Ever seen a sign that says “No Double-Dipping”?
These days you don’t see them as much, but you used to find them in the立ち食い (tachigui – standing eat) kushiage (deep-fried skewer) shops in the old downtown areas of Osaka. You’d be chugging down cheap booze like “Poppy” or “Bakudan” while watching piping hot skewers get fried right in front of you. Then, you’d dunk the whole skewer into a shallow, enamel bowl of watery Worcestershire sauce and devour it in one go. I hear this is the original Osaka-style kushiage culture. The “no double-dipping” rule means you absolutely cannot dip a skewer back into the sauce once it’s touched your mouth.
Of course, there’s a huge variety of kushiage ingredients. I’m a big fan of this kind of place, so whenever I went to Osaka on business in the old days, I’d often soak in this atmosphere by myself. These kushiage joints always have a pile of shredded cabbage for all you can eat, but it’s funny – there are hardly any soft leaves, mostly just the hard core and the bits around it. And it’s surprisingly good! You take a big bite of a sauce-covered skewer and immediately follow it with a crunchy mouthful of cabbage. That textural contrast is just so satisfying. But seriously, where do all the soft cabbage leaves disappear to?
I’ve been going to Osaka quite a bit for the past five or six years. Sometimes it’s because I’m invited to be on the Osaka “City of Light Development Committee,” but mostly it’s because I want to call myself the Osaka Lighting Detective and occasionally go nightscape watching in the uniquely Osakan streets. Osaka’s nights are truly interesting. And among all that fascinating stuff, the area around Tsutenkaku, with its many “no double-dipping” kushiage restaurants, stands out as particularly quirky.
Every single kushiage place is brightly lit with fluorescent lights – none of that mellow atmosphere you find in Tokyo’s yakitori (grilled chicken skewer) restaurants. Apparently, kushiage isn’t something you savor in a dimly lit setting. Some places have counters to sit at, not just standing areas. If you peek inside, you’ll see people happily munching away while laughing loudly and talking at the top of their lungs. They don’t seem to have any time to worry about the interior lighting… In fact, while some places used warm white fluorescent lamps, the vast majority use stark white ones.
So, I wonder if lighting design is even useful for such thriving businesses? Will I ever get the chance to design the lighting for a kushiage restaurant? Do the people of Osaka even want new lighting effects in their kushiage joints? It’s hard to say for sure. Maybe it’s just not needed.
Perhaps it goes beyond the theory that a nice atmosphere makes a place popular. Or maybe the “nice atmosphere” that’s required in an Osaka kushiage restaurant is a world that doesn’t need the skills of a lighting designer. Just like how a lighting designer’s know-how is unnecessary for a drugstore that boasts double the illuminance of a convenience store, there are plenty of excellent environments around us that don’t need any fancy lighting design. Let’s just leave it at that.
