Remarks by Consul General Yoichiro Yamada at the event to celebrate Shiro Kashiba’s appointment as Goodwill Ambassador (May 20, 2019)

Good evening, everybody.  Thank you for joining us.  Today we have gathered here to celebrate the appointment of Mr. Shiro Kashiba as a Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese Cuisine.  We are also celebrating the close culinary ties between Japan and the Pacific Northwest.  Your attendance tonight is actually making history as this is the first event at this Official Residence in the “Reiwa” era, under the new emperor Naruhito.

 

Food is near and dear to the hearts of many.  Personally, the food and restaurant section is one of the most interesting parts of reading the weekend edition of The Seattle Times.  OK, I admit it; I may be somewhat of a “Foodie”, but tonight I have a feeling that I am not alone.  We all have strong food-triggered memories. Eating is inseparably entwined with culture and reveals a nation’s or region’s attitude towards life through the ingredients, preparation as well as practices associated with food. 

 

In the Pacific Northwest, Japanese restaurants and food processing businesses have benefited from the rich local bounty, especially from the ocean.  Japanese cuisine has been a fixture in the culinary landscape of Seattle for a long time.  Seattle is among the first places in America where Japanese immigrants settled more than a hundred and thirty years ago.  As a matter of fact, Seattle is home to Maneki Restaurant, which was established in the International District in 1904 and is probably the oldest Japanese restaurant that exists today in the United States.  It is also home to Seattle’s very first sushi bar, which was opened by tonight’s Guest of Honor, Mr. Kashiba.  Representatives of Maneki are here today.  Why don’t we give them a warm welcome?

 

These days, Japanese terms such as umami and kokumi are now commonplace in American culinary vocabulary.  In 2013, Washoku, or traditional Japanese food, was designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.  As the popularity of Japanese food spreads in the world, new variations of it are inevitably created that do not exist in Japan, such as the California roll, the Seattle roll and the avocado roll.  They are perhaps for us what Hawaiian pizza is for the Italians.  Yes, they are good, indeed, but, different.  My 10-year-old son actually seems to believe that avocado rolls are the best sushi. 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we know that when chefs prepare the best food they can for their customers, they are committing their spirit and showing respect to and pride in the cultural roots of that food.  The success of cooking does not hinge upon the chefs alone.  For example, sushi may be a simple-looking food, but in Japan, over several hundred years, fishermen have developed a whole set of skills to clean and preserve fish from the very moment of catching them to keep them fresh and tasty.  Just like the Italians and other nations with great culinary traditions, we have humble pride in our national cuisine that represents all these aspects of our life.  That is why the title of Goodwill Ambassador to Promote Japanese Cuisine was created four years ago by our Government to recognize not just a chef’s skills but also his role in the community in promoting our national food at its best.

 

I would like to recognize the chef who was designated as a Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese Cuisine in 2016, Chef Takeyuki Suetsugu.  Chef Suetsugu’s contribution to the local culinary landscape is tremendous; he has mentored more than ten chefs, organized Seattle’s Japanese Restaurant Association and was given the title of Honorary Academy Chef from the American Academy of Chefs in 2001.  To celebrate Chef Kashiba’s designation as a fellow Goodwill Ambassador, he traveled from Moses Lake in order to prepare this beautifully carved garnish display that you can see over there.  Please give a warm welcome to Chef Suetsugu. 

 

Now, I am getting to our Guest of Honor this evening, Mr. Shiro Kashiba, whom I would like to simply address as “Shiro-san.”  Shiro-san is one of the only two recipients in the United States this year to receive this designation as Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese Cuisine.  Only ten chefs outside Japan were bestowed this honor in 2019.  Please think about how incredibly lucky we are in Washington State to have two chefs with such distinction.  It is largely thanks to Mr. Suetsugu and Shiro-san that so many local owner-chefs have been inspired and encouraged to open their restaurants in Seattle.  We would like to introduce them later.

 

Shiro-san began his career-training under the legendary Michelin three-star chef “Jiro Ono （小野次郎）” in Tokyo in the late 1950s.  Shiro-san moved to the United States in 1966 and worked at the legendary Maneki restaurant.  He opened Nikko restaurant in 1971 and ran it until 1987.  He opened Shiro’s in 1994, and “retired” from the restaurant in 2014, but his retirement did not last long.  The following year in 2015, Shiro-san opened Sushi Kashiba right next to the historic Pike Place Market.  Today, his name is among true legends in Japanese cuisine in the United States.  I wonder how many pieces of sushi he has made in his career.  Shiro-san wrote an autobiography, which was received by readers as enthusiastically as his sushi.  He has trained several excellent chefs, five of whom have gathered here for him today to prepare sushi for us after this ceremony.

 

To honor Shiro-san’s roots as a pioneer sushi chef, this evening will feature sushi exclusively.  However, just as the Italians do not wish their cuisine to be defined as only pizza and spaghetti, likewise please do not limit your experience of Japanese food to sushi and tempura.  Our beef products are highly appreciated in top-notch restaurants.  If you don’t eat meat, Buddhist temples have refined a style of vegetarian cooking called Shojin-ryori, over the centuries, which nourishes the palate as well as the soul.  Please meet the many owner-chefs here this evening.  They all have unique signature dishes, which I hope will entice you to visit their restaurants.

 

I would like to add a few words about sushi. Sushi was created as a way to preserve food in an era when there were no refrigerators.  Through the centuries, many variations evolved like Oshi-zushi and Chirashi-zushi, with regions developing their own special sushi.  Enjoying the local varieties of sushi is one of the attractions of traveling around Japan.  The type of sushi that perhaps we are most familiar with, the so-called Edomae-Nigiri-zushi, which we order at most sushi-restaurants today, appeared some 200 years ago as a type of fast food, made and sold in food stalls on the streets in today’s Tokyo.  Edo was the original name of Tokyo and “mae” means “in front”.  So the key factor of the original Edo-mae sushi was using locally sourced ingredients.  Using ingredients that are in season and locally sourced are two practices followed by Shiro-san.  This philosophy is so important to him that he refers to his sushi as “Pacific Northwest-mae” nigiri-zushi. 

 

Finally, before I present the certificate to Shiro-san, I would like to offer our special thanks to today’s sponsors, namely SakeStory for offering us Sake, JFC International for offering Sapporo Beer, and ITOEN for offering green tea specially manufactured to go with sushi.  Please brave the typically unpredictable Seattle weather to enjoy the tastes of these exquisite drinks in the tents in the garden later.  My thanks also go to the Japan Business Association of Seattle, Heiando America, Nichirei USA and Toray Composite Materials America for supporting this event.  I would like to thank my dedicated colleagues for planning and laying out this event.  Perhaps most importantly, I would like to thank the spouses of the chefs, Mrs. Minae Suetsugu and Mrs. Ritsuko Kashiba, respectively, for all the support they lend their husbands, which in turn allows their husbands to excel as master chefs.  Let us thank Minae-san and Ricky-san.

 

To conclude, I would like to thank Shiro-san for representing and promoting traditional Japanese cuisine for so many years in Seattle, for your service to the community, and for your warm humanity, sincerity and exemplary professionalism.  Dear guests, thank you for your kind attention. 

 

I would now like to present the certificate of the Goodwill Ambassador to Promote Japanese Food to Shiro-san.