Tokyo Journal; Sushi Comes Home, With Cream Cheese and Chili
By HOWARD W. FRENCH (NYT) 1023 words
Published: April 4, 2002

As a Japanese college student working in an expensive Chicago sushi
restaurant a decade ago, Yoko Shibata was jolted with culture shock as she
watched boisterous American customers drinking cocktails with their meals
and shouting over loud music as they ate.

Her surprise only deepened as she watched the regulars order custom-made
sushi dishes -- combinations like eel, cucumber and cream cheese, or
flying-fish roe, red chili and mayonnaise.

But in an era of boomerang globalization, with Starbucks selling espresso
to Italians, and California cabernets airing on European tables, Ms. Shibata
decided that when she moved back to Tokyo she would bring American-style
sushi with her.

Last year, Ms. Shibata opened her restaurant, Rainbow Roll Sushi, and in
testament to her inspiration, business is booming, despite Japan's difficult
economic climate.

Ms. Shibata was a pioneer in a culinary cross-fertilization that has
brought several inventive sushi restaurants here recently, mostly in upscale
neighborhoods like Azabujuban, where cosmopolitan young professionals often
gather.

The high-speed ricochet of American and other influences across the Pacific
is all the more remarkable considering that sushi itself was one of the more
exotic transplants to the West.

The decor in Rainbow Roll Sushi reflects the global hybridization as
brazenly as the food itself. Traditional Japanese sushi restaurants,
especially upscale ones, display a Zen-like austerity dominated by sober
cedar accents, from slatted doors to the glistening dining counters, where
the food is often served without plates.

Rainbow Roll Sushi, on the other hand, has gray felt wallpaper and matching
low slung chairs with a long marble counter and gently wafting Hawaiian
music by day and bouncy Latin tunes by night. I designed everything
myself, from the uniform and menu to the tableware, said Ms. Shibata, 30,
who calls herself Rainbow Roll Sushi's producer rather than its manager
or director. Ordinarily, with a decor like ours, you would expect to hear
jazz, wouldn't you? We aim for anything but the ordinary.

At another flourishing, newfangled sushi restaurant, Central Mikunis, near
Tokyo Station, the opulent design marries Renaissance Europe with
contemporary Los Angeles, with its vaulting, painted ceilings and brushed
aluminum walls.

The food at Central Mikunis is served at barside with revolving conveyor --
an innovation introduced to traditional sushi bars in the late 1960's --
that bring an array of delicacies within reach.

As with Rainbow Roll Sushi, though, the real departure from tradition is in
the menu. One of Mikuni's specialties, for example, is a sushi sandwich,
made with tiny croissants.

Rainbow Roll has succeeded with the affluent, well-traveled people in their
30's. But it has also been a hit with curious housewives. Men in their 40's
and older, though, have mostly stayed away, except when dragged there by
daughters or dates.

In a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant, when you are finished eating,
you must get up and leave, said Kinuko Sawayama, 23, one of two smartly
dressed university students having lunch together. Here, they have sofas
and comfortable chairs, and in the evening there is a lively ambiance.

You can really feel the internationalization that Japan is undergoing
through places like this, said her friend Lisa Yanagisawa, also 23. And
the delicious combinations are changing the way that younger people, like
me, think about Japanese food.

Many sushi chefs scoff at such recipes, as they stick to their traditional
ways. I can't comment on this, because the reaction of each sushi master
is different, said Shigeo Mori, a famous chef who heads Japan's sushi
chefs union. Some of us accept the new imports, but others don't regard it
as sushi at all.

At bottom, the blossoming of new forms like these in one of the most
prestigious and tradition-bound areas of the country's cuisine reflects the
tensions between profound, yet seemingly contradictory traits of Japanese
culture: a reverence for heavily ritualized techniques, or kata, and an
eager acceptance of imported innovations and trends.

Experts say that while maybe imperceptible to diners, sushi making methods
have changed over, well, centuries.

What we call onigiri today may seem traditional, but it doesn't have such
a long history, only to the mid-1800's, said Kazunari Yanagihara, a
television chef, teacher and culinary critic, referring to the vinegary rice
-- squeezed into thumb-like segments -- that is the basis of most sushi.

Today fatty, succulent tuna, or maguro, is so popular in sushi cuisine that
for most Japanese eating sushi means eating tuna. A little more than a
century ago, however, Mr. Yanagihara said maguro was not popular at all.

Since World War II our tastes and cooking methods have been changing more
and more rapidly, he said. If you compare the food of today to the food
of the 1970's, there is probably twice as much fat being used. More and
more, young people want fatty dishes, and these kinds of tastes are making
foreign cuisines fashionable.

Mr. Yanagihara said critics who would dismiss the use of ingredients like
cream cheese and mayonnaise in what many still call re-imported sushi as
nothing more than trendiness should be mindful of Japanese culinary history.

Upper-class people used to dismiss sukiyaki, too, which was invented a
little more than century ago, he said. Today, though, it is seen as
genuinely Japanese cuisine. It is possible that some day this new sushi,
with things like avocado and mayonnaise will become accepted, or even
celebrated. Only time will tell.

Photos: Yoko Shibata opened the Rainbow Roll Sushi restaurant last year,
after seeing customers in America order custom creations like flying-fish
roe, red chili and mayonnaise. Business is strong despite Japan's hard
times. (Toru Morimoto for The New York Times); (Stuart Isett/Gamma, for The
New York Times)

Map of Japan highlighting Azabujuban: In upscale Azabujuban, American-style
sushi has clicked.

Tags : Mondialisation