COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers` Viewpoints

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［English Edition］　VOICES From
THE NEW YORKERS
Japanese Soba
MASUO ICHIDA
2015年（平成27年）8月8日（土）
NYクール日本
COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers’ Viewpoints
Delegates from
Shimoda City Visit
the City University
of New York
Mayor Shunsuke Kusuyama, from
Shimoda City in Shizuoka prefecture,
led a delegation of 13 representatives,
including four junior high school students, to the City University of New
York (CUNY) in Harlem on July 15.
Held annually in July since 1986, this
event honors City College founder
Townsend Harris (1804 - 1878), who
established the first American consulate in Shimoda where he played a
key role in the development of foreign
trade.
The delegation visited the Cohen
Library at CUNY after paying their
respects to Harris at his gravesite in
the Green-Wood Cemetery. They
viewed a collection of old documents
and plates from when Harris was in
Japan and the first made-in-Japan
American flag. After they were given
a presentation about Harris’s life, they
joined a campus tour and a luncheon
hosted by the college. At the luncheon,
Mayor Kusuyama expressed his gratitude and said, “I was very impressed
Shinran Shonin Statue
Vows for World Peace
for 60 Years
when I saw the stone lantern standing
right next to his grave, which was sent
from Gyokusen-ji, where Harris established the American Consulate. I
learned a lot about him at CUNY as
well.”
Doris Cintron, senior associate
provost for academic affairs, then delivered a speech, noting the remarkable
achievements of Harris during his lifetime. Harris’s great-grandniece, Ms.
Sallie Rush-Tayfour, also gave her
remarks and said, “I appreciate you for
“Kafka on the Shore”
Receives Standing Ovation in New York
The stage rendition of Haruki
Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore,”
directed by Yukio Ninagawa, was presented from July 23 to 26 as a part of
this year’s Lincoln Center Festival,
which offers stunning performing arts
from all over the world. This is
Ninagawa’s fourth time participating
in the festival.
In this unique production, Ninagawa
used glass diorama boxes, inspired
from his visit to the American
Museum of Natural History. Audience
members filled all five floors of the
3,500-seat David H. Koch Theater, to
watch as two different stories unfolded
before their eyes: one about a runaway
boy named Kafka (Nino
Furuhata) and the other
about Nakata (Katsumi
Kiba) who has the ability
to talk with cats.
At the opening night
curtain call, the cast (Rie
Miyazawa, Naohito Fujiki, Nino
Furuhata, Anne Suzuki, Hayato
Kakizawa, Tsutomu Takahashi,
Masakatsu Toriyama and Katsumi
Kiba) received a standing ovation. The
stage crew in charge of maneuvering
getting together to pass on the legacy
of Harris. Hope to see you next year.”
Harris is known for leading the
first U.S. diplomatic mission in Japan
that ended over two hundred years of
national isolation. Growing up in a
poor household, Harris was a strong
advocate for equal educational opportunities. He founded the Free
Academy, an institution that would
later become CUNY, in 1847.
(Photo & Text by Asami Kato/
Translated by Mai Moore)
© Lincoln Center
Soba is
mostly known
as a thin, grayish
noodle
made of buckwheat flour but
in Japan, soba
also refers to
buckwheat
itself. Much like udon which are thick,
white wheat noodles, soba is served
either chilled with a dipping sauce
called mentsuyu or hot in a similar
broth. Most Japanese buckwheat is produced in Hokkaido, where it takes three
months to harvest (or four times a year).
Freshly harvested buckwheat is highly
prized and called shinsoba, which is
sweeter and more flavorful than buckwheat harvested the rest of the year.
There is a countless number of varieties of soba. The finest and most
expensive is juwari soba, which consists
of 100% buckwheat. Ni hachi soba (28) which is two parts wheat and eight
parts buckwheat is also very popular.
However, the most famous soba comes
from Nagano and is called Shinano
soba. More rare but delicious is cha
soba made with green tea powder.
Mori soba is a popular cold soba dish
where the noodles are dipped in tsuyu
and kake soba is noodles in a warm
broth.
There are numerous Japanese restaurants in New York that serve high-quality soba. Arguably the two best soba can
be found at Soba-ya on 9th Street in the
East Village where they make their own
soba and udon. Also, Restaurant Nippon
in Midtown is known for being one of
the oldest Japanese restaurants in New
York and creator of the delicious “soba
salad.”
In addition to being healthy and
gluten-free, it is customary for the
Japanese to eat long soba noodles on
New Year’s Eve to ensure a long life.
Soba noodles are a staple in Japanese
cuisine, high in fiber and rich in vitamin
B.
(Masuo Icihda is an educator,
writer, and illustrator for Seiko
Oshima’s column, “NY SAIJIKI” )
週刊NY生活　SHUKAN NEW YORK SEIKATSU
the diorama box also took a bow with
the rest of the cast on the stage, to which
the audience responded with more
applause for this challenging production.
(Kaoru Komi/Translated by Makiko
Kinoto)
On September 11, the American
Buddhist Study Center and New York
Buddhist Church will hold a rededication ceremony to commemorate the
60th anniversary of when the bronze
Shinran Shonin statue that stands in
front of the temple was brought to New
York.
The statue originally stood in a park
in Hiroshima, before the city was
destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945.
Fortunately, the statue survived the blast
and Seiichi Hirose presented the statue
to Hozen Seki, founder of the New
York Buddhist Church, on September
11, 1955. Hirose believed the Shinran
statue is an awakening inspiration for
peace and tranquility in the world.
Kodo Umezu, bishop of BCA, will
conduct the rededication ceremony, followed by a keynote speech by Dr. Mark
Unno from Oregon University.
Hoshina Seki, representing BCA and
daughter of Rev.Hozen Seki, and Shuho
Yagi, donor of the replacement staff
that Shinran grips, spoke on the restoration of the statue at a recent press conference. The new $3,000 bronze staff
was made by Brooklyn-based artist
Shoji Miyazawa. (Photo & Text by Ryoichi
Miura / Translated by Hiroko Makabe)
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