Tuesday, February 17, 2004
BEEF BOWL MEME
HERE TODAY...
Something interesting just happened, and I wonder if anyone else out there noticed. Even the most cursory of glances at the mass media will reveal that the story of the day (actually, this is the story of the day before yesterday, mind you, since after tomorrow it won't matter anymore), is that Yoshinoya's cash cow has gone the way of the dodo.
WHAT'S EATING YOU?!?
Anyone who has spent any time in Asia will be quick to point out that outside of a few young, trendly, self-Westernizing circles, the majority of the population gets by -- and has gotten by for thousands of years -- quite well omnivorously (although granted that in Japan's case, in historical terms, this diet was mainly comprised of fish, rice, and vegetables until 1868. But as in all endeavors, the Japanese have, in a little over 100 years, made a clear display of their assimilative prowess with the perfecting of beef. As is commonly known, Kobe beef, famous for its tenderness and unique beer-fed flavor, fetches the highest prices in the world. So much so, in fact, that words like vegan don't really have much practical meaning here. By way of an example, in preparation for an upcoming trip, this writer has recently read in the Lonely Planet guide to China that the only sure-fire way to communicate this kind of concept to some rual Chinese is to tell them that you are Buddhist. Interesting.
Well, in any event, anyone who isn't 'green' and is pinching pennies -- or yen as the case may be -- in Japan, this dish, the much vaunted beef bowl, is the veritable manna from heaven. Or was, until recently. In economic terms, the following figures (culled from the Yoshinoya webpage) speak for themselves: 牛丼 （並盛）280円 @ 660kcal, （大盛）440円 @ 750kcal, and （特盛）540円 @ 940kcal. Quite a bargin! But the only problem is that the beef bowl was destined to leave a bad taste in Japan's mouth, since the beef it was made from originated not just any heaven, but the carnivore's heaven, also sometimes known as America. Where's the beef? Indeed...
And why was this a problem? Well, let's just say that meat exported to Japan from the American beef industry set its own infamously low standards, resulting in a series of health scares since the 80s, and an ongoing public outcry that has only continued to fade from the ears of policymakers. This is in a sense inevitable, due to the beef lobby, and the international dietary war of attrition that is being slowly won by Mc Donald's, its victory being due in part to burgeoning 'food fashion' in developing countries, and in part to the sheer pervasiveness of the establishment both geographically and culturally.
POLITICAL JUDO-CHOP-HAVIN' KOIZUMI AND THE NO-BEEF CREW
But it looks like the Japanese were listening, and have answered what was originally a very American problem with stiff, sweeping legal actions. Prime Minister Koizumi has gone on record recently saying that in effect, Japanese public health concerns come first, economic considerations second. How dare he! Koizumi, proving that he is at times worth his political mettle, backed up this statement with a total ban on imported American beef, sending the American beef industry, which counts Japan among its top export values, into a stampeed.
Other similar companies such as Matsuya have been less drastically effected, since they relied on beef from not only America, but also a number of other countries, including mainly Australia. However, with no legal recourse, and bearing the brand of the bullish American beef industry, Yoshinoya had no choice but to take the bull by the horns, and effectively put the once mighty beef bowl out to pasture. The company estimates that by Feb. 11th, the final bowl of bovine tastiness will be served up some where in Japan, thus putting an end to a once great tradition. Or perhaps not...
I AM ROBERT'S COLON
My friends know that I am an omnivore, but at the same time, I do tend to balk at a regular diet of red meat. In any event, I've done my share of reading into the whole 'meat issue' especially as it relates to American culture. My mixed feelings, which I won't go into here, are probably a result of having read books like Golden Arches East in which socioeconomic/anthropological studies of a handful of Asian countries show some rather unexpected -- a layperson such as myself would even go so far as to say positive -- effects that Ronald and friends have on Asian culture. A brief sampling of which would have to include providing 'spatial/temporal relief' for cramped Tokyoites. In summary, Americans spend very little time in McDonald's. They are in and out as soon as possible. The teenage denizens of Tokyo (these statements are more true of Tokyo in the 80s and 90s than they would be today) tend to really spend a lot of time in McDonald's, ordering a light snack and then chewing the cud with their friends until the cows come home. As a result, the precious turnover rate and the resultant profits, which is so vital to American based Mickey D's, aren't seen in Japan. Naturally they are made up in other ways, but the important thing to observe here is that the youth have found a way to unconsciously sabotage the intensions of a multi-million dollar food industry juggernaut. Mind you that almost all of these seemingly positive effects were not picked up on the hamburger giants R&D radar, a fact which, taken in isolation, is perversly enjoyable.
So probably for these reasons and a few others, I don't really view a place like Yoshinoya in black or white terms. On the one hand, yes, I'll be the first to admit that it is dirt cheep. On the other hand, yes it is probably really not that healthy for you. But there may be other hidden aspects to the whole phenomenon. Anyway, with all this in mind, I decided to go down to ground zero of the beef controvery and just have a bowl for myself, to see what all the fuss was about. It was about 1 A.M. in Meguro, and I walked over to the store just across from the station. Of course there was a queue, but not because of innumerable like-minded cultural trainspotters such as myself. Granted, there were a few, but mostly, these folks were here to take advantage of the last chance to taste what was obviously a staple for countless students, office workers, daysleepers, and so on. The 'other' category was out in full force!
お前はもう、死んでいる！
But a funny thing happened on my way to the bottom of a beef bowl. A pasty-faced man in his late 30s with an unkempt ponytail and all, the kind that you might see hanging out in 秋葉 waiting to get the signature of his favorite starlet (you know the type), who had been waiting patiently in the takeout line to place his order for what couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, was given the tragic news by an overly apologetic Yoshinoya employee that their stock of beef had run out at this location, that that they wouldn't be able to take his order. The man became even more pale, eventually turning a shade of grey-brown-red (actually, about the same colour as the meat in the beef bowl that I was scarfing down) and became very still and quiet for a few moments.
The onlooking line of famished customers behind him passed through consecutive stages of blind irritation, realization of the actual gravity of the situation, and sudden fear leading to a guarded retreat. All this as the now purple-faced, quite thoroughly unsatisfied customer, who had been simmering, now boiled over. He grabbed the nearest thing he could lay his grubby hands on, which in this case was the condiment tray, and threw it for all he was worth across the room and against the sliding glass door outside of which, a small crowd of gawkers was gathering. He then began to curse like a sailor, of course in Japanese.
I should say at this point that when Japanese people snap, I've observed that they snap in harder and more freaky ways than Americans (baseball bat bludgeoning on the playground, home alone starvation, multiple hacking wounds with a machete, etc.), this due in part to the fact that they don't have guns, and the would be trigger finger finds other, less detached, more visceral ways of letting off some steam. So knowing all of this, I at this point slowly reached into my pocket and poised my thumb over the one-touch button that I had pre-progammed ages ago, to be ready dial up the police instantly, just in case I ever needed it. Luckily, I wound up not having to make that call, and run the risk of getting some really nasty soy-sauce stains on my clothing thanks to a volley of condiments from a madman.
...HERE TOMORROW (A CULTURAL REINCARNIVORATION)
Anyway, yes I do realize that I've still left an ellipsis dangling, but don't have a cow, man! What I was going to say is that the beef bowl lives on -- and this is where things really get exciting for me -- in America. Yes, I'm talking about the beef bowl meme. Take a quick peek at the Yoshinoya USA webpage to see what I'm talking about. This company isn't dying out, in fact, it seems to be undergoing expansion! Yes, the fact that Yoshinoya plans to open to 1000 restaurants in the States does come as a bit of a shock. The menu and how it differs in choice, price, quality, etc. from the stores in Japan is worth an essay in itself, but in the interest of time, I'll just have to let the following speak for me: Teriyaki Chicken Bowl, Kids Meals, Clam Chowder, Cheesecake (shall I go on?). As the webpage proffers, this is indeed the 'Taste of the Orient in the West!' And how would that be complete without most stores offering a 'drive-through option for your convenience'...You tell me!
DON'T BLAME NICK...
But don't get me wrong, I'm not 'anti' any of this. In fact, I say the more the better! Bring it on! My attitude regarding all of this probably has something to do with what Nick was saying here. And I'm sure he for one can appreciate the fact that suddenly a dish that has been served up in Japan with pride for around 100 years has now been transplanted and radically mutated almost beyond recognition. But to up the meme splicing ante, there have already been reports of Japanese tourists in America planning as part of their itineraries trips to the Yoshinoya branches in NYC and LA. Even people who, self-admittedly, would 'have never touched a bowl of the stuff' over in Japan seem drawn to it now in its 米国 incarnation.
...BLAME LA (HE DOES)
But it probably has more to do with my time (about one year, on and off) that I spent in that LA. Note: If my friend Steven Yi were editing this, I'm sure he'd change that to 'My time in Sing Sing' or something to that effect. Days, weeks, months on end trying to deal with the culture shock (I'm still not over it, actually), running around with my Japanese and Korean friends trying to find good ramen. Endless miles clocked on endless freeways. Of course it was never my car! Late night conversations that I didn't even pretend to understand in ハングル in the heart of K-Town at a 'natives only' 韓国風の居酒屋, drinking that Jinro & Juice. These places make their own rules, I was often reminded.
My friend BJ (don't laugh, it was his nickname), the animation major from Seoul who showed me the ropes, would often say that being in K-Town means not leaving America for a while. Last call? Pshaw! Smoking laws? まさか！BJ was eventually drafted in the the Korean military. At least he was beautiful when ducking the American laws. My other friends...Hiroshi the film student from, you guessed it, Hiroshima, and Aki and Eki who thanks to their mixed parentages doubled up on J and K culture. The precious anxiety of my other friends when they came from out of town to visit...Anyway, 'my' LA was never the 'white' LA (thank God), and this was partly by choice. I don't regret this one bit, and now that I'll probably never go back there, I find myself missing the surreal feelings that I felt while exploring 'yellow' LA in all of its polymorphic entrenchment. It was in my eyes an ad hoc cultural situation...not so much a parody as a healthy critique of the 'purer' cultures of Japan or Korea. None of my friends were looking for a perfect re-creation of their motherlands. Far from it!
LITTLE-BIG TOKYO
Thankfully, this provided much needed multi-cultural ballast to the creeping, insidious, quasi-imperialistic attitudes that were observed all to readily in Japanese tourists exploring places like Little Tokyo. Granted, not all of them, but the ones who were obvious were so obviously, and so obliviously so. I could read it intimated on their faces, as clearly as if they had shouted it from the top of the Hollywood sign. 'What on earth happened to our culture?!?' Which was the wrong question in the first place if they were still able to ask it, impervious to the realities of that city. These people would never read Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo. Nor would they ever visit the JANM. It was all too 'fallen' for them. Fallen? From where is what I often wondered. From Grace? That cold, marble pedestal of ossification? (Thanks, Walter!) Not debasement, but transformation -- and often of the spirit -- THE only prerequisite for survival in the animal kingdom or the human one. A human animal.
閉店マインド
[Cue sappy ending theme] So that little beef bowl is out there somewhere, somewhere on the sunny West Coast. Somewhere in soon to be even more towering NYC. It is also somewhere in my mind. But it isn't in Japan anymore. I still am, though. So, I'll follow its trail, track it down, and eat it again. This will be a pleasure. I'll probably not be able to think about anything other than this cheap, fleshy treat as it goes down, which I guess in once sense won't differ all that much from the thoughts of my unsuspecting neighbors. However, what thoughts occur to me during the consumption of my dessert of Caramel Flan I'll not be so quick to share.
Something interesting just happened, and I wonder if anyone else out there noticed. Even the most cursory of glances at the mass media will reveal that the story of the day (actually, this is the story of the day before yesterday, mind you, since after tomorrow it won't matter anymore), is that Yoshinoya's cash cow has gone the way of the dodo.
WHAT'S EATING YOU?!?
Anyone who has spent any time in Asia will be quick to point out that outside of a few young, trendly, self-Westernizing circles, the majority of the population gets by -- and has gotten by for thousands of years -- quite well omnivorously (although granted that in Japan's case, in historical terms, this diet was mainly comprised of fish, rice, and vegetables until 1868. But as in all endeavors, the Japanese have, in a little over 100 years, made a clear display of their assimilative prowess with the perfecting of beef. As is commonly known, Kobe beef, famous for its tenderness and unique beer-fed flavor, fetches the highest prices in the world. So much so, in fact, that words like vegan don't really have much practical meaning here. By way of an example, in preparation for an upcoming trip, this writer has recently read in the Lonely Planet guide to China that the only sure-fire way to communicate this kind of concept to some rual Chinese is to tell them that you are Buddhist. Interesting.
Well, in any event, anyone who isn't 'green' and is pinching pennies -- or yen as the case may be -- in Japan, this dish, the much vaunted beef bowl, is the veritable manna from heaven. Or was, until recently. In economic terms, the following figures (culled from the Yoshinoya webpage) speak for themselves: 牛丼 （並盛）280円 @ 660kcal, （大盛）440円 @ 750kcal, and （特盛）540円 @ 940kcal. Quite a bargin! But the only problem is that the beef bowl was destined to leave a bad taste in Japan's mouth, since the beef it was made from originated not just any heaven, but the carnivore's heaven, also sometimes known as America. Where's the beef? Indeed...
And why was this a problem? Well, let's just say that meat exported to Japan from the American beef industry set its own infamously low standards, resulting in a series of health scares since the 80s, and an ongoing public outcry that has only continued to fade from the ears of policymakers. This is in a sense inevitable, due to the beef lobby, and the international dietary war of attrition that is being slowly won by Mc Donald's, its victory being due in part to burgeoning 'food fashion' in developing countries, and in part to the sheer pervasiveness of the establishment both geographically and culturally.
POLITICAL JUDO-CHOP-HAVIN' KOIZUMI AND THE NO-BEEF CREW
But it looks like the Japanese were listening, and have answered what was originally a very American problem with stiff, sweeping legal actions. Prime Minister Koizumi has gone on record recently saying that in effect, Japanese public health concerns come first, economic considerations second. How dare he! Koizumi, proving that he is at times worth his political mettle, backed up this statement with a total ban on imported American beef, sending the American beef industry, which counts Japan among its top export values, into a stampeed.
Other similar companies such as Matsuya have been less drastically effected, since they relied on beef from not only America, but also a number of other countries, including mainly Australia. However, with no legal recourse, and bearing the brand of the bullish American beef industry, Yoshinoya had no choice but to take the bull by the horns, and effectively put the once mighty beef bowl out to pasture. The company estimates that by Feb. 11th, the final bowl of bovine tastiness will be served up some where in Japan, thus putting an end to a once great tradition. Or perhaps not...
I AM ROBERT'S COLON
My friends know that I am an omnivore, but at the same time, I do tend to balk at a regular diet of red meat. In any event, I've done my share of reading into the whole 'meat issue' especially as it relates to American culture. My mixed feelings, which I won't go into here, are probably a result of having read books like Golden Arches East in which socioeconomic/anthropological studies of a handful of Asian countries show some rather unexpected -- a layperson such as myself would even go so far as to say positive -- effects that Ronald and friends have on Asian culture. A brief sampling of which would have to include providing 'spatial/temporal relief' for cramped Tokyoites. In summary, Americans spend very little time in McDonald's. They are in and out as soon as possible. The teenage denizens of Tokyo (these statements are more true of Tokyo in the 80s and 90s than they would be today) tend to really spend a lot of time in McDonald's, ordering a light snack and then chewing the cud with their friends until the cows come home. As a result, the precious turnover rate and the resultant profits, which is so vital to American based Mickey D's, aren't seen in Japan. Naturally they are made up in other ways, but the important thing to observe here is that the youth have found a way to unconsciously sabotage the intensions of a multi-million dollar food industry juggernaut. Mind you that almost all of these seemingly positive effects were not picked up on the hamburger giants R&D radar, a fact which, taken in isolation, is perversly enjoyable.
So probably for these reasons and a few others, I don't really view a place like Yoshinoya in black or white terms. On the one hand, yes, I'll be the first to admit that it is dirt cheep. On the other hand, yes it is probably really not that healthy for you. But there may be other hidden aspects to the whole phenomenon. Anyway, with all this in mind, I decided to go down to ground zero of the beef controvery and just have a bowl for myself, to see what all the fuss was about. It was about 1 A.M. in Meguro, and I walked over to the store just across from the station. Of course there was a queue, but not because of innumerable like-minded cultural trainspotters such as myself. Granted, there were a few, but mostly, these folks were here to take advantage of the last chance to taste what was obviously a staple for countless students, office workers, daysleepers, and so on. The 'other' category was out in full force!
お前はもう、死んでいる！
But a funny thing happened on my way to the bottom of a beef bowl. A pasty-faced man in his late 30s with an unkempt ponytail and all, the kind that you might see hanging out in 秋葉 waiting to get the signature of his favorite starlet (you know the type), who had been waiting patiently in the takeout line to place his order for what couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, was given the tragic news by an overly apologetic Yoshinoya employee that their stock of beef had run out at this location, that that they wouldn't be able to take his order. The man became even more pale, eventually turning a shade of grey-brown-red (actually, about the same colour as the meat in the beef bowl that I was scarfing down) and became very still and quiet for a few moments.
The onlooking line of famished customers behind him passed through consecutive stages of blind irritation, realization of the actual gravity of the situation, and sudden fear leading to a guarded retreat. All this as the now purple-faced, quite thoroughly unsatisfied customer, who had been simmering, now boiled over. He grabbed the nearest thing he could lay his grubby hands on, which in this case was the condiment tray, and threw it for all he was worth across the room and against the sliding glass door outside of which, a small crowd of gawkers was gathering. He then began to curse like a sailor, of course in Japanese.
I should say at this point that when Japanese people snap, I've observed that they snap in harder and more freaky ways than Americans (baseball bat bludgeoning on the playground, home alone starvation, multiple hacking wounds with a machete, etc.), this due in part to the fact that they don't have guns, and the would be trigger finger finds other, less detached, more visceral ways of letting off some steam. So knowing all of this, I at this point slowly reached into my pocket and poised my thumb over the one-touch button that I had pre-progammed ages ago, to be ready dial up the police instantly, just in case I ever needed it. Luckily, I wound up not having to make that call, and run the risk of getting some really nasty soy-sauce stains on my clothing thanks to a volley of condiments from a madman.
...HERE TOMORROW (A CULTURAL REINCARNIVORATION)
Anyway, yes I do realize that I've still left an ellipsis dangling, but don't have a cow, man! What I was going to say is that the beef bowl lives on -- and this is where things really get exciting for me -- in America. Yes, I'm talking about the beef bowl meme. Take a quick peek at the Yoshinoya USA webpage to see what I'm talking about. This company isn't dying out, in fact, it seems to be undergoing expansion! Yes, the fact that Yoshinoya plans to open to 1000 restaurants in the States does come as a bit of a shock. The menu and how it differs in choice, price, quality, etc. from the stores in Japan is worth an essay in itself, but in the interest of time, I'll just have to let the following speak for me: Teriyaki Chicken Bowl, Kids Meals, Clam Chowder, Cheesecake (shall I go on?). As the webpage proffers, this is indeed the 'Taste of the Orient in the West!' And how would that be complete without most stores offering a 'drive-through option for your convenience'...You tell me!
DON'T BLAME NICK...
But don't get me wrong, I'm not 'anti' any of this. In fact, I say the more the better! Bring it on! My attitude regarding all of this probably has something to do with what Nick was saying here. And I'm sure he for one can appreciate the fact that suddenly a dish that has been served up in Japan with pride for around 100 years has now been transplanted and radically mutated almost beyond recognition. But to up the meme splicing ante, there have already been reports of Japanese tourists in America planning as part of their itineraries trips to the Yoshinoya branches in NYC and LA. Even people who, self-admittedly, would 'have never touched a bowl of the stuff' over in Japan seem drawn to it now in its 米国 incarnation.
...BLAME LA (HE DOES)
But it probably has more to do with my time (about one year, on and off) that I spent in that LA. Note: If my friend Steven Yi were editing this, I'm sure he'd change that to 'My time in Sing Sing' or something to that effect. Days, weeks, months on end trying to deal with the culture shock (I'm still not over it, actually), running around with my Japanese and Korean friends trying to find good ramen. Endless miles clocked on endless freeways. Of course it was never my car! Late night conversations that I didn't even pretend to understand in ハングル in the heart of K-Town at a 'natives only' 韓国風の居酒屋, drinking that Jinro & Juice. These places make their own rules, I was often reminded.
My friend BJ (don't laugh, it was his nickname), the animation major from Seoul who showed me the ropes, would often say that being in K-Town means not leaving America for a while. Last call? Pshaw! Smoking laws? まさか！BJ was eventually drafted in the the Korean military. At least he was beautiful when ducking the American laws. My other friends...Hiroshi the film student from, you guessed it, Hiroshima, and Aki and Eki who thanks to their mixed parentages doubled up on J and K culture. The precious anxiety of my other friends when they came from out of town to visit...Anyway, 'my' LA was never the 'white' LA (thank God), and this was partly by choice. I don't regret this one bit, and now that I'll probably never go back there, I find myself missing the surreal feelings that I felt while exploring 'yellow' LA in all of its polymorphic entrenchment. It was in my eyes an ad hoc cultural situation...not so much a parody as a healthy critique of the 'purer' cultures of Japan or Korea. None of my friends were looking for a perfect re-creation of their motherlands. Far from it!
LITTLE-BIG TOKYO
Thankfully, this provided much needed multi-cultural ballast to the creeping, insidious, quasi-imperialistic attitudes that were observed all to readily in Japanese tourists exploring places like Little Tokyo. Granted, not all of them, but the ones who were obvious were so obviously, and so obliviously so. I could read it intimated on their faces, as clearly as if they had shouted it from the top of the Hollywood sign. 'What on earth happened to our culture?!?' Which was the wrong question in the first place if they were still able to ask it, impervious to the realities of that city. These people would never read Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo. Nor would they ever visit the JANM. It was all too 'fallen' for them. Fallen? From where is what I often wondered. From Grace? That cold, marble pedestal of ossification? (Thanks, Walter!) Not debasement, but transformation -- and often of the spirit -- THE only prerequisite for survival in the animal kingdom or the human one. A human animal.
閉店マインド
[Cue sappy ending theme] So that little beef bowl is out there somewhere, somewhere on the sunny West Coast. Somewhere in soon to be even more towering NYC. It is also somewhere in my mind. But it isn't in Japan anymore. I still am, though. So, I'll follow its trail, track it down, and eat it again. This will be a pleasure. I'll probably not be able to think about anything other than this cheap, fleshy treat as it goes down, which I guess in once sense won't differ all that much from the thoughts of my unsuspecting neighbors. However, what thoughts occur to me during the consumption of my dessert of Caramel Flan I'll not be so quick to share.
