Saving the Serpentine Soup of Ryukyu

Where We Call Home.

Kudaka - a small island east of Okinawa.

It's here that a unique bounty from the ocean has been caught for centuries.

A venomous sea snake the locals call "irabu."

It was once served as a delicacy in the royal court of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

It's heavy.

Wishing to protect the rich food traditions of his adoptive Okinawa is US-born Alex Hopson.

The process is very meticulous and it's very difficult.

And it's part of what makes preserving this part of the culture and stuff worth it.

At a small restaurant specializing in irabu cooking, Alex and his family work hand-in-hand to preserve the local culinary culture.

The village of Kitanakagusuku in the central region of Okinawa's main island is a quiet community.

Alex takes his dog for a walk every morning.

It's small village life.

It's really comfortable, and it's...

Although I'm an American, it feels like home.

Kana specializes in cooking irabu sea snake.

Wishing to preserve this unique Okinawan food culture, Gaja Fujiko and her husband Mojun founded their eatery in 1981.

Supporting Fujiko now are her daughter Izumi and son-in-law Alex.

Their small restaurant is, and has always been, a family business.

Monday marks the start of a week of work.

- Alex!
- Yes.

Bring me the cutter.

Thanks.

Smoked sea snake - the main ingredient of irabu soup.

Mustn't waste the fat!

Irabu is a precious ingredient.

She lets none of it go to waste.

While Izumi is cooking the sea snake...

...Alex is totally immersed in giving the lawn a long-deserved trimming.

After he's done, his next labor awaits.

- Alex, your turn!
- Yes.

Removing the snakes' bones is a painstaking task that always gives Alex a hard time.

Being an American with large hands, it took a long time to try to master.

Preparing irabu soup requires a lot of time.

For that reason, the restaurant only opens on Fridays and Saturdays.

Alex doesn't only help the family business.

This is my normal, after-restaurant wear for my job.

He's also a legal advisor for a New-York-based firm.

He provides consulting for contract agreements between airline companies and airports.

I'm usually on the computer from the head up, so nothing ever shows down, so...

And I'm usually tired, it's usually 4 a.m., and it's hot on the island, so this is how I usually dress.

Once a month, he stays up late into the night to attend an online meeting with his colleagues in the US.

As his father was in the military, Alex lived from the age of five through high school in a US base housing facility in Okinawa.

Later on, he visited Okinawa several times.

While he was a university student, he met Izumi.

It was love at first sight.

For two years, I refused to go on a date.

With all the news back then,
I was reluctant.

At the time, an incident in which American servicemen assaulted a young Okinawan girl sparked the locals' anger.

Alex witnessed the harsh reality of the tension between the citizens of Okinawa and US military bases.

What I remember the most is they had like a 'hands-around' the base, and...

But that was the first time I think I really noticed how big the movement was, and the feeling of, you know, the kind of anti-base sentiment.

Alex and Izumi's marriage was frowned upon by many around them.

But, always understanding and supporting them was Izumi's mother Fujiko.

'It's your life.' 'Your dad and I'll handle the relatives.
Go where your heart tells you,' I said.

The two lead a happy newlywed life in New York, but Izumi's heart began to long for Okinawa.

She worried that if she didn't take over her mother's restaurant, the tradition of irabu cooking would disappear.

It was Alex who gave her the push she needed to make her decision.

This place might close.

And I said to her, 'It's more important for you to do this business than to be my housewife in America.' Today, very few restaurants still serve irabu soup.

Alex wants this Okinawan tradition to live on.

Irabu, or the black-banded sea krait in English, is mainly caught on Kudaka Island, about a fifteen-minute boat ride east of Okinawa's main island.

Kudaka is only seven kilometers in circumference.

According to Okinawan folklore, east of the islands far beyond the ocean is Nirai Kanai - the land of the Gods.

Kudaka is a blessed island, said to have been visited by a goddess from that mythical realm.

In the 15th century, Okinawa was a kingdom called Ryukyu.

The royal court granted special permission to the people of Kudaka to catch irabu in order to serve it to the nobility.

The sea snake is caught from early summer to the end of the year.

Itokazu Katsuji is an expert at catching irabu.

Born and raised on Kudaka, he took over the trade from his cousin five years ago to help preserve the tradition.

We wait until dark.

Irabu are a gift from the Gods.

And thus, the place where they're caught must remain secret.

As the snakes are nocturnal, Itokazu gets to work after nightfall.

Females hide in the cracks of rocks to lay their eggs.

He seeks them out with his flashlight.

He catches the snakes by hand, as it has always been done.

Not very big.

Average size.

It mustn't fade away.
I must pass on this tradition.

I want it to go on.

However, there is no one to take over.

Itokazu doesn't want the island's tradition to end.

He sees it as his duty to keep it going.

Tonight's catch: fourteen snakes.

When a total of 180 are caught, the islanders begin the smoking - a process that's considered sacred.

No camera is allowed in the smoking shed.

A week later, the irabu are ready.

Alex sees his mother-in-law Fujiko as someone irreplaceable who's devoted her life to protecting this Okinawan tradition.

Snapping off the root ends of bean sprouts is a tedious task.

Alex didn't quite understand the purpose of it, until Fujiko told him it was in consideration for the people who will eat them.

In both cooking and tradition, Alex must put his heart into it.

Look, Fujiko.

Well done!

If I didn't come to understand how they view taste and how they value in the meticulous process of tasting it, I'd probably still not understand it.

Alex has his own personal reason to value tradition.

From atop a hill he sometimes visits, he can see the base housing where he once lived.

That little house on the other side of the trees, you can just see the roof: that's where I lived growing up.

The view reminds him of his own family's history.

It's the history of African Americans who built a life for themselves from scratch.

Raised on a farm, his grandfather worked his way through school and became one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen - the first group of African American Air Force pilots.

His father worked as a lawyer for the military and went on to become a judge.

Alex too graduated law school and is now a legal advisor.

The family worked hard to earn their standing in society.

However, they're unable to retrace their history any further.

The thought of this lost heritage weighs heavy on Alex's mind.

We can trace our roots back a few generations but that's it!

But it leaves the question, 'Where did I come from?' You know.

What is my culture or my ancestral culture and background?

And so, Alex wholeheartedly understands and shares Fujiko's wish to keep Okinawa's culture alive.

I would hate to see it disappear as so many other cultures have, or get so diluted that it's unrecognizable.

I'm so willing to assist in the preservation of Okinawan culture.

The morning before opening is always a hectic time in the kitchen.

The Okinawan-style rice, cooked by Alex, is ready.

Another menu item he's in charge of is "duru ten" - deep-fried pureed potatoes.

He used to say his hands were too big
to prepare something so small.

But he's gotten really good at it.

Fujiko, it's your turn.

There you go.

They make a pretty good team.

Sauteed vegetables with plenty of the bean sprouts Alex carefully prepared.

Not bad.

Only Alex can do this.

I let him take over.

Words of praise that reach Alex's heart.

Fujiko, take a break.

You need to rest.

Come on, have a seat!

Just pressing his hand on my shoulder
or back eases my fatigue.

And of course, the irabu soup, prepared over four days since Monday.

Izumi repeatedly checks and adjusts the taste.

Good.

The first course of the meal is a bit of invigorating broth from the irabu soup.

Bon appétit.

Tasty.

And thus begins a parade of delicious dishes from Okinawa's culinary traditions.

The main course, is the irabu sea snake soup served with a well-simmered pig's foot.

- Is this your first irabu?
- It is.

- It's like meat.
- Something between meat and fish.

The customers' smiles make all the hard work worthwhile.

Izumi warmly watches over her husband's work.

I give him a score of 120%.
Gotta praise him a bit.

To encourage him.

There's no one else like Alex.

The best partner ever.

To Fujiko, Alex is like a son.

Thank you.

With Kana, as long as she and my wife and everyone is willing to keep it open, I'm willing to help.

It's a labor of love.

I think when I was young, I said I wanted to work in the big city and work for big companies, and stuff like that.

And I did.

And then, as I got older, other things are more important.

I found, at least for me, I'm much more happy with kind of a smaller, quieter existence.

Every day, he cherishes his family and the cultural heritage he now shares with them.

Alex has indeed found a small and quiet happiness.

Hello, I'm Benjamin Stringer and I teach piano and English here in beautiful Hiroshima City.

Hiroshima is an international city that's
home to around 52,000 non-Japanese.

11:45 a.m.
Off to work.

Benjamin works at
an English language school.

He teaches not only English,
but also the piano.

Hello!

Hello!

Welcome.

Benjamin teaches around fifty students.

To help them improve their English,
he never speaks Japanese.

And, what's this?

This sign's tre corde.

Yes. What does it mean?

Yeah, 'remove the pedal.' Good.

You've got it.

The student's really enjoying the lesson.

When they're playing the piano, they're taking lessons in English.

They're using English to study music, and I think it reinforces it for them.

Anyone interested in English and piano
can learn both at the same time. It's fun.

You told me, 'Respect the composer.' Sometimes I think you can do more.

So, I'm giving you pressure.

Benjamin studied the piano in grad school
in his home state of Texas.

Actually, in graduate school, I had a lot of classmates who were from different countries, oftentimes not native English speakers.

And they would bring written assignments to me and say, 'Could you check my English?' Could you double-check my grammar?

And it made me start to think that, you know, this is something I could do.

I could combine English and music.

Fascinated by Japan and its history,
he moved here in 2018.

With the dream of teaching the piano,
he started to work at this English school.

What was your name again?

- I know.
- This is Akira Katakami.

He's my employer here.

And we've been working together about three years.

Akira's a very innovative person.

So, he wanted to teach piano and also, he is okay to teach English.

That's really helpful for the... developing business.

So, it's very good for us.

So, he bought the piano, and we started from that.

I would do anything to return to teaching piano now, and I found a way for that to happen.

So, I'm so happy.

So, from now, the thing I want you to do is to be a manager of the school because we have some new employees who need to be some training.

Wow, thank you so much! I'm honored.

I would shake your hand but there's coronavirus, so...

- We're in COVID.
- We can't.

So, I'll just...

- That's very Japanese.
- Yeah.

During the pandemic, Benjamin
began to teach online lessons.

- Hello.
- Hello.

Now he teaches students not only
in Hiroshima, but all over Japan.

My name is Hinagi, and I'm eight years old.

I live in Yamanashi Prefecture.

He changes the camera's angle
to better teach the piano.

The thumb can go under the fingers like that and move a lot.

Could you play just left hand going down and here please move this one.

Lots of moving. Like that.

This note should connect to this note.

Can you play these two notes, please?

We record all of our online lessons.

After the lesson is over, we'll send the whole file to the student, and the student can use that to review.

I want to be, like, a piano... like, a piano... professional.

My treasure in my work is listening to my students both when it comes to their English and when it comes to their music.

That's also the most enjoyable part.

I think it's hearing the students improve over time, for my younger students, I like to think about the things they'll be doing in 10 or 20 years.

Music and English can open up all sorts of opportunities for them.

In the future, they might want to study abroad, or they might want to work in another country and if they have an English and music background, that can really help them.