guys, the three of us were the worst. anthony: the three of you were bad students. masa: ah, really good. anthony: so you do this when you were kids? build a fire? cook something? drink sake? masa: always, always we did that. smoked cigarettes. anthony: yeah. back then did everybody know that you were not going to stay? like, when you were in high school did you talk about, when i get old enough i m going to america? i m not staying here. masa: yeah, we did that. [ speaking japanese ] yeah, i told them. anthony: now, you weren t dressed up like john wayne or anything right, when you went to school? no cowboy boots. masa: no, no. no, no, no. no. anthony: they say you can take the boy out of the country, but you can t take the country out of the boy. i don t know if that s true. we all come from someplace, that s for sure. but, new york city, in masa takayama s case, seems far,
a once-traditional farming community, slow paced, inward looking, the opposite end of the universe, culturally, from new york and tokyo, even from kanazawa. ishi: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: it used to be a five-hour trip from tokyo, now reduced to two by the shinkansen bullet train. why don t we have these in america, by the way? ask your congressmen. this rather drab, featureless place is where masa was born and raised and could well have stayed. but then, everything would have been different. masa s dad, yoshio, recently passed. but his mom, ishi, is still going strong, the center of the family. masa: [ speaking japanese ] ishi: yeah. catherine: nice to meet you! ishi: [ speaking japanese ] masa: thank you! tony, tony. anthony: pleased to meet you.
masa: good, huh? anthony: fantastic. ishi: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: bold words. masa: maybe better. anthony: typical japanese meal. champagne, sancerre. masa: that s what we do. anthony: country cooking at its best, right? [ laughter ] grandma, how wide are two reindeer? twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine. we ve been waiting all year to come together. it worked! have a happy and safe holiday season from lexus.
catherine is masa s daughter. california raised, but a frequent visitor to the family home. she and her grandmother are preparing some familiar comfort foods to celebrate masa s homecoming. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: motsuni is a slow simmered stew of pork tripe, konnyaku, daikon, green onions, and miso. catherine: [ speaking japanese ] masa: very different food, right? this is country food. [ laughter ] kanpai. welcome home! ishi: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: you don t get this in new york. masa: no. mm. [ speaking japanese ] anthony: this is really good. i see why you love this. catherine, by the way, is a pastry chef at the great restaurant, the french laundry, in the napa valley.
masa: mmm! anthony: oh, that s fantastic. it s really good. today s sashimi course is cod, salted and pressed between leaves of kelp for two hours, coated with sake cured codfish roe. next to it, flounder. its skin gently rubbed with grilled tomato the day before. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: finally, a super luxurious clam hot pot. rice is steamed with clam and a bonito broth. then topped with plump torigai, plum, and manju clams, as well as creamy sea urchin and a japanese broccolini blossom for good measure. simple. perfect. wow. anthony: uni? masa: uni. anthony: awesome. masa: oh the umami hold into the rice. right? anthony: right. so, i wanna know the stereotypical japanese mentality. the, the salaryman. you join the company, you stay with the company. masa: well, some people go that way. anthony: most people go this way, yes. they, they choose security. masa: yeah, yeah. maybe. anthony: it s an unusual way