Japan Explained FASAQ

Apparently ramen stalls also wander round blowing the same kind of trumpet (rappa), but I’ve neither seen nor heard such a thing myself.

In Turkey an endless procession of salesmen came past my flat making a selection of noises to tout their various wares. The noise made by vans offering to pick up sodai gomi (large rubbish which you would otherwise have to pay to have taken away) and election campaigning vans shows that it certainly isn’t a law against making noise that stops Japanese salesmen from doing the same. So, why only tofu?

Traditionally, tofu must be eaten on the same day, which would explain the need for a local supply. I also imagine that a tofu shop is not quite worth an actual trip to, unlike the local butchers and fishmongers which still seem to do surprisingly well. Still not sure that gets to the heart of the matter, though. My final complete guess is that making tofu is, like making ramen, something that you can do with a minimum of initial investment, therefore making it a suitable small business for someone who can afford a cart but can’t afford a shop.

Expensive Japanese beef is all about the high fat content, which gives that marbled effect when raw. Some people believe that the massages and beer directly affect the amount and distribution of the fat, but according to Sushi and Beyond the main thing is just that the cows eat a lot of the right thing. The beer helps their appetite (having a couple definitely makes me want to eat!) and the massages help them relax and so, funnily enough, eat.

This is another one that had been worrying me for a while, and there is some kind of answer in my read of the moment, Sushi and Beyond.

Apparently teppanyaki was specifically designed for the Americans staying in post-war Kobe and demanding meat. Not sure that is a full explanation though, as shabu shabu was also designed mainly for foreigners to begin with but never really took off outside Japan.

It could just be the name that has less recognition in Japan. The main dish in teppanyaki (at least in Japan) is steak and when the Japanese go for suteeki that is what they call it, however it is cooked.

Kobe is one the more famous places for Japanese beef (wagyu) but Matsuzaka is much more respected amongst people who really know their beef and the Japanese more generally, and anyway when non-Japanese say “Kobe beef” they are usually referring to expensive Japanese beef (with its marbled fat etc) in general.

I’d always wondered about this and finally found an explanation in the book I’m reading at the moment, Sushi and Beyond. The book is scattered with basic errors (including spelling the place Matsusaka most of the time, while once getting it right on the very same page), but until someone comes up with a better explanation, this is all I’ve got…

Because Kobe was the place where most Westerners first came across Japanese beef, being one of the major open ports in the Meiji era, the whole ingredient got named after the place, apparently. Teppanyaki was also invented in Kobe, so the fame of the beef might have spread with that way of cooking it.

The next post will also be related to teppanyaki, should you be interested.

… because “soba” means buckwheat and therefore (usually grey) buckwheat noodles, but yakisoba is made from ones made from wheat flour that are similar to ramen noodles. “Yaki udon” is made from udon (fat white wheat flour noodles), but yakisoba ain’t made from soba?? What is going on?? 

My family tell me that it couldn’t be called “yaki ramen” because ramen is the name of the dish made with a soup made from stock, rather than just the ingredient that is the noodles. Wikipedia also says that “yaki soba” can just be translated as “fried noodles”. There are, however, two perfectly good expressions for noodles generally, being “men” (as in the second syllable of “ramen”) and “nuuduru” (Japanese pron of the English word “noodles”). There general statement that “I want to eat noodles (rather than rice)” in Japanese is therefore “Menrui tabetai” and not “Soba tabetai”, which would be specific to those buckwheat noodles.

That would make the proper words for yakisoba ”yakimen” (which has a nice sound to it, actually) or “yaki nuuduru” (which doesn’t).

Any ideas why it isn’t that but is “yakisoba” instead?