Shigeo, Schubert Foo, and I came to the southern most of the main islands of Japan to visit the Kyushu University Library, talk to students and faculty, and confer, in particular, with Professor Emi Ishita about a new graduate program they are starting (in operation as of the first of this month... really new!). We had very interesting discussions about the growing pains of new ventures of this sort (Schubert has experience in starting two such programs, and Shigeo is also an old hand at curriculum development and the administrative gymnastics that go with reorganizations). I mostly was encouraging in a brash manner free of insight about either local or generic elements of such efforts.
In the conduct of this mission, the four of us had occasion to share three meals - two dinners and a lunch. Anyone who has eaten in Japan understands that the feast for the eyes is as important as that for the palate, and these meals were exemplary. But goodness, the taste sensations were stunning. Fukuoka, a prefectural capital and historically a major trading center (due in large part to its proximity to the mainland of Korea and China) has a cuisine to match the sophistication and hybrid vigor characteristic of cultural ecotones.
My favorite was a dense wafer of compacted pork (including the skin) which was (I think) fried. An explosion of concentrated essence of pork in a tiny, laminar format served on a bed of... well... something vegetative - Daikon radish, perhaps? I can't recall, my culinary consciousness having been entirely suborned at this point. An appetizer (for each meal, actually) of spicey roe was also new to me. Salty, as one would expect, but also spicey hot, with a texture of molten velvet. In one case, with a wrapping, and torched briefly, in the other, without having been flamed. Amazing stuff. Exceptional representations from the world of sushi played supporting roles, and a central dish of nabe - a pot dish with a variety of constituents that, when done, offers its broth in final service to a concluding portion of rice or noodles. We chose rice.
The second night we did a variation on this theme that included chicken sashimi. Yes... and best you don't try this with your neighborhood supermarket chicken... even, I gather, if your neighborhood is in Fukuoka. It takes a fresh chicken indeed to support this presentation, and the expertise to make sure it stays that way. I imagined hearing clucking. The nabe this night was also chicken-based, including meaty knuckles (for which I received finger-handling dispensation), and later, a diced paste of chicken formed into marble-sized balls tableside, slipped into the nabe, and extracted at the leisure of the celebrants. Along with many other ingredients, of course -- fresh cabbage, mushrooms, those long translucent rice noodles, chopped green onions, all beautiful to look at wonderful to eat. A variety of dipping sauces and spices accented the food.
My two subsequent days on the Island of Kyushu were less striking from a culinary point of view, but every bit as rich in other ways (post in progress). I must say, I find it difficult to summon the courage to explore cuisine of this caliber without a guide, which is silly. Many restaurants have English menus (though, am I wrong to be distrustful of such?). I have a book on Japanese food, given to me by Ray Atarashi, which offers a helpful glossary, and a favorite phrase from the Lonely Planet guides, please feed me in Japanese. This may be the ticket. But eating even great food alone is far less joyful, and I am profoundly grateful to have had great company for these sumptuous introductions to a region the locals insist is the birthplace of Japan.
-----
Temple carvings of this nature are commonplace here... work that any craftsman of wood would be proud to think of as masterwork. This particular instance is from a shrine in the Tsukuba area.
