 Who apologizes more? Japanese or Canadians? Japanese, Japanese, Japanese. But Canadians mean it more when they say it. Here's another episode of Culture Table where we have the funny conversations you never thought you'd get to have, but that you need to have. This episode is all about Japan. So we're talking to stand-up comedian Fumi Abe and filmmaker Ryosuke to talk about Japanese culture. This one gets deep as we touch on the controversial history, the complexities of Japanese culture, and robots. We have arrived at Devel, which is sort of the most well-known Japanese western eastern brunch spot in all of this area. Fumi, can you please tell us what are we looking at? I want to be honest with you. Okay, so some of this stuff, I'm very familiar with. Some of this stuff is a Devel original, okay? Like this one, for example, yo, natto and cheese on bread, toast, that is innovative shit right there. I've never seen anything like that. Uni Udon spaghetti. I've never actually had that before because Uni is very expensive. It's kind of like the same. It is. You guys know the history? Yeah, so Japanese curry actually came over when the Brits came over. So, you know, British colonized everybody that had India, and then they brought their ships from India into Japan. They're like, yo, we have curry, we have spices, let's bring it in. Is this during the last samurai times? It is during the last samurai times, essentially. Do you think Japanese, like, you know, not to take this discussion to that level already, but this is culture table. Do you think that you guys, Japanese got the freaky shit in the Dutch? Because the British got really help for that. Like Amsterdam, right? Yeah. Isn't that Dutch? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brits like this shit. I don't know, I'm just saying. I mean, good. That's how Japanese people study western culture for hundreds and hundreds of years. Japan was a very isolated country for about 300 years. You know, that's how they studied math, you know, economics, probably even sex books. They probably read from the Dutch, you know. So, I wouldn't be fucking surprised. So, Omurice is a very delicious, it's my childhood food. Fried rice mixed with ketchup. You can put sausage in it. You can put peas, you can put whatever you want. And then layer it on with a thin slice of egg, well cooked, thick enough, not too thick, not too thin, layered with a tomato sauce and ketchup. And it's just comfort food. And Fumi, you said this is your favorite dish. This is my favorite dish. But this is also the favorite dish of like a 10 year old. It's like an embarrassing thing to admit. But I love it. Comfort food, right? Comfort food? Yeah, like mom used to make it for me and stuff. What's your favorite Japanese dish? Favorite Japanese dish. You're gonna name something like 8-5 Wagyu, Yakitoro, or Toro. Toro? Nah, I love that premium shit. But you know, honestly, Japanese curry is my to-go too. Yeah, I mean, so I guess like sometime after the war, you know, even though all these crazy things happen, like Japan really accepted Western culture and we started eating bread and all this stuff. And so this is just like a Japanese take on European food. You want the pizza feeling without having to toss your own dough. I mean, this is probably very offensive to town people, but I love it. It's very good. So these, I was told that these milk toasts, these are, this is like a Japanese bread. It's cooked in a Japanese toaster. Yo, that is good. Oh, delicious. Very delicious. It has that very sweet, savory base to it and a little touch of sweet. That's all you need in Japanese curry. That looks like a super... Let's see, like, does that taste European? I don't know, you know. Okay, a good omurice, it's got, you know, have you guys seen Ratatouille? You know when that guy eats that Ratatouille, he has a flashback. When I eat this, I need to have a flashback of my mom hitting me. And that's when I know that it's good. A good Japanese curry is something when you eat it, just everything melts in your mouth so perfectly. The sauce is not too thick. It's very delicious. It has that sweet touch. The meat is very soft. Yo, we gotta talk about the westernization in Japan in a way Japanese culture is funny because it's like the most beloved Asian subgroup, right? In a lot of ways globally. With the anime, cosplay, culture, sushi, a lot of like soft power. Right, and then simultaneously, I guess due to the last, history of the last 60 years or 70 years, in a way also the most hated. Yep. Right? Like we always said it's the most famous and infamous obviously depending on which generation you're talking to. Right, right. I think for me I came from a very unique perspective. I think, you know, from a Japanese person raised overseas, right? It allowed me to really see also how Japanese people think of their own history culture too. A lot of Japanese people are very, wouldn't say oblivious, but aren't really told the full truth about like, you know, Japanese. They try not to focus on it. They focus on the war. They try not to. Well, they actively kind of try to wipe it from the history. Yeah, exactly. It's something they're not really wanting to be invested in. They're not something you would remember. I think Japan, the way, the reason why Japan culture is the way it is today is because of the whole post-war scene. They just, you know, they did some messed up. Atrocities. Yeah, exactly. The military took over. They, you know... Atrocities. Atrocities, I meant. Terrible atrocities. Yeah, so Japan had this really defeated mentality after the war. And I think they just wanted to rebuild themselves. Japanese people... They were just like, let's just go a different direction. Yeah, they did. This isn't working. They're just like, war isn't good. Let's try something else. And so I think they had this... The Japanese people have always been hardworking. They've always had this whole very modernist society where they're very focused on looking after each other. And I think from there, they wanted to form their own unique culture. We're about to wrap up the history section with this. You guys want to formally issue an apology for what went down 60 years ago. Like, yeah, 67. This is the internet, guys. Not me. I don't care. I mean, I know... Japanese people did a lot of messed up things. And I think, you know, I would like to apologize on behalf of, you know, all the crap we did, you know, and I think that moving forward, hopefully we can live in the more peaceful time and, you know, progress in the more prosperous times. Amen. You guys heard it here. All the smoke. We sealed it. We're good. Let's talk about the food. But you know what it was? The internet wasn't going to let me get away with it. So I had to do it. I think that's how it really got into kind of learning about East Asian history, colonial history. That's something I tell you to college. I think it's important to really know what's happened in the past to really kind of move on and kind of get the facts right to be able to for us to learn from it. You're saying you can't move past it unless we talk about it. That's why I brought it up so early. Yes, dude. That's why I don't mind talking about it, man. It's important to come from different sides to think about it rather than coming from one side section, you know, and I think that's... It's important to have an open dialogue, an honest dialogue, a conversation to really know what's happening. You see everyone's side of it and kind of find a way to really get the full picture of kind of just everything. What do people go? There's no moving past that. What happened? Well, then you just offer them more sushi and more Japanese food. Hey, more mental. I'll tell you this. There you go. I wasn't going to ever... I almost said I forgive you guys after eating this. We have one more spot to go to after that. We are actually going to Izakaya, which is funny because here we're at a Japanese brunch spot, but then we're going to go to a Japanese Izakaya, which is more like a bar, which is more like a bar, to a Japanese Izakaya, which is more like a bar. You know what's funny? We have the heavy talk at the light brunch spot. But once we get over to the Izakaya, it's going to be like Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon. Yeah, back to the head time, head time. We've been so deprived of this after leaving Chiba, he's like, oh my God. Yo, that's why I had to give you the natto cheese. Bro. How do I say, how do I ask him if that's good or not? Uishii desu ka? Uishii desu ka? Mama. Mama. Mama. I love it. I love it. Pre-buyer. I love it. You're just the most aesthetic, but I don't know if that one's going to taste good. Mmm. We all got to eat the pizza one. David, you are wrong. It's delicious. So you're saying it's only mama, but she took like nine bites. No, it's actually pretty good. It's really pretty good. Okay. I take a bite. It's very good. Natto toast. No sauce. Whoa. Oh, man. I got to have a bite of that. I'm in the sauce. I'm in the sauce, guys. It got me. I'm in the sauce. I'm in the sauce, guys. It got me. Defend natto? Are you with natto, or are you like, ah, it's not my favorite? Actually, natto isn't really a big thing in Osaka. Oh, it's not? It's not. It's not. It's a very Tokyo thing. It's a very Tokyo thing. What do you guys eat instead? We eat a lot of other stuff. A lot of street food. A lot of, like, you mean more convention? For breakfast? More conventionally delicious things? I mean, Because this is like a common breakfast. It's a common breakfast in like Tokyo, in other areas. Every time I go to Japan, we never eat this. Oh, my gosh. No mom hates it. She refuses to eat natto. What are you possibly eating? All right, moving on with this Japanese episode of Culture Table, we are going to our second spot, Isekai Jiraku. Kyoto Macha IPA. So this is a macha IPA? It is. It is produced from the producer with macha. Take a look at that color. Which, what are you more excited about? The melon or the macha IPA? How familiar are you guys with this Isekai food on a scale of one to five? Um, at least with the classic stuff, you know, like the karaage and the yakitori and stuff like that. That's a given. So what about a one out of five? What about five? Oh, how familiar? Four? I guess? Very familiar. Yeah. That's almost salaried man. Salaried man, you're going to be five. Okay. We're going to talk about loanwords, because a lot of Japanese words are based off words from other cultures, right? It's probably because it didn't exist in our country. So that, we just started out with that. So for example, this one probably online is McDonald's, which is McDonald's. Okay. So what about other Asian words? There is a lot of ancient Chinese influence in Japan. Like a lot of Japanese will eat Mapo tofu. Right. Exactly. The Chinese characters are kanji, right? Kanji, yeah. And then you guys also have two more alphabets, what, Hirakana and Katakana. Which is phonetic. So Katakana would be the ones you would use to describe Westernized words for a long time. Kanji was only used for men and women used to. Really? Super patriarchal. Super patriarchal. Well, that will be topic number two, but we got to get past it. I think it's like an education level thing. Like the educated, the scholars use the Chinese characters. Right. Because it's very hard to learn a new picture for a new word, right? Yes. So old school Japanese literature is all Chinese characters. You guys have two sets of alphabets and Chinese kanji. That's a lot of stuff to learn. Chinese bridges. Oh my gosh. This is the thing, like there's a lot of younger Japanese people. They don't know how to write all the characters because it's really hard. But that's like a legit problem. Japanese people in Japan. Everybody's going to go for the thing that caught their eye the most. This is a special one. I have the pork belly, the abu, abai. I'm going to go for the yakitori. Then I'll go for the alcoholic ramen. Yo, that's very Japanese. Fumi apologized for taking the Katakana choice. Who apologizes more Japanese than Japanese? Japanese. Japanese. But Canadians mean it more when they say it. Oh! All right, guys. Oh my God. Wow. The soup is, it's a little spicy, a little punch, and it's very really well flavored. Yeah? Yeah. I taste the alcohol in it. The jalapeno too? Oh man. This momo skewer, chicken thigh skewers are like top 10 for me. I like that. I love eating chicken thigh skewers. Chicken wings? If it is a chicken wing, I don't care what's on it, I'm going to try it. It's fire. You want to try some of this broth? Yeah, I'll try some of this broth here. I've never seen avocado on the ramen, but this looks fire. Oh, that's just sweet enough. That's beautiful right there. Because I've had some friends who have worked in Japan or visited Japan and spent some time there who were either Japanese-American or non-Japanese. And there were females, and they felt like obviously the patriarchy level structurally is still really, really high in Japan. I mean, I think to be honest, Japan is still pretty far behind in terms of rights between women and men. Women still don't get from maternity leave. That's why Japan has a really low birth rate, is because a lot of women don't want to take time off because they're not treated well in the company and they don't get that same opportunity. They're not getting the Google package. Exactly. They don't get the same chance. That's why Japanese people are just like, we're not being born anymore. Yes, but you know what the other thing is, a lot of it has to do with when we grow up, my mom didn't work growing up, so we grow up seeing women not working and just serving their husbands. And then we just eventually assume that that's what they're supposed to do. So there's also like a systematic thing. You guys are looking at this system, right, that obviously you guys are educated in the west, Western values, ideals. How do you balance that with just like, man, I just want to lead Japan, Japan, and that side of it. I don't want to touch it and be like the one guy who became westernized and was like, you guys need a change versus being like, dang, maybe I could. Like, I don't know if I have a responsibility to address this or dismantle this from the inside. I think, you know, leading by example is good, you know, like, if you were a CEO or like if you're in a position of influence, like you guys are, and like talking about this stuff, like showcasing with women, like just things like that, like talking about it openly, I think helps the younger Japanese people like see things differently. I think addressing the problem, I think that's the number one for the men of Japanese people. They like the boy. They don't like to face head on about the problem. They don't like being critical. There's a lot of conventional people in Japan who like sticking into old ways. And I think it's people like us who need to kind of educate that who need to attack us and to be like, well, we need to have a more fair and about society, you know? People in Japan don't see that because they are entrenched in that mindset. I'm going to eat this egg here, this purple egg of the black garlic ramen. In honor of the next topic that we have, I have the tomato skewer. I have the egg to represent the reproduction that's not happening in Japan. I have another actor to eat, a buyer, or a person. The stick. What would you pick? The katsu What's good, ladies? What's good? Hit me up. I just want to give you guys some thoughts, not that you represent Japan, but, you know, right now you do. Keep up on the news, right? As somebody who's very, you know, like understanding of the Japanese culture, but also Western. I mean, Japanese people are very like self-reserved. They're very reserved. There Japanese culture there's this term which is like there, a lot of people who are not very comfortable with socializing. They're not comfortable with me going out and talking to girls. And that's why you have a lot of guys who are still virgins in the 40s who live without having sex in their lives because there's this culture of just not wanting to be, and that's why this idea of like sex dolls is a real thing in Japan because they'd be more comfortable interacting with a video game girl friend where they have more control over getting very advanced. Exactly. I think there needs to be a better weariness. There needs to be better systems in place for guys to be able to just go out there and keep girls and just like go on dating. So you're saying dating the holographic Sailor Moon is not you're going to judge everybody? No, I'm not judging. But at this rate we're not going to have a population anymore if this keeps going. And Japan is not a country of immigrants. It's a very low-tolerant immigration problem. You're saying robots ain't human? I'm trying to think. I think the culture allows you to be kind of a hikikomori like you said earlier like a lonely person because you can just buy these experiences. You can rent a girlfriend. There are like prostitution things available if you seek that. There are these like manga cafes that are open 24 hours if you just want to make yourself and read a ton of one piece. Live in a fantasy world. You can do this stuff. So it's almost like why even try when you can have all this stuff to yourself. It's like so it's easily accessible. For a little bit of money you can just have all these things you want. The reproduction thing I know that it's somehow like somewhat related to like the women working thing. So like more females are working and they don't want to have kids because they want to focus on their career. So I think that's a good thing. You know people in California, Brazil. Okay. We're okay. So come hop on us. Come hop on our D's. Like a weird mix of like throwback and progressiveness and like futuristic. I mean it's interesting because like when I think of a futuristic city I don't even think of Tokyo. I always think of like Shanghai because I think it just looks like a newer city. No. You know what it is you know what it was for about 20 years Tokyo was the future but then countries that got built up after Japan are you going to have a city to have New York look like the future 80 years ago. Like nobody had the shit New York had and now obviously you look at the New York subway looks ancient. Yeah. It's an interesting mix in Japan where they're like relationship with technology is probably futuristic and like beyond everybody else but then there's certain things. I always said when I went to Tokyo that it reminded me of the future in 1990. Yeah. Because they're still using they still use money there. Like some old school things like credit cards are like kind of difficult to use yes. What you know what I mean like is there some sense that it had ultra advanced infrastructure ahead of the rest of the world like 10 to 15 years and they kind of froze it 100% yeah. Yeah. I think Japan Japan know definitely it had its peak in the 80s and 90s where it had this massive economic boom powered by the automobile industry. No I think car manufacturer really helped progress economy. These cars don't break down exactly. And then I think that helped really fuel the advance of technology and I think research in that are the ones who are really advanced and who are really progressing and investing in that technology. I think they're hungry. I think they're hungry. They're hungry for it. Japan's like already eaten. So it's like just picking at dessert dessert being like the arts or something like that. Rui Hachimura is always like I think he felt really torn because now he's the symbol of Japanese pride in the NBA. He's as big strong you know half Japanese half black guys dunking on everybody dropping 30 in a game but then he's also like man people really said a lot of mean stuff to me growing up. I think it's cool that we're so that like mixed kids in Japan have a role model and also other Japanese kids have a reference point like oh that guy doesn't look like me but I guess he's Japanese so that's cool. Just have more open people mind. So now kids are like I'm hoping that kids are going to be like a little bit less mean you know to like I think that that's happening. I think it's just representation how you have a lot of Asian American representation here in America I think in Japan is important to also acknowledge that there are non Japanese people who are in Japan who can also be successful and most Asian people how has it been tough for Japanese? Could you see if it's had any negative effect on maybe like your comedy career? Oh my comedy career? Well theoretically let me throw some out there for you. Okay. You don't have a huge backing of second generation immigrants that are going to back you. That's okay but they'll be coming me soon so that's okay I'm working on it I'm working on it but they do give you the bumps though. I think so I think I do get because they're like ooh a Japanese comedian. Yeah because you just don't I mean you don't see a lot of Japanese people like for yourself and do you feel that that same way like are you like relating to that like when you came here because obviously in Hong Kong you were just like the cool half Korean half Japanese guy like I'm killing you you come to America you're like I didn't even know I was half Korean until like two years ago dude dude my mom dropped the bomb on my on the Christmas dinner I was asking my mom I was like mom why do you hate Korean so much cause she's like they lie they steal they cheat I'm like Japanese people Japanese people say about Korean people and we got this huge argument and she's like if you hate Korean so much why don't you marry someone like your dad and I said wait that's how she broke it like in a movie line and I was like I was sitting there I was like how does that logic make sense and I was like oh wait I'm actually are they divorced yeah they're divorced they hate each other they hate each other we grew up number of years I love my dad I love my mom that's why that story makes sense dude that's crazy oh my gosh what a terrace house what a terrace house what a terrace house what a theater what a theatrical mother I think it's something I appreciate I think it's something I respect and I think it's something that I feel it's part of my identity you know even though the Sony phones then the Japanese phones fell behind the cameras like the Sony's we're using right now and they're still pretty much I like them the best out of them I mean you're only picking between Japanese brands Canon, Panasonic Sony Fujifilm killing it at the cameras I don't think actually like I don't know if any of them are not Japanese because people know the fashion we talk about Y3 Oji Yamamoto all the way to babe you know what it is you gotta hang out with like a Japanese grandma that is Japanese grandma that's the culture that has not talked about they're hilarious so funny they don't give a f*** they make great food they're fashion also good my grandma would wear like yeah like I don't know where she I mean she died already R&B but she would like just be wearing like a random babe shirt one day she must have gotten it some like used clothing or something yeah I mean you gotta learn Japanese to hang out with them but they're great they're great they're companions I mean I don't know I'm not very currently entrenched but one thing I really appreciate recently is Japanese hip hop Japanese hip hop is back on the rise again J-Rap Chinese people especially from Hong Kong and Taiwan are really big fans of J-Rap you know why I do think they like K-Rap too but K-Rap sounds a little bit maybe too American for like less testosterone filled jazzy rap yeah and is that that's the J-Rap you're referring to it kind of influenced from that there's a lot of good Japanese artists out there right now one of my favorites actually this New York Japanese artist called Miyachi and he's he's popping out in Japan he's like fitting half his verses in English and Japanese I think stuff like that really revolutionized the scene is there any jealousy of how hot Koreans are right now that used to be the hot East Asians you know what's interesting I think that young people don't give a f**k like my cousin 17 he's on like some dance team and he's always posted on Instagram and he's like dancing to BTS songs that's what's so cool is like young people they don't really have that weird complex right that competition yes but when I go back a lot of older Asian women or like just older Asian people were just like oh you're from New York or whatever and they'll ask me like oh do you think Japan's losing to Korea and I'm like what does that mean like dude I've had so many people ask me that and I don't know if they mean like because economically I guess like no but like you're talking about like soft power yeah I guess but like it's such a weird the coolest East Asian title may have been lost in recent years yeah I mean I think it kind of has but dude it doesn't matter because people still like one I don't know I don't know why we can't all be maybe I'm privileged to say this but like I think we can all be cool I guess is what I'm trying to say like you don't have to take a person down you know I mean just cause people like BTS doesn't mean they're not like watching anime and like into Japanese fashion and stuff you know what I'm saying like you know what I heard I heard cause I actually involved in the entertainment industry in Asia a little bit they said that because Japan has a 150 million population they don't need to innovate as much cause they have a domestic market that will consume whereas Korea's always had a tiny population so they always had to think super hard import producers from everywhere songwriters from everywhere to the most best global product ever because there simply wasn't enough money within their population yes I've actually heard the same thing with like modeling Japanese models don't really f*** with markets outside Japan cause they don't need to right it's more comfortable to operate yeah and I think that's kind of the reason because it was such a big island but then it didn't force people it was like right at that size where they had the domestic market but where they could totally survive but then maybe also complacency to not push beyond the last time that Japanese artists had like one was like sukiyaki that song was really big in America actually my mom knows that's like old school that's old school but it was popular in America but they did also an English version but I think that was when Japanese culture was like you know what the interesting thing is I think that Japanese sense of like picking a fusion point and then building a culture out of it but not necessarily staying up day to day with the west it's good for like fashion but then bad for music so it's like you know what I mean like certain mentalities are like better for different industries if you look at career fashion it's kind of viewed as not as unique it's viewed as like western fashion but cheaper like a Zara kind of and then Japanese fashion is like his own sh** I think Japan definitely had its peak back in the 80s and that's why a lot of things over the 80s went you know like I said the rise of the automotive industry when Japan was economically prospering and I think that was its export period and now it's Korea's turn to do that you know you have the massive rise of Samsung and you have the massive rise of music in Korea and I think soon enough China will make a comeback and I think it's just different phases and different eras that are kind of doing this Asian influence on the world I love that I thought it got really deep at the end real quick you guys what was your favorite thing because we have low key that was way better than teriyaki I don't know Americans just got the teriyaki version this was like teriyaki times I was a big fan of the special karaage right here I don't have the regular ones I don't know what's the special that's some sort of radish on it that's daikon it's got daikon on it but it was real it was real crunchy it was real juicy juicy I liked it real I got to get rid of the pork man that was soft chewy boiled perfectly Japanese culture is so some aspect of it is so known to everybody yeah but it's so mysterious past the surface yeah and there's such a kind of crazy history behind it all that I didn't grow up super into Japanese culture like pop culture I wasn't a weeaboo or a taku at all you mean like some people at church gun damn a little big Dragon Ball Z a little bit but I really wouldn't consider it on that level but I like to think about Japan and the future of it like that's always really fascinating to me and it's like Asia and the future of Japan in particular because it's always been like a futuristic place so the saying is like Japanese people they always start with Japanese first they say Japanese love work they love the pursuit of artisanal perfection Koreans in their heart at the base level they love their country they love their bloodline they just because it's a small group of people you know fierce and Chinese they say at the end of the day they love money and that's a Chinese saying so I'm just saying do you see it you know I think I don't like I don't want that video I'm a comedian Hey guys thank you so much for doing this episode Ryosuke Fumi, Fumi, Ryosuke thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Culture Table I hope you guys took something away from it Alright everybody make sure you give this video a big thumbs up and thank you so much for watching in the comments down below of this video let us know what your favorite thing about Japanese pop culture is let it go let us know and thank you so much by the way we will censor the X rated ones but just still leave it still leave it who knows yeah plug your guys and stuff it's got a very funny I call it the number one Asian podcast oh thank you man yes I got a podcast of Asian not Asian check it out it's available wherever you get your podcast and what do you got you can check me on Instagram I'm a filmmaking artist I'll post content there if people want to hit you guys with questions that's okay it's not just Instagram at the Fumiyabe that's at T-H-E-F-U-M-I-A-V-E man I appreciate you guys so much for doing that and especially being so open I didn't have to do that man those are those are amazing conversation alright everybody hope you guys enjoy that and until next time peace here at Iizakaya Jeraka we have the largest selection of Japanese craft beers in North America we currently have 57 beers and end of the month we should have 60 just show us the craziest joints man the craziest is going to be from Hida Chino we have commemorative ales from them from a 2009 and a 2011 oh so you guys are treating beer like it's wine what's the coolest sake you got the coolest sake is crazy because it has a human mind the coolest one is also going to be by the same producer as the beer this is Kyuchi's Taruzake so it is aged in cedar if you want to check out everything else we're doing please come down to Iizakaya Jeraka you can find us on Instagram Twitter we're all out there so check us out yo Kyu thanks for having us bro thank you pleasure