of Nikkei Culture
How does the food you eat express your identity? How does food help to connect your community and bring people together? What kinds of recipes have been passed down from generation to generation in your family? Itadakimasu 2! Another Taste of Nikkei Culture revisited the role of food in Nikkei culture.
For this series, we asked our Nima-kai community to vote for their favorite stories and an editorial committee to pick their favorites. In total, four favorite stories were selected.
Here are the selected favorite stories.
Editorial Committee’s Selections:
- ENGLISH:
Matsutake Sukiyaki
By Susan Yamamura
- JAPANESE:
Taking Pride in Spreading Yakisoba From Suzano to the Rest of Brazil – the Tie-up of a Noodle-making Facility and Bunkyo
By Kohei Ohsawa
- SPANISH:
Hard times for Mother, good memories for me
By Milagros Tsukayama Shinzato
- PORTUGUESE:
A Precious … and Delicious Legacy
By Katsuo Higuchi
Nima-kai selection:
- 44 stars:
It All Began at Mrs. Miyoko's Boarding House
By Iraci Megumi Nagoshi
Stories from this series
Caring and Helping Others
Aug. 8, 2017 • Don Tanaka
Chohichi Tanaka left Itoshima in Fukuoka, Japan in the early 1900s looking for a better life. He decided to venture to America where he thought he might find work. Chohichi stopped in Hawaii for a short period, but continued to head to the mainland. He arrived in San Francisco. He went to French Camp, near Stockton, California. He became a share cropper and grew sugar beets and sweet potatoes. He met his wife through a picture bride arrangement; her name …
In Praise of Konbini Ice Cream
July 31, 2017 • Danielle Yuki Yang
I can remember those thickly hot Kobe days, when my brothers and I sat for hours on tatami mats, sluggishly scratching and slapping at the hot, swollen welts covering our legs. We would trace the patchwork fields indented on our knees and our thighs from the pressure of sitting on bamboo mats for too long, all the while dragging the page of a book to read on, numbly pawing at our Nintendo DS, or maybe even sinking into the couch …
Oba Haruko, the best
July 27, 2017 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya
This story began when my wife and I got married, they were difficult times in Peru, most of us still went to work in Japan. It seemed that we were going to be left without Nikkei in the country . I had a clothing business in the city center. My wife's mother offered us her house until we could establish ourselves well, in the end we stayed for many more years. My wife was the last of ten children, the …
Gohan with rice
July 17, 2017 • Hudson Okada
Having been born and raised in Brazil and having parents who always cultivated the culture of their ancestors, I only realized that Brazilian cuisine and Japanese cuisine were distinct when I was around seven years old. At that time, a friend of mine, who is not Nikkei, said the following about our colleague who, like me, was one of the only Nikkei in the city of Matão, in the interior of São Paulo: “Man, you won't believe it: yesterday I …
Chawaki and butsudan
July 13, 2017 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya
I am part of a Nikkei family from Okinawan and am Sansei or third generation. I live in Peru and all family memories revolve around food. Could it be that all Okinawan families are the same? Every time you visited the obá, she was in charge of serving you, even putting you in your mouth if you didn't eat. The inclusion was such that a non-Nikkei friend received the same treatment, if you took him. The obá improvised many times, …
Taking Pride in Spreading Yakisoba From Suzano to the Rest of Brazil – Tie-up of Noddle-making Facility and Bunkyo
July 11, 2017 • Kohei Ohsawa
Having originated in Colonia and spread to the rest of Brazil, “Yakisoba” is now enjoyed by many Brazilians. While the most general kind of yakisoba in Japan is the one flavored with brown sauce, why in Brazil did the one with a mountain of vegetables and meat in an-kake (thick sauce) on top of noodles, called an-kake yakisoba become so popular? This mystery had remained unsolved, as some people even called it one of the “seven mysteries of Colonia.” However, …