Bullets and BBQs

It was a day of contrasts. We left Tokyo for Nagoya and took the “shinkansen” or bullet train. The trains can go up to 300km and it took almost no time at all to make the trip. We were met at the station by a friendly face, our friend Masahiro Sasaki, who we met in Canada at the Glass Art Association of Canada conference in 2006. Masahiro welcomed us into his home and we met his lovely family, his wife Shiiho, and daughters Shii and Yu. We had a quick tour of his studio, and then we went out for a traditional Japanese barbeque dinner, that made us feel that we were worlds away from Black Diamond. We entered the restaurant that had been there for many many years, through a low door.

The center of the length of restaurant was a low-slung platform with three tables. The platform was roughly 12 feet across, made of rich wood with three tables spaced evenly in the space. In a very traditional style we were seated in the last sitting on the floor on mats around a low table, 4×4feet, with two charcoal grills in the middle.  The grills were heated with charcoal in ancient stone crucibles with small 12” grills placed overtop.  This place was known for beef, so Masahiro ordered various kinds of meat for us to sample including tongue, flank and stomach. The meat was brought out thinly sliced on plates with various Miso sauces. The evening was an engaging mix of animated discussion with cooking and turning the meat with chopsticks. All the meat was great to eat, and at the onset we thought it might be challenging to try some of the items that we had never tasted, but they were all well prepared and very good to eat. A highlight for me, and high up there on the list of things I never thought of eating or would not consider trying, was eating raw liver. The flavour and texture was incredible. I kept asking if it had been marinated in something (it wasn’t) it was sweet tasting… very bright and fresh tasting for lack of other words.  The meat was accompanied with rice and frosty mugs of beer (Tyler was a happy man). At the end of the meal the grandmother of the owner’s family tallied the bill. She was stooped and I would guess her age to be around 90. She came from the back to tally our meal by counting our dishes and purchases using an abacus, the final clue that Masahiro and Shiiho had provided us a truly remarkable evening. There was not a word of English spoken (other than their efforts to speak with us) and we really felt that we were fortunate to have this glimpse of life that many tourists never get to see.