No tags yet.
(Photo taken by me of the front entrance to the Ryotei Yasui; click for link to the hotel's website)
In January of 2014 I spent some time at a restaurant in Hikone, Shiga, Japan as something like a student observer. In order to fulfill my study abroad requirements, I needed to spend some time interning and observing at a local establishment. My classmates also needed to do this, so some spent time in Buddhist temples while others went to local law offices. The final grade would be a pass/fail paper we would submit before returning home, and the topic I chose was Japanese food since I was a very picky child growing up and I really wanted to expand my tastes while abroad. By the time we started our internships, I was asked to also go along with a classmate to a nursery school owned by the Taneya bakery company to spend time playing, eating, and talking with the children, who were all six years old and under. We would ride the train to the next town and would be picked up by car. Since the montessori nursery school put a lot of effort into teaching the children about traditional Japanese food, I had the opportunity to eat some amazing things with high quality rice, miso, and vegetables. In Japan they have multi-course meals that are served all at once on several small bowls and plates, and my classmate and I agreed that it was sometimes difficult to eat everything, which was embarrassing because the children were so good about finishing. The children often looked at us as though we were aliens, especially since I am so pale compared to them and my classmate is so tall.
Anyway, my restaurant internship was supposed to be about teaching the proprietress of a fancy, traditional Japanese hotel some English words and phrases. The hotel was called the Ryotei Yasui and the owner's name was Chisami Yasui, but everyone called her Okami-san, which means "Ms. Proprietress." When the activities coordinator brought me to the hotel the first time, she told me (in English) that "in the hotel, Okami-san is god." This is something of a funny statement anyway, especially since it is true and everyone respects her as such, but is made even funnier by the fact that "god" in Japanese usually comes out as "okami-sama." I don't think she was trying to make a pun, but it was brilliant nonetheless.
(Photo taken by me of the Shiruman restaurant's menu)
Every once or twice a week I would ride my bike to the hotel, which I was given a brief tour of on my first day, and we would sit in the entryway doing some English practice. We never really got that much done since I had no experience teaching English to anyone, but hopefully the proprietress learned something. She was a lovely woman who was always dressed in her seasonal kimono and was so quietly powerful. Even though she was the boss, she admitted to cleaning and running errands whenever she needed to. The hotel was her life. Next door to the expensive hotel was a less expensive lunch restaurant called Shiruman with beautiful hardwood floors and Japanese decor. We would go there for lunch and we would tell each other about our lives. (The Japanese speaking and listening practice I got during this time was amazing, and is probably the only reason I have maintained what speaking abilities I still have.) Okami-san would always tell me to order anything I wanted off the small menu, usually ordering the same for herself, and would pour me tea. After a wonderful lunch, the proprietress would return to the hotel and I would be left with the servers for another hour or two before going back to the dormitory.
(Photo taken by me of the lead servers behind the food prep counter overlooking the dining room)
(Photo taken by me of the oden pot kept near the food prep counter)
(Photo taken by me of the table layout with the menu, tea cups, and oden appetizer plate)
(Photo taken by me of the junior server standing by the food prep counter)
The servers were a lot of fun. There was a senior server who was quite nice and a junior server who I spent most of my time with. Occasionally there was another server who would get a bit impatient with my Japanese skills, which were still not perfect, but otherwise everything went smoothly. The men in the kitchen worked hard and quietly, preparing this or that for orders. Most of the time I just watched, since my Japanese was not good enough to take full orders. Now and then guests would ask about me, and would be very impressed with my ability to understand them, even if all they said was, "Can you understand me?" Generally, I was ignored and people enjoyed their lunches. Business men in suits and women with children had quiet lunches there. The dining room had four types of seating overlooked by the massive counter where were did the food preparation, which I sometimes got to help with. Walking into the dining room, on your far right were a line a rooms with sliding doors where private lunches could be held at low, traditional Japanese tables with cushion seats. Next, there were a few large, Western-style tables made from heavy wood. To the left of those were a series of usual Japanese tables with cushion seats. And to the far left were more Japanese tables that actually had space underneath where guests hung their legs to have their feet heated. When I had lunch with Okami-san, we always sat in the far left corner closest to the kitchen where she had a view of the servers working and where we were out of the way. I always enjoyed sitting there on the floor with my legs hanging down. The first time we sat there, I had no idea there was a hole in the floor and so sat on my knees in seiza position like a good Japanese girl until the hole was pointed out to me.
(Photo taken by me of the shrimp and vegetable tempura over rice with a side of picked daikon radish and konbu or kelp, along with a covered cup of egg pudding)
(Photo taken by me of the private dining rooms)
(Photo taken by me of the Western-style tables off to one side by the private dining rooms)
(Photo taken by me from my back corner table of some of the layout of the Shiruman restaurant's dining room)
(Photo taken by me of the traditional seating in part of Shiruman)
(Photo taken by me of the tables along the windows with heated places for your feet under the tables; the booth on the far right is the corner booth with no windows where Okami-san liked to sit and oversee)
(Photo taken by me of the front of the food prep counter with the oden pot nearby)
As time went on and January moved on into February, Okami-san got busier and could spend less time with me. On my last several visits, the reception host at the hotel asked me to please head on over to the restaurant to spend time with the servers. If Okami-san could join me at all, it would be for lunch, although I ate by myself several times. On what I believe was my last day, I ordered one of my favorite dishes: fried shrimp with rice and cabbage served with a covered bowl of miso soup and a cup of egg pudding alongside my pot of tea. As Okami-san had for me in the past, I asked the server to please bring the shrimp with no heads. (Please keep in mind that I had known the servers for about a month at this point.) She smiled in what I thought was a suspicious way, and left to get my lunch. I tried not to worry about it, but was shocked when she returned. Lo and behold, the two massive breaded shrimp the length of a grown man's hand both had their heads still on. They had massive red heads with eyes and antennae still in tact, along with their bright red tails still on. The tails were normal enough, but having the heads on presented an interesting problem: how on earth was I going to get to the edible, breaded bodies? I could not pick up the ends of the shrimp with my hands and eat them like corn. I had no knife and fork with which to cut them down to size, having only been given the customary chopsticks. For a while, I sat there sipping miso soup and eating spoonfuls of pudding. A couple times I tried pinching the shrimp to see if the heads would pop off, but no such luck. The little wooden spoon did not seem like it would do the trick. Finally, I had no choice. I looked around to see if the few guests could see me or if the servers or cooks could see me, then brandished my chopsticks. Holding them together in one hand like a knife, I stabbed the shrimp in the neck. As quickly and quietly as I could, I smashed through the beautiful food until finally both heads lay to the side and I was left with big but manageable shrimp bodies to eat. The rest of the meal was quite nice.
(Photo taken by me of the fried shrimp, shredded cabbage, white rice, pickled daikon radish, miso soup with tofu and seaweed, and egg pudding)
I enjoyed myself at that restaurant very much, although to this day I am not sure if the servers simply did not understand my request for no heads or purposefully decided to play a joke on me. Either way, the food was delicious. You can watch a video with images of the hotel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0gqJ4DJQv4&vl=en.
