Archive for December, 2010

Japanese Foreign Minister Calls WikiLeaks Disclosure “a Monstrosity” [ #cablegate ]

Just a few small updates about the ongoing WikiLeaks Cablegate scandal:

• According to CNN, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has denounced WikiLeak’s cable release as “a monstrosity and a criminal act.” One can assume he is not looking forward to the stress that will come when WikiLeaks gets around to releasing the thousands of Tokyo embassy cables that it has on file.

The Mainichi notes that a Chinese official expressed concerns to U.S. ambassador in June 2009 that Japan’s “obsession with the (North Korean) abduction issue reminded him of a Chinese expression for an individual who was too weak to make something work, yet strong enough to destroy it.”

• The WSJ has a blog post about how some other Korea-related cables mentioned Japan. It doesn’t contain much that anyone would consider particularly new or surprising: China doesn’t want Japan to have a seat on the UN Security Council, South Korea thinks Japan is weary about a reunified Korea, etc.

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Chimpanzee Photographer Visits Zoo

Saturday night’s episode of “Shimura Zoo” sent Pan-kun the chimpanzee on a mission to feed and take pictures of animals at a petting zoo:

Pan-kun made a similar visit to the zoo when he was younger, so this trip is to show that he’s matured and overcome his fears of some of the larger animals. They’ve also managed to train him to use a digital camera. Although he probably cannot comprehend what he’s doing, he is nonetheless able to point the camera in the general direction of his targets and take some pics.

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Sea Shepherd Gets a New Multi-Million Dollar Speedboat

The radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd has unveiled a new speedboat, which they will be taking into action against Japan’s whaling fleet:

The fast interceptor vessel, which is registered in Fremantle and cost $4 million, is called Gojira.

It is the first Sea Shepherd vessel to be registered in Australia.

Director Jeff Hansen says Gojira is the fastest and strongest Sea Shepherd vessel ever built.

“This vessel can outrun any Japanese vessel which means that we will have the element of surprise,” he said.

“We can find the factory ship and the factory ship is the one we’re after. If we can find the factory ship we can shut down whaling.”

The name “Gojira” is Japanese name for “Godzilla.” It looks like they’ve painted a Godzilla-like character on the side of their ship. The owners of the Godzilla films are known for taking legal action against anybody who uses something resembling the name or image of their character. Sea Shepherd should probably expect some letters from Toho’s fearsome lawyers.

As many of you will remember, Sea Shepherd’s last highly-maneuverable speedboat, the Ady Gil, was totaled in January after colliding with a Japanese ship. Sea Shepherd had repeatedly using the speedboat to circle around Japanese whaling ships at dangerously close distances, and one day they finally screwed up and got hit. It was abandoned and allegedly left to leak oil into the sea. According to Pete Bethune, Sea Shepherd later scuttled the ship and lied about how it had “sank” while being towed to port.

With fans who are willing to reward recklessness and dishonesty with millions of dollars in new donations, Sea Shepherd has a very profitable future ahead of it.

[hat tip to kobzster]

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The Story of Nikujaga

If you’ve eaten some home-cooked meals in Japan, chances are you’ve come across nikujaga, a dish of meet, potatoes, and other vegetables stewed in soy sauce.

Nikujaga is said to have originated in the kitchens of Japan’s Imperial Navy sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, but its exact origins are not entirely clear. Two port towns have claimed to be the birthplace of the dish: Maizuru in Kyoto prefecture and Kure in Hiroshima prefecture.

Here is a news report that visits the Nikujaga Festival in Maizuru. It introduces the legends surrounding the dish’s creation and explains how the Maizuru recipe and Kure recipe are different:

The creation of Nikujaga is attributed to Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the illustrious hero of the Russo-Japanese War. As a young man, Togo had spent years studying naval science in Great Britain, where he learned to love European food. That food probably included beef stew. Togo was stationed at the Maizuru naval base in 1901 to 1903. During that time, he is said to have ordered the base’s chefs to make beef stew.

In those days, ingredients like wine and butter were not widely available in large quantities, so the chefs had to improvise using domestic ingredients such as soy sauce and sesame oil. The result was something very much like today’s nikujaga.

Kure residents pretty much agree with the basic legend, only changing the date and setting. They claim that Togo was stationed at the Kure naval base ten years before he was at Maizuru, so the order to create the dish was first issued in their town.

Maizuru’s local recipe for nikujaga is based on a naval cook book from the 1930′s. Here is the basic recipe:

1. Heat sesame oil in a pan (takes about 3 minutes)
2. Add beef. Cook it in the oil for 4 minutes
3. Add sugar. Mix and cook for 3 minutes
4. Add soy sauce. Mix and cook for 4 minutes
5. Add potatoes, carrots, peas, konnyaku, water. Cook for 17 minutes.
6. Add onions. Cook for 3 minutes.

For the last 15 years, Maizuru has promoted itself as the birthplace of nikujaga. Local stores get in on the theme by selling products like nikujaga-filled bread and korokke.

The recipe for Kure-style nikujaga is very similar to the recipe used in Maizuru. However, Kure is more strict about following the original Imperial Navy’s recipe. Kure chefs scoff at the idea of including peas and carrots, as those vegetables were never mentioned in the old naval recipe books and probably weren’t very popular in the Meiji Era. The resulting dish also has a more soup-like appearance.

Although people from Maizuru and Kure disagree about the historical origins of nikujaga, both towns are cooperating in their efforts. As you can see from the video, Maizuru was happy to allow Kure to set up tents at its Nikujaga festival, and visitors enjoyed eating both variations of the dish.

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