Dear readers,
        I'm presently sitting at my desk at Miyago-chugakko, a junior high in west Isesaki.  I'm a little tired this morning, but since I've an hour off please allow me to relate to you the circumstances behind my fatigue.  No, it's not a hangover.  Last night, I threw my second Natto Party.  The first Natto Party, two months ago drew a meager six guests.  Last night however, I was surprised to find my apatto  filled suddenly twenty guests, all who came to eat natto.
        So, what is natto?  Kodansha's Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia informs us that natto is made by "fermenting soybeans with a bacillus known as natto . . . which breaks up the protein in the beans, leaving them sticky and soft.  A valuable source of protein, natto was first made in the late Edo period (1600-1868).  It is usually eaten with minced scallions (negi) mustard, and soy sauce . . ."  The flavor is sharp, the smell, punguent, and when lifted with ohashi, natto can trail long spider-web-like threads that sometimes stretch over five feet.  A bowl of natto must be held close to one's mouth, partially inhaled, while twirling the ohashi to wind and break the stringy goo.  This is the proper method for eating natto.  Tradtionally wrapped in straw and sold fresh on the street in the morning, natto is now sold in small styrofoam containers at convenience stores day and night for a mere 3 @ Y120.
        While half the Japanese are fanatic over natto, the other half are positively natto-phobic.  Interestingly, Japan can be said to be geographically divided between the Kansai, west of the Aichi prefecture: Osaka-Fu, Kyoto-fu, Hiyogo prefecture, and so on, where people generally don't like natto and the Kanto plain (my home) to the east, where it is well-loved.  I would be remiss if I did not mention that a different type of natto is eaten in the the west, and produced, for instance in some temples in Kyoto.  But this natto is dry, much saltie, and and the beans are somewhat smaller.  Without the stringy, sticky quality and the strong odor, dry natto fails to touch the Japanese spirit in the same manner as does its eastern cousin--but it is said to go exceptionally well with beer.
        After the twenty guests (four Americans, one British bloke, a Canadian and sixteen Nihon-jin) had happily crammed into my small but cozy apartment and thirty packs of natto were stirred together, the sharp odor piercing the night air--forgive me, I wax poetic-- we began to prepare the natto dishes.  We made natto-gohan (natto on nori  or seaweed paper caked with a layer of rice); natto-okura (with ocra); natto-tempura, and even natto omelettes.  To be sure, if you didn't like natto this was not your kind of party, and even the Japanese found the idea more than a little unusual.  To the Japanese living east of the Nihon-Alps, indulging in natto is a celebration not only of their Japanese-ness, but also of their distinctive Kanto-ness.
        As the evening wore down, Nakajima-san observed thoughtfully, You know, we Japanese don't usually have a natto-party," to which all English speaking Nihon-jin laughed genuinely; his simple statement more or less summed up something essential to the evening.  Certainly the concept was quite amusing for them, even a little bizzare, perhaps doubly so considering the party was thrown by such henna (strange) gaikoku-jin as ourselves.

                                                                  June 1996