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Thursday, September 01, 2005
A whale of a time (J)

Man Eats Whale

So brother dearest insisted on having whale while he was here. So we found us a whale restaurant, Tokuya (House of Virtue) in Namba and tucked in.

It wasn't just a case of "ALL WHALE, ALL THE TIME.". It was a case of "ALL PARTS OF A WHALE, ALL IN ONE SITTING."

Tongue, heart, chest, back, liver.. we pretty much ate an entire whale.

I photographed from the menu what we ordered (see below). Click to view a larger version. Detailed descriptions pop up when you mouse over each dish.

To discourage people from eating veal, some people say to think of Bambi. My brother and I couldn't think of a suitable Disney character for our dead whale friend, so we've decided to name the baby whale in the logo Whambi.

I hold no strong opinions either way when it comes to the whaling debate. Though I don't know why people see it as such an exquisite item to eat. I mean, when cooked, it's kinda tough. And apart from having interesting texture, its tastiness is only really found in how its cooked.

Happy whale families!

This logo was on the signs, menus, coasters, cups, chopsticks, walls.. A whale restaurant with a happy baby whale enjoying fun times in the ocean as its LOGO?

"A happy whale is a dead whale" ?

この絵がメニュー、お箸、壁・・本当にどこにも飾ってあった。でもさ~、なんでこんな幸せなクジラ親子を使ってるの?このお店にお見えになるクジラさんがきっとこんな幸せではないと思うけどね・・

「クジラが死ぬと幸せ」っていう意味?

兄ちゃんは日本に居る間にクジラを食べたいと主張した。それで、クジラ専門店(「徳家」という難波にあるお店)を見つけて、食べに行ってきた。

クジラの舌、心臓・胸・背中・肝臓・・大体一匹ぐらい食べてしまった。

メニューの写真を撮った(下にある)。クリックするともっと大きく見れる。一品の写真の上にマウスカーソルを置くと詳しいことも出てくる。

シカの肉を食べて欲しくない人が「BAMBIかわいそう・・」とよく言う。クジラを食べて欲しくない場合にはどのクジラのキャラクターを思い出せば良いんやろう・・兄ちゃんと私は思い出せなかったので、とりあえずちびこのクジラちゃんを「WHAMBI」と呼んでま~す!

捕鯨討論に対して、別に強い意見はない。でもなんでクジラの肉が非常に美味しいと思われてるかちょっと分からない。面白い肌理以外、味が結構普通だったと思う。煮てからの肉も硬かったし。おなべの料理が美味しかったけど。

Tokuya menu02  Tokuya menu01

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said at 12:12 AM...

see bjork & Matthew Barney!
http://www.kanazawa21.jp/barney/e/index.html

 
Blogger Crafty Japan said at 12:33 PM...

tsk tsk Sam... Actually, I saw a sign on the back of a truck yesterday and thought...of you! (That sounds semi-stalker-ish) Oh well ;)

Now, how am I to send it to you? It looks like I can't simply c+p it onto here :(

 
Blogger Sam said at 3:46 PM...

A sign on a back of a truck? And you're commenting in this post? So was there a giant whale in the sign? and it looked like me? ;)

 
Blogger Sam said at 3:47 PM...

.. and yeah, I know, I won't be allowed back into NZ I'm sure: "Excuse me miss, but is that WHALE on your conscience?"

 
Blogger Crafty Japan said at 9:46 AM...

Well, let's just say it wasn't your run-of-the-mill one-tonner ;)

Funny....I've always thought of you as quite petite in your pics - must just be very careful selection by the blog author...

But seriously, it was a sign in green and blue for a logistics company - 'SAM TRANSPORT'.

 
Blogger Sam said at 10:15 AM...

haha.. I wonder what they were transporting.. would be funny if it was.. WHALE.

Yeah, petiteness is helped by the photos only being 240x180 pixels in size!

 

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