Sushi Culture Food

By: Nahomi Mochimatsu

My culture is Japanese and Hispanic. My culture is wonderful and creative in the
way they make their food. They are so creative in the way they design the plate when
the food is being served. This plate defines me the best because it represents my
culture. There is a moment that always happens when my family and I go to a Japanese
restaurant. We always talk about the Japanese culture and the Mexican culture. We talk
about their issues and their history. I used to not like my culture and I was ashamed of
being Japanese because of the jokes and the rude comments that people said about
the Japanese culture. Now I appreciate my culture because it is a culture that makes
me proud and I am not afraid of people knowing I am Japanese.
To prepare a sushi you first cook the rice in your rice cooker and chop and
prepare your vegetables and fish. Then put the nori on the bamboo mat shiny side down
and after that remove the rice from the rice cooker and put it into a bowl. Third, add
seasoned rice vinegar to moisten the rice (but not too wet) and then wet your hands,
then spread the rice on the nori leaving about an inch of nori without rice at top. Next
with your thumb make a line in the middle of rice. Fill in the gap with your chosen
ingredients and roll the sushi with the bamboo mat. Lastly, wet your knife then cut the
roll into the desired size.
It was my birthday. I was turning nine years old. We were going to a Japanese
restaurant because it serves my favorite food. It was surrounded by family and different
cultures, and full of culture traditions. There was a kid named Juan that used to bully
me because of my culture. He used to tell me dumb jokes that made me not like my
culture. On my ninth birthday, guess who came to the restaurant. The uncivilized kid
that makes dumb jokes.
Those Chinese people are so nasty for eating dogs and cats and their culture
must be so disgusting, the kid said.
My mom said, There are a lot of cool traditions and this the Japanese culture is
one of them. You would be glad to be part of it.
After hearing my moms perspective, I am never ashamed of being Japanese.
Im so glad to be Japanese because it has cool stuff and cool traditions. For example,
they have good food and weird tradition that the Hispanic think are respect. To the
Japanese culture it is not respectful to them when they give them tips. For example,
giving tips to the service is an action of respect, but for the Japanese is rude. The
servers would chase you until they find you and they give you the money. The food I
really like is sushi. When Juan, the mean kid, told that rude comment, I felt like I was in
a big bubble that will suddenly will explode.
Shut up, I responded.
Showing a deep feeling of hatred toward Juan. I wanted to smash him with a bat
just like a baseball, very hard to please myself, but I knew that would not solve the
problem. I needed to ignore him somehow because it was in a point of destroying my
good behavior and becoming a criminal. So I just ignored him, but I had a bad attitude
towards everybody around me and I had a long face. But I remember of the
perspective my mom said and it made me not think or worry about what Juan said and
ever since I never care about people knowing I am Japanese. Since that day I started
to enjoy my culture. My cousin was talking about an issue that was happening in
Mexico.
Porque no hay tantos trabajos en Mexico? my cousin said.
Porque no hay muchas empresas y educacion en Mexico, my mom said.
Then we continued to talk about more issues and problems that were happening
in Mexico. Then as soon as we walked in the restaurant we observed that there were a
lot of Japanese tradition. For example, the balloons of light the restaurants have those
that are used when it is New Years Eves in Japan. Another tradition was that they do
not give tips and they give towels when you are in the restroom. In Mexico restaurants
are different because not giving a tip is a sign of disrespect.
Now Im so proud of being Japanese and Mexican at the same time because it is
something that you can do at the same time. Both are so religious and they have their
traditions for a long time. I like being Japanese and Hispanic because most people do
not have these two cultures. I really enjoy being Japanese because I like their different
traditions both cultures have. The two cultures have some traditions in common. I am
so proud of being Japanese. Now Im not afraid of people knowing that I am Japanese.
Now Im so proud of showing my culture.