Ayu Party

I just came back from a very Japanese experience. Actually, a very Gifu experience. One of the Japanese teachers of English at my high school invited me and the other ALT, Khaleelah, to an ayu-eating party. What's ayu, you ask? It's 'sweet fish', a small river fish that is a speciality of this area. They like to boast that it only lives in clean water, hence the Nagaragawa River, which runs through Gifu, must be incredibly clean.

Anyway, this trip was interesting in more ways than one. Mari-sensei was supposed to pick me up at 4pm. A little after 4 I got a phone call. Her: 'Hello. Sorry I'm late.' Me: 'That's ok, no problem.' ....[silence]... Her: 'I'm waiting for you.' I hadn't seen a car pull up or anything. But I went outside, looking for her car, and 2 minutes later found it waiting at the corner 100 meters from my house. heh

After that we went to pick up Khaleelah, then took some very narrow roads towards what must be the wealthy area of Kakamigahara. We ended up stopped in front of a house. I guessed it must be her house, although she hadn't said anything about going there. The place was like a fortress. You would have though we were in South Africa, not Japan. There were rolls of barbed wire below the windows, a high fence, a metal gate with a chain and lock wrapped around it, and two burglar alarm lights. Mari-sensei pressed the intercom and after a full-on conversation with a man who I guessed must be her husband, he emerged from the house, unlocked and unwrapped the chain, and we were permitted to enter. We went into the house, changed shoes, as per usual, and walked into the living room. One object dominated the space- the TV. It was... monstrous. I can't think of a better word. Not big, not huge, monstrous. A plasma TV of 3 meters by 1.5 meters, I'd say. And appropriately for Japan, the baseball game was on. To the left of the couch was something that can only be described as an electronic horse saddle. It was a black leather, fake horse saddle, stirrups and all, mounted on an electronic base. No horse to be seen. Apparently some kind of exercise equipment. Maybe they watch footage of rolling hills on the plasma screen while they ride this thing, to imagine they're horse riding...? Anyway, after sitting and gawking at the TV for 5 minutes, Mari-sensei's husband announced it was time to go. I don't really know why we went to their house in the first place; maybe so they could let us see their TV and horse saddle!

We arrived at the riverside restaurant 40 minutes later and walked into a room full of Japanese sitting on the floor, obviously waiting to start eating. But of course they couldn't start until everyone was there (we were the last to arrive). I sat down next to Hiramitsu-san (Mari's husband), on my knees, so as to be polite, whereupon he immediately told me I could sit cross-legged (only Japanese men are supposed to do this). Considerate of him! After pouring our drinks and toasting ('Kampai!'), we tucked into the Ayu. All-in-all, we ate 6 fish each. The first pair of fish were simply grilled. The second were deep-fried and the third were coated in a miso sauce. They cook the fish bones, organs and all, and usually eat the head. I couldn't bring myself to do that, but the rest of the fish was delicious; it really does have a sweet taste. Of course, during the the meal, I was praised for my skillful use of chopsticks (if you are non-Asian and make any attempt to eat with chopsticks in Japan, someone will inevtiably tell you this). I was also asked if fish was daijoubu (ok). Um, yes.

In what must be true Japanese style, we came, we ate, we left. No languishing over beer or after-dinner chatting. You come to do the job, and when it's done, you go home. The drive there and back was as long as the meal itself.

Speaking of the drive, that was also interesting. Mari-sensei's car is unbelievable. It has a GPS navigation system and TV. It also tells you the mileage you have accomplished every 5 minutes. And best of all, it has a camera at the back so you can see what's behind you when reversing, and estimates the angle you will need to turn the wheel in order to clear things. Oh, and it's so quiet and smooth that it feels like you are in a hovercraft, not a car. Khaleelah and I joked that Honda, Toyota, etc. send their old, crap models to the West and keep the better ones for their own country. Another thing about the drive was that it was a team effort between Mr. and Mrs. Hiramitsu. She was driving, but he would tell her what to do every step of the way and say 'ok, ok, ok' if she was doing it right. And there didn't seem to be any complaining or sentiment of 'Shut up, I'm the driver' from Mari-san.

On the way back, we stopped at the Nagaragawa river in Gifu city, where they do cormorant fishing (ukai). This is an ancient tradition in which men go fishing off boats... BUT... they use birds (cormorants) to do the fishing for them! The birds do it for themselves naturally, but in cormorant fishing, about 8 of them at a time are tied onto leashes and when the dive for fish and bring them up, the fishermen take the fish. I don't understand why the cormorants cooperate, but they do. Some of the fish they catch are ayu, the very ones we ate tonight. Anyway, they still do some fishing the old way in Gifu, on long canoe-like boats, only at night, with a lantern of fire to light the way. And the fishermen wear the traditional clothes as well- including funny-looking elf-like hats. It's really almost a sacred practice, because you must be authorized by the emperor to do ukai, and positions are passed down through families. It's now big tourism business, so there were other boats following them with tourists on board. But when I saw the ukai-fishermen floating down the river with the flame guiding them, it looked kind of spooky and you could really imagine how it might have been 500 years ago or so.

So now I've eaten ayu and seen ukai! My Gifu experience is complete, at least according to the tourist brochures...