From the Desk of Consul General Osumi

  In the 11th essay in this series, I wrote about the “once-in-a-lifetime” encounters I have when welcoming guests to the official residence of the Consul General of Japan in San Francisco and the importance of considering three elements: conversation topics, setting, and takeaways. Because we recognize that guests are choosing to spend their precious time with us, my wife and I aim to ensure that they feel it worthwhile to have come all the way to our residence.
  In this issue, I would like to expand on the importance of food and drink, which form the essence of good hospitality. In a future issue, I will discuss tea.


Food: The Beauty of Master Chef Igawa’s Cooking
  Due in part to its diversity, San Francisco is one of the best cities in the U.S. to enjoy a various delicious food. We are thus very grateful that the Consul General of Japan’s residence is known for serving delicious meals. Chef Munetaka Igawa, a native of Kagawa Prefecture in Japan who has come to San Francisco to run the kitchen at our residence, has maintained that high reputation. Chef Igawa is reserved and diligent. With his keen aesthetic sense, he is a quintessential Japanese artisan. He trained in Paris for several years, and during his time as sous-chef at his most recent restaurant there, the establishment was awarded two Michelin stars.

  I have complete confidence in Chef Igawa, so I let him create his menus as he sees fit. He is a chef who comes from a country of artisans, and while it can be difficult to manage a budget in California with its high cost of living, he has been able to create a variety of Japanese and Western dishes. At a recent dinner, he prepared a lightly steamed asparagus appetizer with a slightly sour sauce redolent of spring, and the sushi conveyed the essence of Japan to our guests. The elaborate soup course included shrimp cake and yuzu-infused dashi broth. It was as if you could taste the fragrance of yuzu on your tongue. The main course is often a meat entrée, and Chef Igawa’s preparation of meat is so impressive, the tenderness of the meat prompts delighted reactions from everyone at the table. Chef Igawa is also attentive to his guests' palates. To guests from Japan, he makes sure to offer something new in the form of Japanese-French cuisine, while for American guests, he blends Japanese and Western flavors to provide them a sense of comfort. When Chef Igawa arrives to greet the guests as dessert is served, he is greeted with applause. It is a brief but joyous opportunity to reflect on the meal through all five senses. After all, there is nothing better than a delicious meal when entertaining guests.

Sake: Traditional Craft, New Frontier
  Sake is essential to enhance Chef Igawa’s delicious food, ease the atmosphere, and invite more lively exchange among guests. Recently, the Japanese government has made efforts to promote sake, and as Consul General I am permitted to bring some selections from Japan, which allows us to present to guests the best of what we have to offer.
  As I have written before, I feel that the image, likeability, and respect for Japanese culture in the United States is at an all-time high. Nowadays, many Americans travel to Japan, and sake has become quite popular among Americans. Of course, every sake is connected to its tōji (master brewer), with its own unique local culture, so I appreciate the relationship between the prefecture where the sake is produced and the customer. For example, a San Francisco politician who had taught English in Akita Prefecture as a participant on the JET Program recently came to dine with us, so we made sure to serve Akita sake. Also, we occasionally receive Japanese American guests, and although they come from various places, they often travel to Japan to meet distant relatives. As much as possible, we try to honor those feelings and serve sake from their place of origin in Japan. Although it may take time to research the prefectures with which our guests have connections, as hosts, hospitality naturally calls us to consider these small details.
  In addition to beer, I also promote sparkling sake, as I believe bubbly drinks are the first choice to quench the thirst of guests who have come to our residence from far away. I remember when I was working in London ten years ago, I served sparkling sake—even more of a rarity back then—that I acquired in London to guests, and it was well received. We have been serving sparkling sake at our receptions, but most of our foreign guests say it is their first time trying it, and it seems that it is not so well known even among Japanese people. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we feel there is great potential for sparkling sake to grow in popularity.
  As for shochu and awamori, Japan’s native distilled spirits, we are still searching for a “formula for success” on how to market them, so any advice would be appreciated. As for whiskey, many people in the U.S. enjoy bourbon because of its American heritage, and Japanese whiskey (or whisky) is highly esteemed, so guests are quite pleased when it is offered to them. There was an occasion when I shared the story of a 2014 NHK morning drama called “Massan,” in which the main character studied abroad in Scotland as a youth and returned to Japan to become the “father of Japanese whiskey.” When I explained that he came back to Japan with his new Scottish wife, the crowd responded with knowing nods. When I then explained that the actress who played the wife was actually an American actress from New Mexico, who spoke American English, the crowd burst into laughter.


California Wine and Japan
  This region is world-renowned for its wine, but in Napa, Sonoma, and other areas, when it comes to high-end wines, prices can be quite high. I would like to go wine tasting, but a tasting alone for one person can be up to $100, whereas when I visited a winemaker in France, he opened a bottle and let me taste it for free, as if to say, “Thank you for coming!” I am thus not sufficiently qualified to talk extensively about California wine, but from what I gather, French winemaking is based on a long tradition of caring for the land and allowing the wine to “express” its particular climate and geography (terroir). In contrast, California winemaking uses a scientific approach, and the climate is more stable, so there is less variation in quality from year to year.
  When we serve meals at the official residence, especially meat dishes, we serve red wines because they suit the palate. Since we represent Japan, we try to serve California wines that are related in some way to Japan. One wine, called “Nagasawa,” is named after Kanaye Nagasawa, who was known as the wine king of California before World War I. Nagasawa was one of the youngest students—13 years old at the time—who were secretly sent by the Satsuma clan to study in England in 1865, before the Meiji Restoration. Fellow students who traveled to the U.K. with him included Arinori Mori, the first Minister of Education, and Tomoatsu Godai, a famous Meiji-era entrepreneur. After parting company with his colleagues who returned to Japan around the time of the Meiji Restoration, Nagasawa crossed the Atlantic to the United States and came all the way to California, where he got involved in winemaking and achieved great success. Nagasawa’s wine was the first American wine exported to England. Due to Prohibition and the rise of anti-Japanese sentiment, Nagasawa’s winemaking could not continue after his death in 1934, and was lost to history. However, in 1983, President Reagan, a California native, mentioned Nagasawa in his speech to the Japanese Diet, and in the 1990s, wines bearing the Nagasawa name began to be produced on a family-owned farm on the site of his former land. The farm itself was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire in 2017, and at a family meeting to discuss the best course of action, they considered discontinuing the costly and unprofitable winemaking business. Nevertheless, business is continuing and the vineyards producing Nagasawa wine are recovering. Most of the items related to Nagasawa were also destroyed in the fire, but an antique sword was recovered in the ruins, which is now displayed at the winery along with a map of Satsuma Bay. To honor Nagasawa’s legacy, we serve Nagasawa wine at our residence.

Promoting Japanese Wines
  Of course, I also promote Japanese wines to our guests. During my Japanese wine training in Tokyo just prior to taking up this post in San Francisco, I was taught that Japanese wine has come a long way in the last 20 years. Indeed, our wine-savvy friends recently traveled around Japan, sampling wines in various regions, and commented on the excellent quality. If the same spirit of craftsmanship of the sake tōji (master brewers) resides in those who produce Japanese wine, it will not be long before a new generation of Japanese winemakers will be in the limelight around the world. Japanese whiskey, which began with a young man returning from Scotland in the Meiji era, has now established a reputation as some of the best in the world. Japan has reached similar acclaim in the world of sports. When Shiki Masaoka introduced baseball to Japan in the early Meiji era, who would have imagined a Japanese player reaching the skill and fame of Shohei Ohtani? In retrospect, California wines were once newcomers too. Just as California wines rose to stardom in 1976 when they won a blind tasting in the so-called “Judgment of Paris,” beating out the best French wines, so too do I believe that Japanese wines can rise to the top of the world. With these hopes in mind, we have brought in a few Japanese wines to try with our American guests from time to time, and they have been well received. I would like to include more Japanese wines to accompany Chef Igawa’s cuisine when those opportunities arise.


Japanese Food Exports and “Philosophy” of producing food
  As I mentioned at the beginning of this essay, the reason why we are so devoted to food and sake is to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime encounters with guests at our residence. In addition, we are very committed to promoting the wonder and beauty of Japan, in part so that we can generate economic benefits for Japanese producers and beyond. After the ban on Japanese seafood imports by a neighboring country last year, we held an event at the residence to promote the export of Japanese scallops. The promotion of Japanese agricultural exports is an important role for Japan’s diplomatic missions abroad, and we will continue our efforts in this pursuit. And, although our budget is not unlimited, we would also like to introduce more and more Japanese sake and foodstuffs in the future. In doing so, I think it is very important to be able to recognize not only products, but also people. I once read in a magazine the following quote by Kosuke Kuji, the fifth-generation head of the Nanbu Bijin sake brewery:

Taste transcends national borders. However, in order for people to feel the value of drinking the sake in the first place, there must be a “philosophy,” in other words, something that is consistent and speaks for itself. For example, the climate of where sake is brewed, the ingredients that we use, the year the brewery was founded, the brewery’s long history of independence and not relying on outside capital, our adherence to the family motto… All of this allows the public to see the “philosophy” of our business, on which turns our esteem in the eyes of our customers.

So for scallops, I would like to know about the fishermen who farm the scallops, their skills, knowledge, hardships, and most importantly, their stories. Or, say, the farmers pictured on the bags of produce sold at michi no eki (roadside stations) all over Japan – I would like to know more about them and tell their stories.

  I love traveling throughout Japan and have visited every one of its 47 prefectures, and I think that Japan’s regions are full of valuable stories that deserve to be shared with the world. Guests at our residence enjoy their sake even more when they are shown a YouTube or Instagram video of the people and stories behind the sake. I believe there are many people in the world who are attracted to such touching stories. I hope that visitors from all over the world have the opportunity to explore every corner of Japan, uncovering new experiences and fostering cultural exchange. By doing so, they not only gain a deeper understanding of Japan's rich heritage but also contribute to international relations and trade. We sincerely hope that dinner at our residence marks a humble first step in building these connections.