I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 127



Only Noblemtl

Episode 127: Unfortunate Disaster

A strange rumor was going around in the business world. It was a rumor that the son of a mid-sized company was fired from his position as director for bullying a restaurant employee and was facing a prosecutorial investigation. Some people who knew the situation were cautious about what they said, and those who were not aware of the news ignored it as nonsense. Regardless, from that day on, no more blatant customers were seen at Segreto.

Joohee has successfully completed her studies at Harvard Business School (HBS). Her thesis has been accepted and she is just about to graduate, but she doesn’t mind not attending. She is busy expanding her business these days.

-Brother. I think I’ll be going to Korea soon. It’ll be a long time before I see you.

“What’s going on?”

-I’m thinking of trying my hand at seafood too. I’m thinking of going to Japan.

Japan’s influence is also strong in the fine dining industry.

There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is probably that Japan’s cultural influence, which began in the bubble economy of the 1980s, is still effective in the West. In New York, Japanese food is still considered high-end dining, and many Western chefs go to Japan to study Japanese cuisine.

Even without considering these circumstances, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Japan’s seafood handling technology, which has been a staple food for hundreds of years, is the best in the world. It is natural for her to be interested in Japanese food ingredients. In particular, sea urchin is called uni (ウニ, Uni) in Japanese by all chefs around the world and Japanese products are considered the best.

In addition to the material aspect, Japanese cuisine has had a major influence on the culinary practices of other countries, globalizing dishes such as sushi, tempura (Japanese fried food), and sashimi (sliced ​​meat).

If we think about it objectively, it would be safe to say that Japan is a strong player in the high-end dining market, sharing the market with France. In comparison, Italian and Chinese cuisines are not far behind Japanese or French cuisines in terms of influence, but they are generally considered to be more specialized in popular cuisine.

“When are you going?”

-I’m leaving right away. I’ll go to Tokyo and visit Tsukiji Market (the world’s largest fish market), then head north to Sendai and visit Shiogama Fish Wholesale Market. And finally, my goal is to tour Hokkaido.

For a moment, my mind flashed. Sendai?

When people think of the Great East Japan Earthquake, they first think of Fukushima, but the place that was hit hard by the earthquake was Sendai. Of the 16,000 total deaths, 10,000 were residents of Miyagi Prefecture, where Sendai is located. So the place Juhee is going to is an area that suffered damage that was so severe that the city was almost destroyed.

“no!”

-huh?

“Don’t go to Japan.”

-What are you talking about out of the blue?

The words just came out before I could even think. If I cut off everything and just tell you not to go to Japan, it won’t be very persuasive.

“It’s been a while since we last saw each other. Can’t we just stay in Korea and go slowly?”

For now, we can tie Joohee up in Korea and watch what happens after the earthquake occurs.

-You missed me that much? But please bear with it for a little longer. Graduation is coming up soon. I think my body will get heavy after graduation and it will be hard to move. I will just go this time and stay by your side. It is an important business event.

It doesn’t work. What should I do? My head is spinning.

“I also have some business in Japan. But why don’t we go to Hokkaido first? I want to see crabs and sea urchins.”

Crabs and sea urchins from Hokkaido are famous for their high quality. Now that it’s come to this, I’ll have to tie up my fishing gear in Hokkaido, which is out of the earthquake zone.

-Where’s the restaurant, oppa?

Joohee asks with a voice that is half worry and half anticipation.

“I have to go to America anyway. Rachel will be in charge of Korea. You can think of it as a practice session in advance.”

-Really? I’m excited. Then I’ll go first. See you in Sapporo.

“Okay, I got it.”

Hooooooo

I let out a deep breath after hanging up the phone. If she had not called me and gone to Japan, something irreversible could have happened. I closed my eyes and thought about it. The Fukushima nuclear accident was a disaster for humanity. It caused enormous damage not only to Japan but also to neighboring Korea. After the nuclear explosion, seafood consumption in Korea greatly decreased. This is an accident that I, as someone who has just started dining, absolutely want to prevent.

“What should I do..?”

I cannot do anything about the great power of nature. However, the nuclear accident was clearly a man-made disaster. I had received a detailed report on the nuclear accident at the time. Although I did not operate the power plant, the Fukushima nuclear accident was a valuable lesson in terms of industrial disasters.

The Fukushima nuclear accident was, simply put, caused by complacent disaster preparedness.

The key to a nuclear power plant is to efficiently cool the fuel rods. This requires a huge amount of power, and if the transmission tower collapses due to an earthquake, the power plant cannot draw power from outside. Plan B in this case is to operate its own diesel generator to supply cooling water.

But what if this breaks down or gets submerged? A backup battery is your last resort.

However, at the time of the accident, the power plant only had batteries that could last for eight hours.

After the earthquake, the situation was assessed and batteries were hastily airlifted from outside, but there was a farce where they could not be connected due to lack of proper cables. Eventually, the batteries were discharged and the cooling system stopped working.

The next morning, at 3 a.m., I put on my mask and hat and walked along a road without CCTV. As I was walking, I felt a strange sense of deja vu. Did my father notice that the bearer bonds were gone? Seeing him alive and well until now, I was convinced that there were other things I could change.

I went into a shabby PC room in a deserted alley. Then I logged into the limited-time email address I had prepared in advance. This email address is automatically deleted after 24 hours. Then I started writing.

[I am a researcher working at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima. I have reported to my superiors several times that the power plant is vulnerable to disaster, but have been ignored every time, so I had no choice but to send an anonymous report. I would like to state this in advance.

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Preparedness Manual is as follows:

.

.

.

Therefore, it can be said that the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is currently extremely vulnerable to disaster. If an earthquake or tsunami were to strike and the plant would be unable to generate power on its own, it would cause an irreversible disaster. However, even though Director Masao Yoshida and TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu are aware of this, they are ignoring reports on the grounds that it would increase costs.

We must urge thorough monitoring and countermeasures at all levels of society.]

I wrote the email in Japanese, Korean, and English and sent it to over 100 recipients. The media was my top target. I sent it with provocative titles not only to Japanese media but also to major daily newspapers in Korea, the United States, and Europe. I also sent the same email to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which is practically regulated, and to Director Yoshida and President Shimizu, who are the parties to the accusation.

They will not be able to ignore this email. It mentions real names and contains a lot of information that only insiders would know. It would be best if it started reporting overseas. Because the Japanese, who are very concerned about the West, will immediately try to refute it. And in the process, they will naturally be able to prepare for a disaster.

I monitored the media every day after work. However, I could not find any reports on the accusation in Korea. While I was wondering if I should use another method, the first to report it was ‘The Sun’, which is notorious for being the world’s biggest tabloid.

[Researcher’s confession: Fukushima nuclear power plant is on the verge of explosion.]

The sense of title was typical of that newspaper. Once the article came out, the New York Times asked about it. And then, reports began to appear in Korea as well. In Japan, reporters even went directly to the Fukushima power plant and Tokyo Electric Power Company to interview officials.

“I also received and read the email. The sender of the email is definitely an insider on our side, but the content has already been revised and supplemented several years ago. Our power plant has enough reserve power to last for a month even in the event of a power outage or when there is no self-generation. You can rest assured.”

Director Yoshida appears on the screen, being interviewed with bloodshot eyes, as if he had not slept.

We will have to wait until the earthquake to see if his words are true. In any case, I have done everything I could. Hoping that the accident that made everyone unhappy will not happen again, I boarded a plane to Hokkaido.

* * *

“Brother!”

Joohee, who had arrived earlier, was there to greet me.

Warak

I hugged her as soon as I saw her.

“Did you miss me?”

“A lot.”

I could have lost her. Just thinking about it makes me suffocate. I left the airport with Joohee and headed to the hotel. It was my first time in Japan. As I looked outside the car as it moved, I saw familiar scenery. In the past, there was a villa in Hokkaido that I often visited. It was nice to cool my head for a while because it was cool even in the summer. After unpacking at the hotel, I got hungry.

“What do you want to eat?”

When I came to Japan, I thought of a lot of foods I wanted to eat. However, I asked her opinion first, following Min-hyuk’s advice that if you don’t take good care of yourself when you’re pregnant, you’ll end up complaining later.

“I guess I’m a bit reluctant to eat raw fish… ”

Joohee has been particularly concerned about food since she got pregnant. It seems like it would be difficult for her to eat Hokkaido specialties like sea urchin and crab. I thought about it for a moment and then guided her to Robatayaki, a place I often visited in my previous life.

“How did you find out about this place?”

Joohee looks around curiously. This place is surrounded by a lot of bamboo, so it is not visible from the outside. Robatayaki refers to a restaurant that serves meat or fish grilled on a traditional Japanese irrigation stove called Robata. The meaning changed when it came to Korea, and it is often used to mean a Japanese bar with a variety of side dishes, but in fact, it is not easy to find traditional Robatayaki in Japan.

“Preliminary investigation is essential.”

“It’s a magical place.”

A charcoal fire is burning in a fire pit in front of the kitchen counter. Around the charcoal, fish ordered by customers are skewered and stuck in the ground. It is similar to the image of going camping in the wilderness, lighting a campfire, and grilling fish on a stick.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It’s nice and simple.”

We sat down and ordered several grilled dishes. The seasoning was just salt. There was soy sauce and wasabi on the table for the guests to use to their liking. After a while, the menu started to come out.

“Kinki (red salmon)?”

Hongsalchi is one of Hokkaido’s most famous specialties. At first glance, it looks like a black rockfish, but this deep-sea fish is characterized by its oily flesh and rich flavor, and is often found on the menu in high-end restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore.

“Yeah. I came to see this. If you’re going to deal with Hokkaido specialties, I hope you include red snapper in the list.”

Joohee carefully spread the meat with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. I followed her and tasted it too.

“It’s really oily. It’s delicious.”

“It’s a little dry. When you dry fish, the proteins break down into amino acids. It’s also perfect for grilling. The meat is still moist.”

It tasted just like the one I had in the past.

“What’s different about these oysters? They taste amazing.”

Joohee tilts her head after eating the oysters that came with it.

“It’s smoked after drying. Then it’s grilled over charcoal. Dried seafood has a condensed flavor. It has a smoky flavor and a slightly cheesy taste as it ages, which makes it unique.”

There is no special secret to the cuisine here. They just use good ingredients, process them correctly, and take their time cooking them.

The owner saw that we were quickly emptying our plates and brought out fish cakes. Joohee and I each took a bite. The first taste we felt was the rich taste of white fish. It seemed like they mainly used sea bass, but we could also taste shrimp and other small fish. Various mushrooms and vegetables were mixed in here, and paprika powder was added for flavor.

“Wow! The fish cake is really delicious.”

Joohee gives a thumbs up, impressed by the taste of the fish cake.

“I think I came to the right store today.”

Next, they serve fried green onions, garlic, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Joohee’s appetite has increased a lot since she became pregnant. After we finished eating all the dishes, we left the restaurant.

And at 11:45 a.m. the next day, the largest earthquake in recorded history struck Japan.