"If the prime minister came, we'd all just feel like punching him" -- Emperor and Empress of Japan Visit Earthquake and Tsunami Victims -- Reposted (Thinking of Japan 5)

 

 

 

 

Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have visited the disaster-stricken town of Asahi in the Tiba prefecture on Thursday.  Asahi, a coastal town of 70,000 residents, suffered a double blow on March 11 when it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. 13 residents were killed and two went missing. The disaster flattened 900 houses.

 

 

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press 

 

MINAMI-SANRIKU, Japan – Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Japan's tsunami-battered northeastern coast on Wednesday, offering encouragement to residents who lost homes and loved ones in last month's disaster.

The deeply respected royal couple visited a school gymnasium where 200 people live in the town of Minami-Sanriku, 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Excited crowds began gathering almost two hours before their arrival.

"I'm thankful he has come so far. It makes me so happy," said Mitsuko Oikawa, 73, who has been living at the shelter since the tsunami. Her house was washed away by the powerful waves, she said, shaking her head.

"I saw it happen right before my eyes," she said. "It hurts just to think about it."

But the emperor's visit gives her strength, she said.

The royal couple spent about 30 minutes at the gymnasium, speaking to evacuees sitting between stacks of blankets and futons.

They also surveyed the destruction in the seaside town, bowing toward the wreckage to pay their respects to victims.

 

Last week, they visited Kita-Ibaraki, a port that was ruined by the tsunami, which left about 27,000 people dead and missing and is thought to have caused $305 billion in damage.

Nearly seven weeks after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, some 130,000 people are still living in about 2,500 shelters. The government has promised to build 30,000 temporary homes for them by the end of May and another 70,000 after that.

But volunteer Shin Kageyama, a Yokohama resident who came to Minami-Sanriku to help, said the government seems to be preoccupied with the nuclear accident in Fukushima prefecture and has neglected the humanitarian needs of the region.

While the emperor brought hope and joy to the evacuees, "if the prime minister came, we'd all just feel like punching him," Kageyama said.

"Maybe it's taboo to say this, but the emperor is truly like a god," he added.

Akihito's father Hirohito publicly renounced the idea he was divine after World War II, but the imperial family continues to be widely respected and treated with great deference. Interaction between the royal family and ordinary people is rare.

One teenager who spoke with the emperor on Wednesday was 15-year-old Kazuna Abe. The gym was off-limits to anyone other than evacuees, but she said a friend sneaked her in. Her house was damaged but is still livable, she said.

Akihito, 77, asked about tsunami damage at her high school and told her to stay strong, she said.

"All I could say was 'thank you.' My heart was racing," she said.

"I still can't believe it," she said. "I wonder if it was OK that I took pictures with my cellphone."

Dashi (出汁, だし) (Thinking of Japan)

 "Dashi provides Japanese cuisine with its characteristic flavor, and it can be said without exaggeration that the success or failure (or mediocrity) of a dish is ultimately determined by the flavor and quality of the dashi that seasons it.  Many substitutes for dashi are possible, but without dashi, dishes are merely a la japonaise and lack the authentic flavor. Dashi stock, soy sauce, fermented bean paste (miso), and sake are the 'big four' of Japanese cooking.  One or more of these four substances is used in nearly every Japanese dish."   

Shizuo Tsuji,  Japanese Cooking -- A Simple Art.  Tokyo, Kodansha International, 1980.

 

Primary Dashi (Ichiban Dashi)

Because it has a lovely fragrance, fresh primary dashi is best for clear soups.  A Japanese clear soup should be thin enough to allow one to clearly perceive the flavors of the other ingredients present. Its bouquet disappears quickly and is lost if the dashi is not used immediately. For use as a basic seasoning, however, primary (and secondary -- see second recipe below) dashi made well ahead of time is perfectly fine.  Leftover dashi may be stored in a sealed bottle in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or may be frozen, but flavor and aroma are lost.

Makes 1 quart (1 L):

serves 6 as base for clear soup

1 quart cold water

1 ounce (30 g) giant kelp (konbu)

1 ounce (30 g) dried bonito flakes (hana-katsuo)

To prepare:  Fill a medium-size soup pot with 1 quart (1L) cold water and put in the kelp.  Heat, uncovered, so as to reach the boiling point in about 10 minutes.  IMPORTANT:  Kelp omits a strong odor if it is boiled, so remove konbu just before water boils.

        Insert your thumbnail into the fleshiest part of the kelp.  If it is soft, sufficient flavor has been obtained. If tough, return it to the pot for 1 or 2 minutes.  Keep from boiling by adding approximately 1/4 cup cold water.

        After removing the konbu, bring the stock to a full boil.  Add 1/4 cup cold water to bring the temperature down quickly and immediately add the bonito flakes.  No need to stir.  Bring to a full boil and remove from the heat at once.  If bonito flakes boil more than a few seconds, the stock becomes too strong, a bit bitter and is not suitable for use in clear soups. If you make this mistake, all is not lost, use the stock as a base for thick soups, in simmered foods, and so on. 

        Allow the flakes to settle to the bottom of the pot (30 seconds to 1 minute).  Remove foam, then filter through a cheesecloth-lined sieve. Reserve the bonito flakes and kelp for secondary dashi. 

  

     

Secondary Dashi (Niban Dashi)

While primary dashi is best suited for clear soups by virtue of its fragrance, subtle taste and clarity, secondary dashi does noble service as a base seasoning -- for thick soups, for noodle broths, as a cooking stock for vegetables, and in many other ways.  

Makes 3-4 cups

Bonito flakes and giant kelp reserved from primary dashi

1 1/2 quarts (1 1/2 L) cold water

1/3 - 1/2 ounce (10-15 g) dried bonito flakes (hana-katsuo)

To prepare:  Place the bonito flakes and giant kelp reserved from the primary dashi in 1 1/2 quarts (1 1/2 L) cold water in a medium-sized soup pot.  Place over high heat just until the boiling point, then reduce heat and keep at a gentle simmer until the stock is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2, depending on the flavor desired. This reduction takes about 15-20 minutes.

         Add the fresh hana-katsuo and immediately remove from heat.  Allow the flakes to start to settle to the bottom of the pot (30 seconds to 1 minute) and remove foam from the surface.  Filter liquid through a cheesecloth-lined sieve. 

        Discard the hana-katsuo flakes and konbu.

Reader Note: 

Like most people, I think, I find myself speechless about what is occurring in  Japan

But silence can be a natural and appropriate reaction to an ongoing serious event where the facts are still being discovered. 

I contrast this with everything else I have heard since the earthquake from various "important people" with megaphones and megaphone bearers in the media.  So much posturing and "positioning" blather creating  disturbing mental images of men and women posing for equestrian statues while attending a family member's funeral.

Like you, probably, I've been trying to cope and coping is mysterious.  One prays, ponders and imagines.  I try to put myself in the shoes of a Japanese person wanting to feel safe and secure. This somehow causes me to think about making dashi.