It fills me with the joys of being young and full of goo… or chocolate-coated biscuit sticks.
Tag Archive for 'japan'
I would be more descriptive, but honestly, I have no idea how to describe it. People are given a shape that if they fit into, they pass the course. If not, they are dumped into what looks like a small pool of what looks like green tea…
Some Japanophiles are interested in the biggest, brightest aspects of a culture. I find myself being attracted to the polar edges of things — such as culture. When someone in the “west” thinks of Japan, we think of anime, j-pop, j-drama and, well, the same thing many Japanese people probably think of American culture — the highly visible part. So surely when you see something like one of the biggest econimies in the world having a problem feeding its people, you can’t help but want to call bs. Well, here it is. Iron Chef and the episode where $1000 in lobsters were used for the broth of asparagus seems so much more wasteful now!
My apologies if I’m making you feel guilty for eating or anything. This is the second time I’ve noted waste in food. Not intentional.
Anyway, the BBC has published a picture gallery depciting and bring up some very interesting points related to the troubles a country the size of Japan has in feeding its population.
BBC News (UK): In pictures: Japan’s food crisis
From the story:
The Japanese consume about 25% of the world’s stocks of tuna.
The tuna themselves are such voracious eaters it takes around 4kg [appx. 8lbs] of small fish to produce 1kg [appx. 2.2lbs] of tuna, so some argue that consumers who want to make sustainable choices should avoid buying tuna.
A giant tuna can sell for the price of a small car, so the incentives for those involved in the trade to source fish caught illegally elsewhere are huge.
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Seeing countless interview after interview of general paint-brush questions from people who don’t seem to want to answer with any depth beyond “Well, you know, that is a fantastic experience! I like baithing in cheese”, this interview of Ken Watanabe is refreshing. A wildly talented and capable actor who uses his “instincts” to choose roles that are forceful, inspiring and memorable says more than he likely ever has about himself and his personal battles and, if you read into what he says, some more of his fundamental beliefs and ambitions. So many actors and actresses, so much dimension in one man. From the article:
‘”Oh yes, there are things in scripts that you cannot let go by. In ‘Letters from Iwo Jima,’ there were times when I told Eastwood, ‘This is just not believable,’ ” he says, adding that he made daily suggestions and asked the director to make sure that costumes, props and sets were accurate. “The story had to be true, but Eastwood is not someone I had to fight with because he always listened carefully and respected my opinions, right up to the end of the movie.”
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