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other ingredi- ents on top) being sold from refrigerated display cases that I did not see five years earlier in 1996. The World's Back then, there were rolls Thriving Sushi and inari-zushi Business (pockets of deep- fried filled The Popularity of Sushi Overseas with sushi rice), The BRICs Part 1 but none with raw fish. A "por kilo" Sushi and are sold by weight. shop called Nandemoya that had just opened on my earlier visit had changed its name to Manchinkoku- Text and photos by Shokudo, as the ownership had changed from Hirotaka Matsumoto Japanese to Chinese. "Por kilo" means "per kilo," and at these restaurants you can select food from a buffet and pay by weight. Unlike all-you-can-eat restaurants, they are eco- This is a follow-up to previous contributions to nomical and discourage waste. Food Culture, The World's Thriving Sushi The shop offered salad, gyouza dumplings, , Business in Nos. 12–14 (2006-2007) and The , fried rice and other dishes commonly seen Internationalization of Sushi in No.15 (2007). in Japan. The menu also featured new sushi and I spent the first half of the year 2000 traveling sashimi dishes, which were not among the selection throughout North, Central and South America, five years earlier. Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Middle and Near A Little about the East, and Africa to collect materials and in research for reports. More recently, I have São Paulo? placed my focus on the emerging BRIC I interviewed Dr. nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). I visit- Koichi Mori, a ed all four countries, including Brazil, which I researcher at the had already visited during a previous research Center for Japanese- trip. These countries will be covered in two Brazilian Studies, separate issues. located at the end of Liberdade’s main street. Dr. Mori (Brazil) also authored "The Food Situation in TheThe AsianAsian DistrictDistrict WhereWhere Sushi Culture Has Prospered Brazil" five years Sushi Culture Has Prospered ago. He told me that Asian District, São Paulo, Brazil, 2001 the first Japanese The Asian district of Liberdade is lined with Restaurant Hinode, the oldest among restaurant in São those started by Japanese descents Japanese food stores. This was my second visit to Paulo was the Uechi São Paulo, and I noticed packs of nigiri-zushi Inn, established in 1914, and that they served inari- (hand-formed blocks of sushi rice with raw fish or zushi rather than nigiri-zushi. It was after the war

13 FOOD CULTURE The Popularity of Sushi Overseas The BRICs Part 1

(around 1945) when a restaurant near the Lapa Kokeshi, Enomoto also entered the picture. I gath- District Market, the predecessor of the gigantic ered from this that the trailblazing sushi restaurants CEAGESP wholesale market, began to serve nigiri- in São Paulo were Okina-Zushi and Hama-Zushi. zushi to Japanese brokers. I asked Mr. Yahata which sushi rice he was using I visited the Livraria Takano Bookstore and picked when he got started in the business. Though import- up a tourist map of the city. Since that map con- ed California rice, or japonica varieties harvested in tained an advertisement promoting a restaurant the world's largest rice growing region straddling called Hinode as "the oldest Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (Food Culture No. Japanese restaurant" in town, I 15) are all easily available now, Mr. Yahata told me decided to visit. I found it had these varieties were not easy to come by when he opened 35 years earlier. started. Instead, he used Catete rice, a variety creat- Hinode’s owner explained to ed by the IRGA Rice Cultivation Laboratory around me, "We were preceded by the 1930 in Rio Grande do Sul (the southernmost state Kokeshi and Enomoto Japanese in Brazil and a part of the just mentioned rice grow- restaurants, but they have since ing region). It was made by crossbreeding the con- closed, leaving ours as the old- ventional indica variety and unhulled rice brought Mr. Yahata, who used to run Kokeshi Restaurant est in town." from Japan by immigrants. When cooked in the Kokeshi had just closed down usual fashion, it was not sticky at all, which is char- the previous year. Luckily, I was still able to meet its acteristic of the indica variety, but the stickiness owner, the 81-year old Hachiro Yahata. Born in peculiar to came out when the cook- Kure in prefecture in 1920, his family ing method was altered. That cooking method was moved to Brazil when he was just one year old. He apparently arrived at after an arduous series of trial studied at a business and error. school in Noroeste, and worked in the printing department DaughterDaughter OpensOpens aa SushiSushi of the Noroeste and RestaurantRestaurant Paulista newspapers. In 1965, he quit his In the 1970s, the Suntory Restaurant from Japan job at the newspaper opened in São Paulo. Their first overseas shop in and opened Kokeshi. Mexico (described in Food Culture No. 12) was a By that time, there huge success, and Brazil was chosen as the site of were already three Japanese restaurants that went by the names of Okina-Zushi, Hama- Zushi, and Tokiwa. At a morning market, nigiri-zushi is After the arrival of made under a canopy.

Hirotaka Matsumoto Born in Tokyo in 1942, he graduated from the University of Tokyo's Department of Agriculture and worked at Sapporo Breweries Ltd. until 1969, when he moved to New York. After working in the purchasing department of the restaurant Nippon and gaining experience in the wholesale fish business, he opened Suntory Restaurant started the sushi boom in São Paulo. Takezushi, the first sushi bar in New York, in 1975. Mr. Matsumoto is currently the owner of the Takezushi sushi bar in Belgium, and travels around the world the second shop because the social and business doing research as a food culture expert. Mr. Matsumoto's published works environment was thought to be similar to that of include Osushi Chikyu o Mawaru (Kobunsha), Oishii Amerika Mitsuketa Mexico. All owners of Japanese restaurants until (Chikuma Shobo), New York Takezushi Monogatari (Asahi Shimbunsha), and that time had been immigrants from Japan, and Samurai Shisetsudan Yoroppa o Shokusu (Gendai Shokan). almost all customers had been Japanese. Targeting upper class Brazilians, Suntory opened an elegant

FOOD CULTURE 14 restaurant near Paulista Avenue, one of the most had been a sushi chef at the previous restaurant prominent streets in São Paulo. The location was since its opening. As he was a good chef, Kuroshio ideal, as Japanese business people would use the thrived. The shopping center was open year round, restaurant to entertain their Brazilian counterparts. and Kenji could not handle it alone, so he was Brazilians who first visited the restaurant with their joined by his wife, Mami. At first, Mami was Japanese associates started to come with their fel- against the idea of opening a sushi restaurant, for low Brazilians as well. This was the beginning of she had seen firsthand the hardships her father went the Japanese food boom. However, at that time, through in Paraguay. However, now that Kuroshio is and tempura were the preferred dishes. thriving, she enjoys working there. Although there was a sushi bar, sushi was not very Kuroshio buys fish from a Japanese dealer who pur- popular. chases it from the CEAGESP market. The market The sushi boom in Brazil began in the late 1980s. features yellowtail, sea bream, sea bass, olive floun- The American interest in healthy eating was intro- der and horse mackerel caught in the nearby sea, as duced to Brazil, and the image of sushi as a health well as salmon from Chile. The varieties food became widespread. Next to the Tietê long-dis- include bigeye and yellowfin, which fishermen tance bus depot, there is a large shopping center catch during their 20-day fishing trips, sailing out of called Shopping D, with a food court on the second Santos and Rio de Janeiro. As the best quality tuna floor. I went there to visit the Kuroshio Restaurant. is exported to the U.S. and Japan, procuring good Iwao Takimoto, owner of the New Tokyo restaurant tuna locally is a hard job, said Kenji. His restau- in Paraguay (introduced in Food Culture No. 12) rant's sales peaked around three years ago, mainly had urged me to visit his daughter's restaurant, because many who had migrated to Japan and Kuroshio, in São Paulo when I went there again. returned with some money decided to open sushi His daughter, Mami, was born in Colonia Fram, and restaurants en masse. They all assumed the sushi married Kenji Sakamoto, who was working as a business would be lucrative. According to Kenji's computer engineer in São Paulo. Finding his work estimate, as of 2001, the number of restaurants serv- unchallenging, Kenji decided to quit his job. He ing sushi in São Paulo would exceed 600, including talked with a fellow engineer who shared the same 350 Japanese restaurants and "por kilo" shops. feelings, and together they decided to open a sushi restaurant. As they were at the leading edge of a burgeoning interest in Japanese food, the timing was (Russia) propitious. Ukraine Instead of Russia When I got to Warsaw in Poland, I actually wanted to go farther up to Moscow. But I gave up on it because obtaining a visa to Russia was an overly involved process. Still, I really had wanted to see Moscow's sushi boom with my own eyes. I couldn’t get that thought out of my head, and I finally came up with the idea to go to Ukraine instead. Ukraine is right next to Russia, and was a part of the Soviet Union until 1991. The flourishing sushi restaurant chains in At KUROSHIO, Mr. Takimoto's daughter, Mami, and Manuel, the chef Moscow triggered a sushi boom in Ukraine as well, and sightseeing in Ukraine didn't require a visa. I They wanted to try something innovative, and thought that if I went to Ukraine, I could also learn decided to open their restaurant in a shopping cen- something of the sushi situation of Moscow. Then, ter, which was still unprecedented in Brazil in 1994. serendipity struck. The restaurant took off and the business thrived. The Kikkoman Institute for International Food Kenji, however, left the restaurant to open Kuroshio. Culture offered to introduce Mr. Junichi Sawano of He brought along a Brazilian named Manuel, who Kikkoman Trading Europe GmbH, who was in

15 FOOD CULTURE The Popularity of Sushi Overseas The BRICs Part 1

become a family restaurant, I tried to investigate further. As the sign was in Cyrillic, I could not make out what it said, and I had a hard time trying to find anyone who could understand English. Finally, a young person came and told me that the restaurant was in fact Sushiya. Timidly, I opened the door and was welcomed by a chorus of voices calling out "irasshaimase (wel- come)!" Every time a customer enters, the young waitresses all join in this rousing greeting. The inte- rior design was exactly that of a family restaurant. Sushiya in Ukraine. It looks like a family restaurant rather than a sushi restaurant. The only difference was that the sushi counter was situated one step higher so that cus- tomers could see how sushi was prepared. The Ukrainian sushi chefs were making sushi, but there were no seats in front of the sushi counter. The sushi counter was elevat- ed a bit to provide a show. The menu had lovely photos of sushi with Cyrillic and English lettering. If the out- side sign had been in English as well, it could have saved me some trouble. The offered variety of nigiri- At Sushiya's sushi counter, Ukrainian chefs prepare sushi on an elevated stage. zushi was modest, including charge of Russia. Since he frequently traveled mainly tuna, salmon, , sea bream, , between Düsseldorf and Moscow, he would be the and salmon . The reason might be that these best person to describe the sushi situation in Moscow. ingredients freeze well. The sushi rolls, though, So, I flew to Brussels at the end of September 2010 offered plenty of variety, with tuna rolls, cucumber and called him from Takezushi to obtain information rolls, and many kinds of original rolls such as about Ukraine, which was also his territory. California roll, Philadelphia roll, Alaska roll, He told me that the restaurants , Planeta Dragon roll, and deep- roll. The prices Sushi, Tanuki, and others had opened chain stores in were 13 hryvni (one USD = approx. 8 hryvni) for Ukraine. The biggest local chain store was Sushiya. one piece of tuna, 8 hryvni for salmon, and 15 Having decided to obtain information about hryvni for salmon roe, which were a bit high. But Moscow's sushi situation later after returning from the prices of rolls were reasonable, ranging from a Ukraine, I flew from Brussels to Kiev via Warsaw. I 13-hryvnia tuna roll to a 75-hryvnia dragon roll. For once spent 18 hours on the train traveling from comparison, a Filet-O-Fish set menu at McDonald's Brussels to Warsaw (Food Culture No. 14), but this was 40 hryvni at the time. In the restaurant, most of time I got there quickly. the customers were eating sushi rolls, and none I stayed at a hotel near Khreschatic Street, in the were eating nigiri-zushi. They were all locals, with busiest part in Kiev, and tried to find a nearby no tourists in sight. It was early evening, and Sushiya restaurant based on directions I received at women were enjoying dinner after a day's work. The the hotel. I couldn’t find anything resembling a business appeared to be quite successful.The Kiev sushi restaurant, although there was one family tourist magazine at the hotel said that there were restaurant. Thinking the sushi restaurant might have a combined seven Sushiya shops in the city.

FOOD CULTURE 16 TheThe SushiSushi InvasionInvasion fromfrom order salmon roe rather than flying fish roe. Though MoscowMoscow “ikura” means salmon roe in Japanese, it simply means fish roe in Russian. If they were going to Four outlets of Moscow’s Planeta Sushi chain were bring me the wrong roe, I wish it had been .) introduced in the tourist guidebook. I visited the one Each dish was a proper nigiri-zushi. The cost of the on Khreschatic Street, and found no customers four servings was 50 hryvni, almost the same as at there, even though it was lunch time. The menu was Sushiya. The guidebook showed 7 Murakamis, but priced at 21 hryvni for a piece of tuna, 15 for there were already more than 10, according to the restaurant manager. He told me that Murakami is the most popular sushi chain in Kiev, even ahead of Sushiya. The Premier Palace Hotel will always have the dis- tinction of being the first hotel in Ukraine to be awarded 5 stars. The hotel is home to an authentic Japanese restaurant called Sumosan, and this one has seats in front of the sushi counter. The sushi chef Sushi bar at Murakami was not Japanese, but a salmon, and 19 for Moscow-born Korean-Russian named Mr. Kim. salmon roe, which According to Mr. Kim, there are two other Sumosan were higher prices restaurants in London and Moscow, both of which than those at are owned (along with the Kiev Sumosan) by a Sushiya. Could it be German. They are also located in prominent hotels. Mr. because their sushi Kim worked in the ingredients were Moscow restaurant for brought to the chain five years before com- outlets in Kiev all ing to Kiev five years the way from Moscow? ago. Two Japanese With this kind of chefs at the London price range, people restaurant take turns would naturally head teaching Japanese to the nearby Sushiya culinary skills to the instead. chefs of the Moscow Murakami was right and Kiev restaurants. Murakami’s charismatic manager next to Planeta Sushi, As might well be in the basement. expected, the prices The sign outside the restaurant displayed sushi - are high. A single tos with the restaurant name in Japanese lettering, serving (one piece) so it was easy to find. The interior was stylish, and of tuna or salmon is similar to that of a nightclub with subdued lighting. 88 hryvni, and a Mr. Kim, sushi chef at Sumosan Behind the sushi counter, which had no seats, there serving of fatty tuna were 4 to 5 chefs, all Ukrainian. 127 hryvni. They serve proper caviar for 267 I ordered one serving each of tuna, salmon, sea hryvni. bream and flying fish roe. (Actually, I had meant to The Moscow restaurant imports Mediterranean or

17 FOOD CULTURE The Popularity of Sushi Overseas The BRICs Part 1

Boston tuna, some of which is sent to Kiev. Young Japanese or sushi yellowtail is shipped from Korea to Moscow and restaurants. On top of Kiev. When the shipping costs of these fish are this, Yakitoria and added to the high cost of the prime hotel location, Planeta have 50 shops higher sushi prices are inevitable. Sumosan restau- respectively, Tanuki rants stay in business because of the demand for has 20, and shops sushi from business customers and foreign tourists, similar to them are with little dependence on the locals. found everywhere. In Saint Petersburg, Eurasia has 50 chain 1,000 Sushi Restaurants shops. Also, some inin MoscowMoscow Italian and Chinese restaurants serve After returning from Kiev to Brussels, I met up sushi. So, with these with Mr. Sawano at Takezushi. He had come all the types of restaurants way from Düsseldorf, and the trip had taken four included, the figure hours rather than the usual two, due to heavy traffic. of 1,000 may not be I felt a bit sorry for taking up his day like that. But an exaggeration." Mr. Sawano of Kikkoman. The bottles with the Cyrillic label are then again, Takezushi in Belgium uses Kikkoman One of the authentic destined for Russia. soy sauce and is a valued customer. Japanese restaurants I had obtained some information from newspapers is Misato, which is run by the Russian Presidential and magazines regarding the sushi boom in Palace. The head chef, Mr. Munechika Ban, is the Moscow. I read about Russian Prime Minister first Japanese chef approved to join the National Putin's particular liking for sushi, revealed by Chefs Guild, which allows only the most elite chefs actions such as flying in his private jet to Japan, to become members. Mr. Sawano told me that Mr. reserving a whole sushi restaurant in Ginza, enjoy- Ban had worked for Seiji prior to Misato. Seiji was ing sushi, and then returning to Russia within the opened in 2001, and is the most renowned restau- same day (and bringing with him a sushi chef for rant in Moscow. his party in Moscow). It is understandable that They import fish directly from the Tsukiji fish mar- media reports focus on such ostentation, but I want- ket in Tokyo. Amazingly enough, at Seiji, there are ed to know how sushi was seen by the average no fewer than 150 regular customers who customar- Muscovite. ily spend the equivalent of $1,000 USD a night. First, I thought I should learn a bit of the Cyrillic However, the sushi restaurant market seems to have alphabet, and luckily Mr. Sawano had majored in reached a saturation point. Mr. Sawano said, the Russian language at university. Sushi is written "Kikkoman and the Embassy of Japan have been in Cyrillic as "СУШИ" where "С" is an S sound, hosting cooking seminars for Russian chefs. But "У" is pronounced as U, "Ш" represents SH, and "И" these days many say that they have had enough of is read as I. The Sushiya sign had an "Я" which is sushi and want to learn about other Japanese dish- pronounced “ya,” at the end. “ëìòàü” means es." Now, udon and shops are emerging and Sushiya. And here I thought they had intentionally aimed at securing a post-sushi position. reversed R to imitate the logo of the TOYSRUS toy This does not mean that the sushi boom has sub- store! sided, but that ramen shops are increasing in num- What I really wanted to ask Mr. Sawano was bers along with sushi restaurants. This is a good whether the 1,000 sushi restaurants in Moscow cited thing for Kikkoman because it means more cus- by newspaper articles and other media were repre- tomers for their soy sauce. sentative of the true figure. Some articles more con- servatively said there were only 500 restaurants. The BRIC countries of India and China will While 500 might be possible, 1,000 was way too big be covered in the next issue of Food Culture a number for me to take seriously. as Part 2 of this article. Mr. Sawano replied, "There are only 10 or so authentic

FOOD CULTURE 18