Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo (19 page)

This book forced itself out
of me in a messy Alien-like process visible only to the unlucky patrons of the cafes where it was written: Remedy Teas in Seattle and the Starbucks on Nakano-dōri in Nakano, Tokyo.

Becky Selengut made me take the book further than I’d anticipated. Without Becky’s influence, you would have just finished a rambling collection of restaurant reviews. Becky, I’m sorry it’s not the graphic novel you wanted. Maybe next time. Becky is the author of the sustainable seafood cookbook
Good Fish,
but never once castigated me for the unsustainable seafood I ate in Japan. Buy her book already.

Molly Wizenberg read drafts and made comments and was there to answer my most needy questions at any time, even though she was writing her own book, opening a restaurant, and having a baby. Nobody has a higher tolerance for my terrible jokes than Molly. It’s a little disturbing. Buy her book,
A Homemade Life,
too.

When I thought the manuscript was finished and error-free, I sent it to copy editor Janet Majure (
janetmajure.com
), who found over five hundred remaining typos, ugly sentences, and inconsistencies. Any remaining errors are mine. If you need a copy editor for your book or any writing project, hire Janet.

Tokyoites Shirley Karasawa (who teaches Japanese home cooking on her blog,
lovelylanvin.com
) and Yukari Sakamoto (who blogs at
foodsaketokyo.wordpress.com
) helped me get the Japanese words right. Shirley also teaches Japanese cooking classes in Seattle; Yukari leads food-focused walking tours in Tokyo. Recommended!

Hikari Dept. is the author of two marvelous books about Japanese food,
Yōshoku and Chūka
and
Sushi: Its Unknown Varities and History.
He kindly pointed out several small errors in the book.

Thank you to Akira and Emi, our best friends in Japan. Composing emails to them in Japanese feels exactly like aerobic exercise: I break into a sweat, but then, when I’m done, wow! I wrote a whole email in Japanese! I’m still kind of amazed that we were able to successfully meet with them in the same place at the same time; credit this to Akira’s bilingualism.

CL Smith designed the cover. You can hire him at
humblenations.com
. Iris would like you to know that she thinks the octopus looks evil and would have preferred a cute plush octopus.

At my day job, I write a personal finance column. My colleague Wade Pfau is a retirement planning expert and an economics professor at a Tokyo university. I call on him often for a quote for my column, and he and his family were equally generous with their time in Tokyo.

Kate Johnson came all the way from Chiba to the west side, twice, to see us, took us to a great restaurant in Shibuya, and introduced Iris and me to this amazing toy where you make candy sushi from scratch. The results are as beautiful as they are inedible. Thank you, Kate!

Elizabeth Andoh’s cooking classes are legendary, and I was lucky enough to experience two of them in the same month. Her cookbooks are superb; my favorite is
Washoku.
Find her classes at
tasteofculture.com
.

As with
Hungry Monkey,
many of the best jokes in this book and none of the worst were written by my friend and joke doctor, Dan Shiovitz. You know how sometimes you meet someone who seems too good-looking to be working a normal job? Dan’s like that, only with comedy.

Neil Robertson, pastry chef and Japanophile, alerted us to numerous important pâtisseries, including Aigre-Douce.

Rachael Hutchings, blogger at
LaFujiMama.com
and cohost of the
Miso Hungry podcast
, read the manuscript and pointed out many instances where my understanding of Japanese food was less than stellar. She also invited me onto her show to talk about Tokyo supermarkets, and gathering my thoughts for that episode did a lot to improve the supermarket chapter. You can listen to me ramble here:
goo.gl/aCnjG

The Usui family of Saitama-ken welcomed us into their home for an afternoon, cooked us an amazing meal, and gave us a couple of memorable restaurant recommendations. Their three kids treated Iris like a best friend from the moment they met. If you'd like to have a meal with a Japanese family in their home, Nagomi Visit (
nagomivisit.com
) will make it happen.

Thank you to Mac, our apartment manager, and to Zen, Makoto, and Amy, our neighbors. If you’re looking for a vacation rental in Tokyo, do not hesitate to use
LiveInAsia.com
.

In the acknowledgements of my last book, I referred to my family, Laurie and Iris, as “extremely high-quality.” This turned out to be a rank understatement. Can you imagine spending a month with
your
family in a 260-square-foot apartment without any murders? Thanks also to my parents, Judy and Richard Amster, who have always been my biggest boosters and have almost never criticized my not-very-moneymaking lifestyle. Writing books is almost as lucrative as playing pachinko, but a lot more fun.

Creating an ebook that mixes English and Japanese alphabets is a real caution. Thanks to Alberto Pettari and Liza Daly for the advice and tools that made it possible. Neil deMause answered my arcane Adobe InDesign questions. Beta testers included Josh Giesbrecht, Gunther Schmidl, Wendy Burton, Justin de Vesine, John Cater, and Tara C. of Kobo technical support.

The production budget for this book came from 381 backers on Kickstarter. It’s an incredible honor that hundreds of people from all over the world decided this was a good use of their money. Backers include:

Adrian Drake; Agatha Khishchenko; Alexander Y. Hawson, M.D.; Allen Garvin; Alon Takeuchi; Amanda Powter; Amanda Sargent; Amber Andersen; Amy Plank; Andrea Arnold; Andrew Duff; Anita and Cameron Crotty; Ann Bjorseth; Aoi Ninami; Betty and Dick Balcomb; Brad Mohr; Bruce and Susan Burton; Bruce Ryan; C Milne; Caroline Cummins; Chris Phelps; Christine Li; Chuck Nordhoff; Corinne Burger; Culinate; Cynthia Nims; Dan Shiovitz; Darsa Morrow; David Dadekian; David Glasser; David Mahashin; Dawn, Eric, and Ian Wright; Debbie Jeske; Dirk Elmendorf; Don Lee; Doug Jones; Emiko Freund; Emily Short; Florentyna Leow (Furochan); Glenn Fleishman; Helen Rennie; Henry H Lo, Lorna Yee, and Weston Lo; Hsiao-Ching Chou; Jacqueline L. Ashwell; James Kyoon Yun; James Whetzel; Jamison Moore; Jay Friedman; Jennifer and Greg Barnes; Jess Higgins; Jodi from MI; Joe “Linja” Lin; Jon Rosebaugh; Josie Paras; Judy and Richard Amster; Justin de Vesine; Kairu Yao; Kathleen Burton McDade; Katie Briggs; Kelly Samek; Kim Foster; Kristy Hogue; Lara Ferroni; Larry, Kristen, and Julia Liang; Laura Hooning; Laura Phillips; Lauren E. Cohn; Lauren Edlund; Laurent B. Sauvageau; Lily Yu; Liza Daly; Lizz Zitron; Marius Müller; Mark Musante; Masato Taniguchi; Matt Treiber; Matthew Murray; Megan Tortora; Meghan Feuk; Michael Bourret; Michael Burton; Michael Kitces; MK Carroll; Molly Wizenberg; N. Segovia; Nagayoshi Makoto, Amy, and Zen; Nancy Leson; Nathalie Nasr; Neil deMause; Neil K. Guy; Pat Tanumihardja; Patrick Cheung; Phillip Harris; Pia Thomas; Poh Ling Ng; Priya and Veena Mishra; Rachael Hutchings; Randy Thomson; Rebekah Denn; Robert Musser; Robin Wehl Martin; Roll with Jen; Rowena Fernando-Li; Ryan Franson; Samantha Koss; Sarah H.; Shannon; Sonoko Sakai; Stacy Cowley; Steve Kang; Steve Phifer; Steven Haryanto; Storme Winfield; Susan MacCulloch; Susann Rutledge; Svenssons; Talia Lynch; Tami Parr; Tatsuya Wagatsuma; Thanh P. L. L.; The Laney Family; Therese R. Harris; Wade and Joseph Pfau; Wendy Burton; Yuichi Miyakawa; and Yuki Caldwell.

Finally, thank you to the 30-odd million people of the world’s greatest city, for the best month of my life.

About the Author

Matthew Amster-Burton has written about food for Gourmet, the Seattle Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and has been featured in
Best Food Writing
five times. Cohost of the hit podcast
Spilled Milk
, Matthew lives with his family in Seattle but would rather be eating crispy soup dumplings in Nakano. For photos, visit
prettygoodnumberone.com
.