Tel Aviv – Israel Fears Sushi Shortage after Japan Quake

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    FileTel Aviv – While Japan continues to deal with the aftermath of last Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and has yet to recover from one of the greatest disasters in its history, Israelis fear a shortage in the ingredients of one of their favorite dishes: Sushi.

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    Many of sushi’s basic components come from Japan or are imported through the battered countries. Will Israelis soon suffer from a shortage of the beloved rolls’ necessary ingredients?

    “There may be a shortage of sushi components, but we are still studying the situation,” says Dudi Afriat of the Rakuto Kasei company, which imports the Kikkoman soy sauce, as well as seaweeds, wasabi, rice and other necessary ingredients for sushi rolls.

    Rakuto Kasei is the main supplier of raw materials for sushi to all restaurants in Israel, and markets products to supermarkets as well.

    “We’ll be wiser once the situation in Japan stabilizes and the reconstruction begins,” he explains. “I assume we’ll know if there is going to be a shortage in the coming week. The main fear is of a shortage of the Kikkoman soy sauce. One Kikkoman factory in Japan was damaged and there have been delays in the supply, but we hope it won’t stop the regular chain of supply.”

    Kikkoman has five factories around the world – in the United States, Hong Kong, Holland, Singapore and Japan. “Most of the containers arrive in Israel from the US, but the entire management is in Japan,” Afriat explains.

    “At the moment, it’s very difficult communicating with them. There are a lot of disruptions. Yesterday I spoke with our contact in Japan, and he said it took him 10 hours to get to the office from home.

    “So at the moment the situation is unclear, and it all depends on the Japanese. I trust them, because they love the soy sauce more than we do. My only fear is that they’ll have to import Kikkoman from the US, and that will affect the imports to Israel.”

    Israelis love sushi, and a shortage of some of its ingredients may have an effect on many restaurants. “The Japanese food unit in Israel has grown by some 800% in the past five or six years,” says Afriat. “Five years ago, there were up to 20 sushi restaurants in Tel Aviv. Today there are more than 130. A survey we conducted recently revealed that sushi is the No. 2 take away food in Israel.”

    Full article at Ynet News


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    19 Comments
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    13 years ago

    This article must be a Purim shpiel. If not, it shows extreme selfishness and uncaring for others in the midst of a major human tragedy. If Yidden want the nations of the world to have sympathy for us, then we must show sympathy for them.

    Normal
    Normal
    13 years ago

    Please tell me it’s a joke. I remember in the 60’s my relatives talking about how hard WW2 was for them in Australia, as the tea was rationed.

    Keep it to yourself if you can’t live without sushi. There are millions of people without food and water.

    The-Macher
    The-Macher
    13 years ago

    These are not Yidden except in name. They are the deracinated “new Jews” of the post-zionist era, who care only about their next sushi roll. They don’t care about what happened in Itamar either.

    13 years ago

    The people quoted are those whose livelihood is from selling supplies for sushi and sushi itself. For them it is a huge concern, they have lost their livelihood. Is that not a legitimate cause for concern?

    bennym
    bennym
    13 years ago

    Don’t blame the Israelis, blame this dumb reporter of this leftist rag paper Ynet. The way this article was written displays a real lack of compassion by the ‘writer’. There is no evidence that Israeli public as a whole share these sentiments.

    DavidMoshe
    Active Member
    DavidMoshe
    13 years ago

    I can’t believe this article. Earthquake, tsunami, volcano, nuclear melt-down, ten thousand dead, bodies washing up on shore, and we’re upset about…. what?!

    shimonyehuda
    shimonyehuda
    13 years ago

    let them eat herring instead

    basmelech
    basmelech
    13 years ago

    That’s really bad news! That’s the worst thing that happened because of the earthquake! I can’t believe people think of sushi at a time like this.

    Member
    13 years ago

    It would be nice if they named names because I personally was not the least bit worried that my tummy would suffer after this earthquake and any person who really voices such a concern is like an owl that flys into a Nazi Death Camp, looks around and then leaves to look for real worm instead of the worms it might find in say Auschwitz. That is just horrible that any Jew could even think to write such an article. but perhaps they could have just informed us that Sushi supplies would be restricted and that it would be a change from the earthquake. Not that the supposed entire jewish nation has no consciousness and just wants yellow fin tuna and salmon. Thanks.

    Sahar
    Sahar
    13 years ago

    Well if this article is actually serious then it’s sad =( …but I really doubt that it’s serious, most probably someone trying to make Israel look bad. I’m not Israeli or Jewish or anything so I’m not biased. I’m actually Muslim, but I’ve been in some seriously similar situations and I know how drama is created. Looking at it neutrally, the writer is just a person being pathetic. I doubt the average Israeli would have this opinion. Anyhow, may God be with those suffering in Japan.