You aren’t alone in this Sashiko – October 26, 2022

[You aren’t alone in this] – I am very thankful to many supportive, understanding & encouraging reactions to my message in “Cultural Appropriation/Sustainability (C/A)”. If you can learn something here, that’s great! If you feel pain in a similar situation, you aren’t alone. Of course, though, I get shitty reactions. It is the nature of the Internet – people only read what they want to read. For them, they look for answers to validate their beliefs, not to learn something new. I know what I see visually is tip of the iceberg of indifference (ignorance), but if I were to summarize it, they belabor my message as “over-reacting”.

Another extreme analogy. You know Japanese Sushi in general is NOT the same as “Sushi” we can get in the US. I have never seen “spicy tuna roll with colorful sauce” in a traditional Japanese Sushi bar. Some may consider it as “C/A”. The others don’t. I understand both sides, and I am still learning. What is happening in Sashiko isn’t even this… In both Sushi bars, the chef should know the difference of Sushi & the basic skill like fileting fish – the basic respect to Sushi as “professional”. You go to Sushi Class. You should learn how to prepare Sashimi with fileting along with other basics. Using “spicy sauce” is a choice after that basic skill. You cook for your family? Then, sure, no problem getting “fileted fish” by WholeFoods. However, when one teaches you how to purchase a prepared fish by store “without knowing how to filet”, and call themselves “master”, the Sushi “culture” becomes sadly different.

Unfortunately, that’s what I see in Sashiko introduced in English. Sashiko isn’t someone’s property, it is more like identity – and it has been changed by a lot of “ignorance” and “indifference” – and it is very painful to me (and others). That’s the reason to speak up. I don’t think it is over-reacting in any means.





例として、日本と米国のお寿司の違いを良くお話しします。巻き寿司を油で揚げるとか、発光色のソースがかかっているとか、寿司の定義はそれぞれで、全てが悪だとは思いません。ただ、どんな寿司にしろ、お金を頂いて教える立場の人は魚は三枚におろせて欲しいのです。お寿司を本格的に学ぶ講座の「魚の準備」の箇所が、「スーパーに切り身を買いに行くって」寂しいじゃないですか。

#Sashiko #JapaneseSashiko #刺し子 #日本人の刺し子

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CkLSFZTuJTH/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.