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| "Women's Life and Health"
is the interview series that features active
professional women about their health, lifestyle and career. |
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| Interview
vol.6 |
Natsu Shimamura -Part1 |
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| Natsu Shimamura |
| Non-fiction writer. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Graduated from Aesthetics and Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music. Her book, Slow Food na Jinsei! (Shincho Bunko, Shinchosha Publishing Co., Ltd.), born from over 10 years of research on Italian food, was a pioneering work of the slow food movement in Japan. Firenze Renzoku Satsujin (Shinchosha, joint authorship), Exorcist tono Taiwa (Shogakukan Inc., Twenty First Century International Non-fiction Grand Prix Outstanding Performance Award), Slow Food na Nippon! (Shinchosha Publishing). Recent work: Bars, Coffee, Italia-jin - Global-ka mo Nannosono (Kobunsha Shinsho, Kobunsha Co., Ltd.) |
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| First, could you please tell us about slow food that has recently caught your attention? |
| I went to Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture together with my friend near the end of last year. The hatahata fish (sandfish) that remained in that area were disappearing due to overfishing. A local scholar by the name of Hideki Sugiyama researched the reasons for its disappearance and found out that when the fish came to the surface to lay its eggs, it would all be caught in one fell swoop. This led to the fisherman placing a self-imposed ban on fishing for hatahata for a period of three years. This ban was possible because it is a small fishing coast and there are other kinds of fish that they can catch. And starting around last year, the hatahata returned. So I went to that coastal area when they lifted the ban. The origin of the name of the fish actually comes from hatatagami, which means “thunder” in old Japanese. |
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| Hatatagami? |
| That’s right. It is also the origin of such words as hatahata (to flutter, like a flag), in the case of a flag, and hatameku (to flap, in the wind). When lightening strikes, the color of the sea turns a dark grey, the water becomes rougher, and its temperature quickly drops; and then the fish living between 150 and 250 meters below the surface of the water, fight their way up to the surface to lay their eggs. That is the moment when they are caught. But the fact that, all of a sudden, the fish appear when lightening strikes, truly seems a blessing of the gods. That’s why the kanji (Chinese character) for hatahata is comprised of the characters for “fish” and for “god.” |
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| There’s quite a lot to it, isn’t there? |
| Some elderly men who were over 70 years old, which made me wonder whether they actually belonged to the fishing crew or not, went out aboard a small three-ton ship when the sea was quite rough. The sight of these burly men, who stayed up all night fishing without sleep, was really quite moving. Like many other fish, freshness really determines the taste, so when we ate some of what they caught there, grilled with some salt, well, it was so delicious that I could have leapt in the air (laughs). |
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| It was thanks to the efforts of the fishermen that we could taste them. |
| Actually, what I thought was really interesting was that with the deterioration in China’s mountainous areas, caused by environmental pollution which has been continuing for some years now, children along the Mekong River have been falling ill and there’s also the problem of the giant Nomura’s jellyfish. This present situation, which is an ill wind that bodes no good, has helped make clear the negative aspects of globalization that we had been unaware of. I think that from here on these kinds of incidents are going to happen more and more. And all this time, for the last 30 to 40 years, Hideki Sugiyama, the scholar I previously mentioned, kept a close eye on the condition of sea. And the fact that the fishermen, who have an instinctual understanding of the sea, were convinced by what he says is also really interesting. |
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| In your book, Slow Food na Nippon!, you introduced a lot of specific examples of slow food from all over the country. |
| Actually, when my readers open the book I just hope that they get a feel and smell for the subject (laughs). I hope that the people who read the book and get a little bit inspired by it actually make the effort to find such food and the places where it is produced. If they eat some rice that they think is delicious, they could then visit the farm where the rice is grown, and likewise if they taste some fish that they like, they could invite their friends to visit that particular fishing port and stay at a local guest house, or stay with their children at a farm guest house. I think it is best for people, in this way, to go and find such places by themselves-the places where quality food is being produced, and where there is the sort of scenery we want to maintain. We have no option but to do so. Indeed, people who digest real “slow food” experience a change in their lives. When we eat food that is really good, a change occurs. In the end, I think it cannot really be explained by logic. |
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