Scan barcode
A review by jwsg
Sushi and Beyond: One Family's Remarkable Journey Through the Greatest Food Nation on Earth by Michael Booth
2.0
I was a little wary when in Chapter 3, Booth pledged to avoid casual racism, to "knee-jerk prejudice", taking cheap shots at the Japanese to score a laugh like making jokes about their height and to focus on cultural stereotypes e.g. "photographing teenage girls dressed like Gothic Lolitas without them knowing". I was worried that this was going to be one of those books where White Person Encounters Asia and Uses Cheap Humour to Entertain People Looking for Light Reading.
Booth didn't let me down on that front. By Chapter 4, he waxes lyrical about Japan being a place where he could probably have a good basketball career, and describing how he and his family "took sneaky photos of teenage girls dressed in lacy, stack-heeled, puffball skirted Gothic Lolita costumes". And when comparing the Tsuji Culinary Institute to his alma mater, Paris Cordon Bleu, says it makes the latter look like "a Ugandan bush primary school in comparison." Charming.
I wondered if Booth really was as ignorant and bumbling as he made himself out to be (e.g. when he describes himself peeking into the fridge at a sumo stable to see if it is stuffed with cakes and chocolates or his account of his interview with Ajinomoto executives) or if this was just part of his Cheap Humour tactic. If the former, one wonders what sort of journalist/travel writer he is (and that his fixer, Emiko Doi, must be some sort of sorceress cum saint). Still, the book was informative enough to keep me reading. (Indeed, the book was turned into a Japanese anime series so it must have found a welcoming Japanese audience). During his trip, Booth covers a lot of ground: Tokyo, Sapporo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka/Hakata, Kobe, Okinawa and he does have some interesting nuggets for travelers planning an itinerary e.g. the Parasite Museum in Tokyo; Shizuoka south of Mt Fuji that is popular for its onsen but also synonymous with wasabi; Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley) in Sapporo; saba-zushi restaurant Izuu in Kyoto; soy sauce on Shikoku Island; just to name a few.
Two and a half stars.
Booth didn't let me down on that front. By Chapter 4, he waxes lyrical about Japan being a place where he could probably have a good basketball career, and describing how he and his family "took sneaky photos of teenage girls dressed in lacy, stack-heeled, puffball skirted Gothic Lolita costumes". And when comparing the Tsuji Culinary Institute to his alma mater, Paris Cordon Bleu, says it makes the latter look like "a Ugandan bush primary school in comparison." Charming.
I wondered if Booth really was as ignorant and bumbling as he made himself out to be (e.g. when he describes himself peeking into the fridge at a sumo stable to see if it is stuffed with cakes and chocolates or his account of his interview with Ajinomoto executives) or if this was just part of his Cheap Humour tactic. If the former, one wonders what sort of journalist/travel writer he is (and that his fixer, Emiko Doi, must be some sort of sorceress cum saint). Still, the book was informative enough to keep me reading. (Indeed, the book was turned into a Japanese anime series so it must have found a welcoming Japanese audience). During his trip, Booth covers a lot of ground: Tokyo, Sapporo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka/Hakata, Kobe, Okinawa and he does have some interesting nuggets for travelers planning an itinerary e.g. the Parasite Museum in Tokyo; Shizuoka south of Mt Fuji that is popular for its onsen but also synonymous with wasabi; Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley) in Sapporo; saba-zushi restaurant Izuu in Kyoto; soy sauce on Shikoku Island; just to name a few.
Two and a half stars.