The following text is a kind of article that a member of my community English conversation class wrote. Just as a sort of background, the group consists of about 10 members (of which five come regularly) ranging in age from 26 to 70. The average age, however, is closer to 60.
Mr. Inoue, the writer of the article below, is a retired Shinkansen (bullet train) engineer who speaks very deliberately in a gravelly voice, but his words are worth the wait: he has the most ridiculously advanced vocabulary of any Japanese person I know - and much better than the average North American, that is for sure (e.g. 'Japanese parents often cudgel their brains to think of unique ways to write their children's names`). He is the seventy-year-old. He smokes heavily, speaks slowly, and when he smiles, his eyes crinkle up and you can imagine very easily how he looked as a young boy.
Enjoy:
Evolution of the Sushi Restaurant.
(1) The Chief Cabinet Secretary of our side street, or rather a rumor monger, issued a statement that a new sushi restaurant recently took the historical first step near the city gymnasium toward fierce battle against existing rivals in the area.
The other evening, my wife approached me with a proposal to carry out a twilight raid on the den. Although her hidden agenda of escape from her duty to prepare supper for the evening was transparent to me, I gave my generous consent to her idea after much deliberation, because I thought our waste would be the last resort to sweep out the prolonged national financial crisis.
(2) A newly dyed Noren accord a warm welcome to us by waving in a cool breeze. Though this is reduntant, you can see Noren at most Japanese-style stores and restaurants. It's a drape or curtain with the logo of the store printed on it, and hung up outside the sliding front door at your height to catch the eye of visitors.
Noren, like a national flag to stir the feelings of patriotism among the nation, is considered to be the symbol of the store for the whole people who live on it. In Japan, therefore, to say that to guard the Noren is to say that all the employees, above all its master, must make efforts to run the store soundly against bankruptcy, just like the soldiers fight againts their enemies to protect their stronghold where their national flag is flapping.
But recently some stores, alas, have folded their honourable Noren and tucked [them] away, probably because Noren is incompatible with some types of modern automatic doors with optical sensors. Now let's return to the main subject.
(3). The new restaurant has inevitably adopted that hero of the times n this business world - a turning conveyer system which reminds me of a baggage corner at an aiport. Although sushi restaurants of this type lack elegance, at least it promises you a wide choice under your own budget control, as the colour of each plate tells the price of the dish on it; for example, a brilliant Canadian lady had once shouted at her boyfriend at her mercy in NONTA Sushi Restaurant, "Don't eat this and that coloured ones!", according to a certain witness. Also, unlike the-all-you-can-eat system, it will provide you with a sense of fair trade, especially when you drop in such a restaurant for a light meal.
Sushi restaurants of tens of years ago, on the contrary, were supposedly like an unknown world to the poor like me, because they didn't show us their menus nor price lists, instead, they adopted a current price system. Therefore, the sight of the front door of such a restaurant from the street was somewhat imagined like a gateway to the Garden of Eden, but after next blink, a minefield of plot [deception]. Now let's go back to the past, muster courage and jump into such a restaurant.
(4) The master welcomes you with a lively shout. His liveliness means that the stocked fish is fresh enough like him. You can find a glass case with ice bed on the opposite side of your counter displayed with the filleted fishes of the day, which were laid in by the master at the local fishing port at dawn. His daily game at the fishing port, alas, is variable and so is the cost.
No wonder he doesn't prepare a glassy fixed menu with prices. The pieces of fish in the show case is thick enough to identify each family background. Such pieces and exquisitely arranged colourful vegtables and small tree branches create a nice harmony like a beautiful garden by a famous landscaper, and this is his proud menu of today.
When you order your favourite toppings from the look in the case, the master, exchanging small talk with you, takes out the relevant thick slices on the cutting board, slices them swiftly into toppings with some fancy knife-play, grips some rice in the pail, lays the topping to sleep on the small comfortable rice pillow and puts the delicacy on your counter. The atmosphere doesn't allow you to confirm the unit prices beforehand, so you had better swallow your words if you wanted to.
Though this way of gripping the rice in the pail for one piece of Sushi looks nonchalant, the palm of his dominant hand is a bundle of touchy nerves. I saw a TV program about an expert Sushi chef a few years ago. He could grip out rice easily and quickly any number given of grains. The maximum error was three or so grains for every 500 given, no matter how many times he did it.
A series of the master's manner or rather, his performance, looks like refined dancing, and such sophisticated movement and the niceties of his small talk are also your side dishes. He has to have a treasure house of topics to be able to give a wide range of conversation by guests a nod without being officious.
(5) He is seemingly good at calculating in his head. When you ask for your bill, he'll probably give you a prompt answer and his wife or a novice cook will handle the money. I never saw a master will handle the money. I never saw a master take down orders or use a calculator. But I imagine his calculation might be his guesswork from the course of the scene or your appearance. He might welcome some celebrities in town more who don't mind how expensive the bill will be because it's merely sushi, and they can earn a hundred times the night's bill in their business the next day but they don't want to expose their eating to the public.
So, if you can't convince yourself without a detailed bill, you shouldn't darken their door again. Anyway, current price systems would be a nice excuse to insulate stingy guests like me to protect generous ones. Or rather, exclusiveness can be a sales point for some stores. My other guesswork about the reason for his macroscopic business style would be because he doesn't want to use a dirty pencil or calculator so as not to disorder the sense of touch on his palms with cold water when washing hands.
(6) The turning conveyer system has wiped out many difficulties and inconveniences of the conventional business style of this field, and popularized this traditional food among common people. It's a great invention. But if you don't want to sit shoulder-to-shoulder, or need to have a confidential talk with someone over sushi, you can go through the Noren of an authentic sushi restaurant which will promise you your own sanctum, but don't forget a fat purse.
Sushi restaurants of tens of years ago, on the contrary, were supposedly like an unknown world to the poor like me, because they didn't show us their menus nor price lists, instead, they adopted a current price system. Therefore, the sight of the front door of such a restaurant from the street was somewhat imagined like a gateway to the Garden of Eden, but after next blink, a minefield of plot [deception]. Now let's go back to the past, muster courage and jump into such a restaurant.
(4) The master welcomes you with a lively shout. His liveliness means that the stocked fish is fresh enough like him. You can find a glass case with ice bed on the opposite side of your counter displayed with the filleted fishes of the day, which were laid in by the master at the local fishing port at dawn. His daily game at the fishing port, alas, is variable and so is the cost.
No wonder he doesn't prepare a glassy fixed menu with prices. The pieces of fish in the show case is thick enough to identify each family background. Such pieces and exquisitely arranged colourful vegtables and small tree branches create a nice harmony like a beautiful garden by a famous landscaper, and this is his proud menu of today.
When you order your favourite toppings from the look in the case, the master, exchanging small talk with you, takes out the relevant thick slices on the cutting board, slices them swiftly into toppings with some fancy knife-play, grips some rice in the pail, lays the topping to sleep on the small comfortable rice pillow and puts the delicacy on your counter. The atmosphere doesn't allow you to confirm the unit prices beforehand, so you had better swallow your words if you wanted to.
Though this way of gripping the rice in the pail for one piece of Sushi looks nonchalant, the palm of his dominant hand is a bundle of touchy nerves. I saw a TV program about an expert Sushi chef a few years ago. He could grip out rice easily and quickly any number given of grains. The maximum error was three or so grains for every 500 given, no matter how many times he did it.
A series of the master's manner or rather, his performance, looks like refined dancing, and such sophisticated movement and the niceties of his small talk are also your side dishes. He has to have a treasure house of topics to be able to give a wide range of conversation by guests a nod without being officious.
(5) He is seemingly good at calculating in his head. When you ask for your bill, he'll probably give you a prompt answer and his wife or a novice cook will handle the money. I never saw a master will handle the money. I never saw a master take down orders or use a calculator. But I imagine his calculation might be his guesswork from the course of the scene or your appearance. He might welcome some celebrities in town more who don't mind how expensive the bill will be because it's merely sushi, and they can earn a hundred times the night's bill in their business the next day but they don't want to expose their eating to the public.
So, if you can't convince yourself without a detailed bill, you shouldn't darken their door again. Anyway, current price systems would be a nice excuse to insulate stingy guests like me to protect generous ones. Or rather, exclusiveness can be a sales point for some stores. My other guesswork about the reason for his macroscopic business style would be because he doesn't want to use a dirty pencil or calculator so as not to disorder the sense of touch on his palms with cold water when washing hands.
(6) The turning conveyer system has wiped out many difficulties and inconveniences of the conventional business style of this field, and popularized this traditional food among common people. It's a great invention. But if you don't want to sit shoulder-to-shoulder, or need to have a confidential talk with someone over sushi, you can go through the Noren of an authentic sushi restaurant which will promise you your own sanctum, but don't forget a fat purse.
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