Over the holidays we had friends visit from Japan. Among the culinary delights they brought with them were several types of miso paste impossible to find here in France. Actually, at the moment all miso paste found in the supermarkets here are from outside Japan (predominantly USA) due to the Fukushima nuclear accident. The French don't mess around when it comes to regulating food quality/safety. We just finished our guest's favorite variety of miso paste in a soup tonight when my wife noticed a promotional sticker on the lid of the container, reading: "Made with soybeans and rice from Fukushima prefecture." Bon Appetite! This kind of "promotional" sticker represents an aspect of Japan I really don't care for, the jingoistic, right-wing sentiment that you should all take a bullet for your country or, in this case, eat some radioactive miso... Ever since the Fukushima crisis people have been encouraged to eat products from the area which logic tells them are probably not safe; doing it for the sake of Japan (日本のために) is what's important. No thank you, I do remember how Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Gamera and the gang came into existence.
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