Tokyo: Miso and Robots
Linda
“Lori found a miso-making class in Tokyo! Who wants to go?”
Who wouldn’t want to?
Our miso-making instructor met us at the Odakyu-Sagamihara train station (about an hr outside of Tokyo, a typical commute for many). After fetching her bike, Yuiko walked us to her home. Spotted along the way were some Chevrolet bikes and other GM brands. No cars, but apparently GM bikes are common in Japan. Her house included a Spanish-inspired water feature visible through the floor and rustic ceilings and flooring, setting the scene for an afternoon of miso-making.
It was obvious that Yuiko had spent considerable time prepping for our arrival. Soy beans had received a 20-hour soaking, pressure cooked until they felt like your ear lobe (which is a totally useless descriptor in my opinion), and were cooling to 40 degrees centigrade (the same temp as the shower–as Balaram pointed out).
After hand-washing and a short PPT presentation, with lots of questions about good vs bad molds and why we had made the all important sacrifice of not eating natto that day, we then jumped in.
First we cleaned our fermenting containers with shochu (25-30% alcohol) and crumbled the block of koji (fungus innoculated cooked rice–not too appetizing??) into individual grains. Onto weighing out the cooked soy beans, salt, koji. Then we mashed the beans by hand and mixed in the koji/salt mixture. Egg-sized balls were the objectives of the next step before smashing them into the tupperware-like fermenting containers. Looking for no air pockets and a smooth surface before sprinkling on a fine layer of sea salt. Traditionally, shochu-moistened washi paper would be set on top but we were modern and used plastic wrap. And that was it!
Except for the 6-12 months of fermentation…
Yuiko then showed us how she makes dashi using niboshi dried fish and wakame. For a late light lunch, she also shared a takikomi gohan. Her style was not to hit you over the head–not too salty, not too fishy.
Having completed university in the UK and now working with a British company, her English is fluent. There were lots of questions of each others’ lives.
She sent us on our way with our miso fermenting away in our containers and offered post-workshop TA if questions come up during the fermentation process! We promised to keep her posted. I am interested in comparing notes with my Asian Health Services’ colleague Koji who first gifted me with his homemade miso. It was a revelation that it was possible to make miso at home which tastes much better than the usual stuff bought in stores.
When is 6 months from October…..?
Kamala:
I had been looking forward to our miso lesson. I only fairly recently found a less processed, tastier miso paste at Berkeley Bowl, and the richness and depth gave me some fresh ideas for where to take miso: pancakes, sandwiches, yogurt, you name it! So we all got on a train Sunday morning and headed out toward the outskirts of Tokyo to Samihara to meet our instructor at the train station.
I think we were all a little surprised to be met by a young woman wearing a funky patterned Patagonia pullover, who is part of her own small movement to revive and preserve some of the traditional parts of Japanese culture. Yuiko was an excellent teacher, she even prepared a PowerPoint to show us what the more positive miso molds look like and what packages of koji she uses.
It was a breath of fresh air to meet someone like Yuiko, who both has great respect for old methods and processes integral to Japanese culture, but doesn’t seem to buy into traditional values and conventions. She told us that she and her friends get together for “Grandma Group” to do workshops where they try making all kinds of things, and this led to the miso classes she does with people like us. We started a batch of miso and shared great chatter around fermented foods and general life preferences over miso soup, before we set off back to Shinjuku with our little boxes of pre-miso.
Despite the highlights of the day, for Mäneka and myself, there was a lot of hype for the evening. This was the evening of Robot Restaurant or Robot Cabaret. We knew very little about it except that it would be an extra-sensory experience. To prepare me for the event, Mäneka made a point to yell close to my face and pat me repeatedly all over. It turns out it was a pretty apt preparation experience. We had a brief scare around 4pm, when Mäneka got an email saying that our reservation would be cancelled if she didn’t confirm it, but around 7:30 pm, we found ourselves descending several floors below ground, through a fun-house stairway covered—including ceiling and floor—in lights, mirrors, shiny gold, jewels, and collages of fluorescent butterflies, half-naked women, and halloween icons.
Downstairs, on a renaissance-revival stage composed of cubic zirconia, a terrible lounge singer moaned out the words to “Open Arms” by Mariah Carey while a talented band in robot costumes played along with her. We were eventually ushered downstairs for the main event. It’s hard to describe the chaos that ensued. It was an explosion of color, taiko, animals, violence, dance, loud air puffs, cowboys, small fireworks, neon lasers, and wigs.
There was one set that involved a war story line, about a group of invasive combative robots ruining a jungle, and it opened with a deep, slow meathead voice saying, “This forest so peaceful, let’s trash it.” So that gives you an idea of the subtlety and nuance at work. I could not begin to construct any logic or narrative thread behind the 4 different sets we watched, but each was riveting and surprising in its own way. Many evil characters were eaten by giant animal robot mouths. Plus, all of the human performers demonstrated an overwhelming bevy of enthusiasm, so it was hard not to enjoy the show.
Mäneka:
Robot Cabaret was everything I hoped it would be! I had read some TripAdvisor reviews beforehand of disappointed patrons with titles like, “Expected robot show, not human show.” I enjoyed that traditional elements like taiko were combined with modern twists such as people in metallic suits zooming around on circular scooters. The ticket stub read, “Dancing!! Kicking up the excitement!! Wildly swinging around!!” I think this an apt description. Anyone who loves fun should view Robot Cabaret even though the crazy jingle they blast on the street to bring people in is still stuck in my head…