先週の金曜日、午後４時に、那覇に着きました。空港まで迎えに来た友人（さやか）に「地震のことを聞いた」って聞かれたら、このホラー映画が始まった。
テレビのライブ放送を見て、津波の直後の映像が映った。日本の地図は赤、ピンク、オレンジの色で光っていた。津波の警告を指していた。
The plan had been to get in the car and head off to the north side of Okinawa, but the graphic on the news blinked away merrily, in pink.
We went back to Sayaka's place, and there we (with Sayaka's partner Colm) watched the news. Reporters were all wearing white helmets (and they would do this for a while), and slowly the first reports of casualties trickled in. It was so hard to know the magnitude of the disaster. Initially there were only reports of an elderly man who died of shock, or a woman gone missing in a supermarket. I guess I don't have to tell you in detail about subsequent developments, or describe the footage we've all seen of terrifying walls of water. I can't yet tell if the repeated viewings of the catastrophe made it feel more or less real to me...
さやかのアパートに行って、テレビを見た。まだ死亡の報告がまだ１人ずつで、まだ大丈夫じゃないかなーと思った。今から考えると非常に甘え考えだった。
My original plan was to return to Tokyo on Wednesday evening, but as we watched the footage coming from the nuclear plant in Fukushima, it seemed wise to extend my stay in Okinawa. From reports from friends in Tokyo, the fear and pressure from family, friends, and authorities from abroad were quite trying, and those who had the means to do so relocated to Western Japan or further. It seemed to improve their mental health, at the very least, and relieved pressure on the infrastructure in the capital.
沖縄は５日間の旅行だけという予定だったが、また福島の事故があって、ちょとだけ那覇の滞在を長引いた。東京に残った友達のたくさんは両親や友人の心配に応じて関西に移った。東京でも体が安全だっても、精神的に安心できなかったという人も少なかった。
In the past week, I've experienced too many emotions to relate here. Mostly, I'm so relieved that Christopher and Nori in Sendai are safe and are working hard to coordinate getting help to those in need in their community. I feel a little bit like I want to go home to California and get a hug. But I'm also eager to go back to Tokyo and get on with my life and research (and get a hug). But to all those worried about me: I could not be safer than here in Naha.
今週にいろんな複雑な感情があった。。。疲れて、帰国しようという時もあれば、もう早く東京に帰りたいと強く感じる時もある。
So it is a confusing, uncertain time. But one thing is for sure, even when the mind is mixed up, there is the body that needs to be taken care of, and fed. Nothing makes me happier than to have people to cook for... And now that Ryan has also joined this community of graduate school refugees (and brought my passport!), I'm happy to turn to the issue of food. So let's give words a break for a moment, and turn to more earthy needs...
複雑な時期だというのは確かだ。とりあえず頭を使わないときに、まず体を大事しなければならないと思う。それで、このブログを。。。
Near the place where I am staying is a market. It's got a postwar black market feel. But alongside butchers that sell every cut of a pig and vegetable stands hawking their exotic foliage are small drinking establishments and hip coffee stalls.
今泊まっているところのすぐ近くに栄町市場というマーケットがある。戦後の直後の昭和の味がある。
The fishmonger I usually visit helps me pick fish based on what I want to make. The other day, when Ryan and I stopped by, he broke a baked sweet potato open for us, and we three stood around the trash can gnawing on the insides while throwing scraps of burnt potato skins into the can. We got a fish for a stew.
行っている魚屋さんがいつもどんな料理にどんな魚が適当かと教えてくれる。この間、ライヤンと一緒に行ったら、焼き芋もいただいて、それを食いながら魚を決めた。
Here is the fish's head, after I unwrapped it from the newspaper:
この魚にした：
With this, I hoped to make a Okinawa-inflected bouillabaisse.
これで沖縄風の魚スープを作ろうと思った。
Any visitor to Okinawa has probably noticed the bottled utchin-cha, or turmeric tea in stores and vending machines. At my market, I found fresh, dirt-covered turmeric:
沖縄のウコン茶も有名で、市場でこのウコンがあった：
It resembles ginger, but cut open reveals a lovely golden hue:
ショウガと似てるけど、このきれいな黄色をしている：
I made the soup base with this, local onions, garlic, Okinawan bacon... and the fish's head:
それとタマネギ、ニンニク、沖縄産ベーコン、魚の頭：
To this, I added tomatoes and the local yellow carrots:
トマトと沖縄の黄色い人参：
Toward the end of the simmer, I added the rest of the fish.
I matched the stew with an island salad. The main green was handama:
島のサラダにハンダマという葉っぱ：
Also wrapped in news. I thought it rather poignant, considered that I feel wrapped up in news myself these days, literally rolled up inside of all that information.
To this, I added some beans:
それに煮たまめ：
Opened up to find:
I simmered the shucked beans in salt water...and added them to the greens, with some shaved carrots, avocado, and sashimi that the fishmonger had insisted I take with me.
Rotating the pots (only one burner in these temporary lodgings), the soup was finally ready:
I reserved the fish head for Sayaka and I to dissect, since we are animals like that.
We picked it clean...
I'm truly embarrassed to be safe on this island, surrounded by such bounty. If only I could send them fish stew, or at the very least some beer (poor Christopher!)
本当に東北に食事が足れない人々がいるので、このごちそうができて恥ずかしい。本当に頭を下げて、こころから「いただきます」を言って、みんなの安全のために祈っています。
I hope it doesn't come off as irreverent to those who are suffering from cold and hunger in the Northeast. To cook is the most powerful method I have to escape from the daily battering by the mass media, and it is with the deepest respect for the producers and the food itself that cook and eat.
In Japanese, the word used in the place of 'bon appetit' is literally the humble form for 'I eat.' With the greatest humility: itadakimasu.
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