Wa-shoku: Beyond Sushi (和食ドリーム)

Kanai holds 4th Degree Black Belt in Judo

“WA-SHOKU” was designated as UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage item from 2013

Los Angeles, May 13, 2014 5:30 AM

Noritoshi Kanai (91) Chairman of Mutual Trading

Noritoshi Kanai, 91 years old.

The pioneer of sushi and other Japanese food in the United States.

His morning starts with exercise.

I work on my back and hip muscles.

You know this exercise.

I do this movement 40 times.

Next exercise.

I do this version of push-ups.

50 of this.

I use my bed to do the next exercise.

Slide my feet under.

Then I do this.

Do 20 sit-ups.

I suffered from strained back.

During that time, I couldn't move my back and twist my hips.

I was determined to fix it.

I wanted to beat this ailment so I started exercising.

I cured myself in five years.

When you're in pain, you tend to take it easy but that's not good.

Instead, you must strengthen your muscles.

I've been doing this for 30 years.

After his exercise,

he goes on a 40 minute walk every day

to the famous Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Kanai invented the term sushi bar in the United States,

and today, this term is used in sushi restaurants across the country.

There's a hill.

I start to breathe heavily.

When I reach the top of the hill,

my heart rate comes down and I know my heart is good.

That's my gauge.

You need to watch out

when your heart rate doesn't come down.

I wake up at 4:30 a.m.

I used to be up at 5 a.m. That was too late.

I go to work on time.

Mutual Trading

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

Kanai's company, Mutual Trading,

is a nationwide Japanese food supplier.

Kosei Yamamoto President of Mutual Trading

Hi, good morning.

I'm sorry I'm late.

Champagne.

As I've said before, this is the champagne of sake.

Executive Meeting

In 1964, I experienced many situations including some failures.

That's when I made my decision

to spread Japanese food to mainstream America.

Selling to the Japanese wasn't enough.

So I needed to create a new market in America.

I knew I had to be in that market in order to make that happen.

So I moved here with my family.

It was do or die.

Thus, Kanai's life as a missionary of Japanese food, Wa-Shoku, in America began.

50 years later, America, 2014

Sushi!

Tokyo Delve's

- Sake... - Bomb!

- Sake... - Bomb!

- When we yell sake, you yell bomb, sake --

- Bomb! - Sake!

Bomb!

Our customers are mostly the local Americans and not Japanese.

The local Americans may bring their Japanese friends along.

And the Japanese people are surprised with what they see here.

Mitsue Tani Wife of President

Some come here in limousines.

- Love you! - Right, thank you.

So they can drink as much as they want and get drunk.

He's from the LAPD.

WA-SHOKU

WA-SHOKU

~ Beyond Sushi ~

Komyo-ji Temple, Kamakura

Masahide Miura Komyoji Temple Monk

The philosophy of "Shojin Ryori" is

based on the Dharmic concept of no violence.

It's for the devotees of Buddhism.

The people who practice Buddhism eat this vegetarian cuisine.

There is no killing of animals or fish.

So there is no meat or fish used in cooking this cuisine.

That belief is reflected in the dishes of this cuisine.

This is the origin of kaiseki, the base of Japanese cuisine, Wa-Shoku.

Kyoto

Kyoto Cuisine Takeshigero

Welcome.

Yoji Satake Managing Director and Chef

It's our 297th year this year.

In three years, it'll be our 300th.

When I mastered the basics of cooking, I wanted to offer my original cooking.

To serve what is uniquely mine.

But I was cautioned by my customers instead.

They told me not to force my cooking onto them.

Customers want me to cook what they want to eat.

They don't want food I cook to satisfy myself.

They wanted me to perfect what is common.

So I learned from my customers.

I improved how we keep the information on our customers' preferences.

I used that to make what our customers like.

I'm taking the appetizer for two.

Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese cuisine.

I want to see more cultural aspect incorporated.

The details in presentation are very important.

I display the food, wait for a while and check it again.

Slight wind in the air might have moved things.

Kaiseki cuisine requires extreme attention to detail.

The plating of the food is 30 percent of the cuisine.

It can present the food well.

Yukiko Satake Proprietress

Or it can kill the food so the selection is very important.

There's color coordination.

What the food is served on must work with the food.

Earthenware is used in the winter time.

And as summer approaches, we use porcelain or glassware.

We don't only use tableware from Japan.

We incorporate Venetian glass from Italy or glassware from Finland.

Our customers appreciate that and the food looks good.

We put our importance in that type of presentation.

Another is the room decoration.

The space must have the right scroll and the flower arrangement.

I believe that is my job.

We have a customer coming tonight who has just turned 80 years old.

This person is still very active.

I picked "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter" as the scroll

to represent the years of seasons that have gone by.

I hope this customer reflects on the long life by looking at the scroll.

Kyoto Central Market

Hello, Boss.

What's up today?

We get many customers from overseas.

They like white asparagus.

Domestic?

- This one is. - This one?

From Hokkaido.

Wow, from Hokkaido.

Western food tend not to reflect much seasonality.

So wild asparagus or young chicken

or maybe white asparagus.

Those ingredients suggest the arrival of early summer.

That's "hamo".

Those pike conger eels are valued in Kyoto for their vitality.

People in Kyoto like them.

Those eels have so many bones.

So they're a lot of work.

To cook those eels,

a chef needs to have multiple knives

for slicing and for the bones.

So chefs tend to stay away from cooking eels in general.

There's a sign in the back written by my great-grandfather.

It says "U-Maru-Dojo."

It stands for eel, soft-shelled turtle and loach.

He wants you to use these three in cooking.

This is our family principle.

If you master handling of those three, you can cook anything.

Those are the three most high-maintenance ingredients.

So that sign means to devote a great deal of time and effort.

That's what I think.

That reflects the spirit of our traditional cuisine.

Kaiseki originated from tea ceremony.

Kaiseki's main attribute is

everything is edible so nothing will be left.

Both quantity and quality.

Also each course is served

as soon as it's prepared and in a certain order.

Isao Kumakura President of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture

Food served in sequence is also found in the Western food culture.

But Kaiseki in Japan started 400 years ago.

Long time before the Western culture adopted it.

The third attribute of Kaiseki is

each dish conveys a certain message.

What this means is

it is more than just serving good and delicious food.

I'm the third generation after my grandfather and father.

I wanted to try something new.

Ryotei Kikunoi

I tried French cooking.

So I went to France.

Yoshihiro Murata Owner/Chef

And I discovered most French people had no knowledge on Japanese food.

They didn't even know where Japan was.

From the cultural quality aspect, I thought

Japanese food was more superior.

I decided to pursue Japanese cuisine

so I can spread to the world what Japanese food is about.

I made that decision when I was 20.

And I've been pursuing that for 43 years.

Japanese food is becoming popular in the world.

Mainly because it's healthy.

And it's lower in calories.

Most of other cuisines are

developed based on fat.

Only one country developed cuisine based on the components of umami.

That's Japan.

Kumiko Ninomiya Umami Information Center