Date: 6/29/2015
Fieldwork:
Today, we went to eat lunch at a specialty unagi-shop in the Fuchinobe area and interview them about their business.
But first, we actually tried to interview a fish/sushi shop & restaurant that closed down recently.
Although the fish/sushi shop had closed down a couple weeks ago, we stopped by to see if we could maybe still get an interview about how the business was because it had been around for a really long time. (Note: This is the aforementioned fish shop that we had wanted to go to/learned that it had closed recently last week.)
Surprisingly, he wasn't really interested in being interviewed/telling us about his experiences even though we told him we were interested in trying to find out about traditions and keeping traditions - you'd think that for a business that had been around for a really long time, he would have at least something to say, but instead he just told us that since he's closed his business, it (tradition/culture/etc.) no longer has anything to do with him.
Since we weren't going to get anything out of him (didn't seem like a good idea to keep pressing because he clearly wasn't interested), we moved on to go eat lunch at the unagi-shop down the street.
The unagi-shop is was とちの木, which is a type of tree that is apparently called "Marronnier" in English. The reason for the name is because they hoped that the shop would 「大きくなるように」, or "grow and get big" like a Marronnier tree.
This shop is entering their 30th year of being in business, and they later told us that they're the only ones in the area that still exist as a specialty unagi-shop, but first, food...!
There was a cool "traditional-feel" kind of menu written up on wooden pieces and hung on the wall displaying the menu in a 'traditional' manner. (But since it's the 21st century, we were given a "normal" printed menu to look at even though everything was still in Japanese ahahaha...)
We ended up ordering one thing each - two of us had うな重、 and everyone else got 天丼、うな玉丼（親子丼 with うなぎ instead of chicken), and 鳥丼 (焼肉 on rice).
So while we were waiting for our food to be made, they let us watch them working (the kitchen is open and viewable).
He showed us the eel - they're alive! We were told later during the actual interview that he orders eel everyday, and they're kept alive until an order for them is made so all the food is made fresh.
He had eel grilling on the grill and that's how they're cooked - they're cut open and sticks are stuck through them to keep them flat while they grill.
While waiting, I tried reading the other dishes that you could order - I asked あかり about some of them and she told me that 「どぜう」 was actually an old saying, and it's pronounced 「どじょう」nowadays. (It's a loach.) She also told me that old restaurants still use this saying, especially in places like Asakusa. I also asked about「ナメロウ」, which was also another type of fish.
After waiting for a bit longer, we got our food! (Clockwise from top-left: 天丼、うな玉丼、うな重、鳥丼、うな重)
Each set also came with a little plate of つけもの as well as a bowl of soup. It wasn't miso soup, just a regular soup...and for the people who ordered うな重、the soup had an extra part of the eel in it.
After having our food, we started the official interview. They told us that there aren't many specialty unagi-shops like them left in Sagamihara, and that they're the only ones left in the area. The price of unagi has tripled in price compared to 30 years ago, and many people have stopped/closed down their business because they can't make enough profit to make a living/etc.
Although we were the only ones who showed up for lunch, they told us that a lot of young people come to the shop to eat, and that people often come for dinner - young people will come with their parents as ご褒美, and they makes orders for eel daily.
The practice of eating eel goes back to the Edo period - in the Summer on July 24th (Midsummer), they used to not sell/eat cows on that day because it was "the Day of the Cow" and so instead of eating cows on that day, they would eat eel. Therefore, eel become to be a summer-thing, and the price of eel is different in the summer. They also told us that Japanese unagi is different from unagi from other countries - Japanese eel is called ジャポニカ州うなぎ.
When we asked about their thoughts on tradition, they told us that in general, the tradition of how unagi is prepared/cooked has stayed since past times. In 関東, the unagi is cut open by their backs and then steamed/boiled/grilled because Edo was where the samurai were, and so they would try not to cut open the stomach because that's what samurai did in order to suicide. In 関西 however, unagi is cut open from the front and then baked because they all used to be merchants. This tradition, at least, hasn't changed one bit from the past.
The cooking method though, has changed from the past. It used to take almost an hour to prepare eel, but now they use a pressure cooker so that it only takes 20~30 minutes to make.
They also told us about how the タレ is reused/recycled and has been used for 50 years, but even as long as they'd been running the business, they just can't seem to get the タレ back to the original taste no matter what they do. They also don't have an apprentice/anyone to take after the shop after them, so it seemed like they weren't sure what would happen to them in the future.
The shop also seemed to be advertising this picture of a はやぶさ丼, which has ホタテ as well as うなぎ.
Compared to the other places we've been to, it was interesting to see that as soon as we asked about tradition, the people at the unagi-shop had a lot to say about tradition of selling/making unagi and how unagi-culture has changed overtime, whereas other places kind of gave us a general statement more about their 'way of thinking' about tradition.
Reflection:
The professor mentioned during our presentation that the unagi business has gotten pretty serious in recent years - unagi is being consumed faster than they can be born/grow, so there is talk of a risk of unagi going extinct in the future. This ties in with the tripling of price of unagi.
For my うな重, I paid slightly more than 2100円 for well, a lunch. If I go to 赤坂ふきぬき in 新宿 for lunch, I could get Nagoya-style 櫃まぶし for 2200円 and what I remember to be a more delicious うなぎ meal. But if you're not a foreigner or an exchange student with this うなぎ meal possibly being your one and only ever chance to eat うなぎ (it's not very popular, at least not in America, I don't think), then it's probably more ideal/normal to stick to somewhere close by and local if you live in the 淵野辺・相模原 area and want to eat うなぎ丼 instead of going all the way to 新宿 just to eat a simple meal.