The Good Old America (1)

My First Trip to the United States and Experiences at PITTCON (Around 1984)

My very first business trip to the United States was around 1984 for PITTCON. It was just before the release of the HPLC photodiode array detector. Atlantic City was a town of boardwalks and casinos. I found the breakfasts particularly delicious — the orange juice was especially fresh, and there were no “Low Fat” labels on milk or butter. The bacon was crispy and unforgettable. I tried to recreate it at home after returning to Japan, but I was never able to get it quite right. On the other hand, Japanese cuisine was not as common on the East Coast back then, and after about four days of similar American meals, I started to crave Japanese food.

The “Porridge Sushi” Shock at a “Japanese Restaurant”

When I mentioned wanting Japanese food, the local manager thoughtfully made a reservation at a restaurant that claimed to serve Japanese cuisine. It was fine until we were served — sushi with rice that looked and felt like porridge, wrapped with pickled radish that seemed to have leaked dye. The vinegar had such a sharp, unpleasant smell that it stung my nose. “What part of this is Japanese food? This is just bizarre!” several of my colleagues exclaimed in unison. Even now, I still wonder how they managed to make sushi rice that resembled porridge.

The Giant Dumplings and the Ketchup Incident

Hoping to make up for the previous experience, we decided to try Chinese food the next day. However, the restaurant didn’t have a license to serve alcohol. Such places still exist today, and now I always check in advance, but back then, we had no choice but to stop by a nearby liquor store and bring beer with us. The waiter spoke so quickly and loudly that I couldn’t understand a single word. When the dumplings we ordered finally arrived, they were about the size of bananas. Holding a large bottle of ketchup in his right hand, the waiter shouted, “This is special spicy sauce today — enjoy dinner!!” Before anyone could react, he poured a generous amount of ketchup all over the massive dumplings. “What’s so special or spicy about that? It’s just ketchup,” muttered a colleague from Osaka — but there was nothing we could do.

The Final Breakfast in San Francisco

At the end of the trip, we stopped by Hotel Nikko San Francisco. During a Japanese breakfast there, that same colleague proudly stirred his natto until it formed long, sticky threads, clearly enjoying himself.

Continued in “The Good Old America (2)”