Occupational Hazards

I thought after living in Japan for more than 2 years that I'd seen it all. I feel like I've read, seen, and learned all that there is to know about the differences between Japan and America. And then something happens that figuratively knocks me off my chair and literally leaves a strange taste in my mouth. It's then that I realize that after two years, I've only scratch the surface of understanding.

Today was going to be a good day. Today I had an appointment/interview to meet and eat at a new restaurant in Okinawa. I will be writing a restaurant review on this local place. It had the word Hawaiian in the restaurant's name, so I was excited about this food vacation (aka eating cuisine from an exotic location without the hassle of airport security).

We (photographer, Japanese saleswoman who is also my translator and I) arrive on time. It's 2:30 in the afternoon. The restaurant is closed, so there is only us, the owner and chef in the restaurant. The chef prepares 3 signature dishes (two appetizers and one entree). After a short translated interview and photographing the food, I dig in. I'm starving.

I grab a jumbo shrimp with my chopsticks without clearly looking at it. I pop it in my mouth. As I bite down, I hear the crunch. Horror. The shell is still on the shrimp. My first reaction? Get these shell parts out of my mouth. And without thinking, only reacting, I spit out the shrimp shell mush mixture onto my plate. In front of the chef. And the owner. While my Japanese co-worker happily chomps away.

I look down at my plate and realize this looks stupid. Not only did I eat the shrimp without looking at it, I spit out the shrimp delicately prepared for me, the writer. How does this look? But as I reason in my head, what was I suppose to do? Just swallow and smile?

That's when I look over at my co-worker's plate and I notice that she doesn't have any shell pieces on her plate.

At the same time, she looks at my plate and sees the shrimp shell mush blob. That's when she tells me that in Japan, it is customary to eat the shrimp in shell, and the tail too. It's good for you. High in calcium, she says.

She smiles at me and then turns to the chef and owner and talks to them in Japanese for quite a while. I'm sure she was apologizing for me and my actions.

Committed to my restaurant review, I looked at another piece of shrimp. This time I'll be prepared for the shell and savor the unique flavor, I tell myself. I aim to put it in my mouth. I set it down. I can't do it. I know it's mind over matter. But I can't do it. I'm an American. I've been trained to remove the shell before eating.

So I did the only thing that I thought would move the restaurant review forward: I asked for dessert.