Sukiyaki 鋤焼

choi

Pete Wells, Where Sukiyaki and Kimonos Are Still in Fashion; Since 1963, Restaurant Nippon has followed the Japanese way. New York Times, July 5, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/ ... -nippon-review.html

Note:
(a) "sukiyaki 鋤焼 [= 火锅 in Chinese] * * * Restaurant Nippon (The store sign in English only, but its website does have 日本, which can be pronounced as Nihon or Nippon in Japanese] on East 52nd Street. There it was: the onions, shiitake caps, bok choi stems, tofu blocks and the frizzy mop of noodles * * * The restaurant opened in August 1963 * * * and has offered sukiyaki since the beginning. That summer radios across the country were playing 'Sukiyaki,' Kyu Sakamoto's oblique protest song that sounded like a love song but was, in the United States, renamed after beef stew [to Americans sukiyaki means beef stew; the Chinese term 'hot pot' was not introduced to Americans yet] for the simple reason that it [sukiyaki] was one of the few Japanese words almost all Americans knew. The dish was that popular."

frizzy (adj): "formed of a mass of small, tight curls or tufts"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/frizzy
(b)
(i) Kyū SAKAMOTO 坂本 九 (1941 – 1985; died when the Japan Airlines' Boeing 747SR, experiencing sudden decompression in the air due to faulty repair, crashed into a mountain, killing 520 with 4 survived)  en.wikipedia.org for him.
(ii) Sukiyaki (song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki_(song)
(Japanese title: 上を向いて歩こう meaning I Look Up As I Walk; "lyricist Rokusuke EI 永 六輔 wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting against a continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts")

Both "roku" and "ei" (a long vowel of e, just like the second syllable of sensei 先生 meaning teacher) are Chinese pronunciations for respective kanji.

(c) "For modern New Yorkers who chase Japanese thrills at Shuko, Uchū 宇宙, Tetsu [no Japanese name for Shuko or Tetsu] and other restaurants that look and act like cocktail bars, Restaurant Nippon might seem anachronistic * * * The restaurant is designed in the shoin style of a traditional Japanese house. Surrounding a main dining room with Western tables and chairs are the private zashiki rooms where shoes are left outside, floors are hidden under tatami mats and servers materialize at the sliding doors with the push of a button. Many details, like the wallpaper that evokes the opulently stylized folding screens painted by Ogata Korin, are lovely. A few, like the drop ceilings, could use attention."
(i) shoin-zukuri  書院造
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoin-zukuri
("forms the basis of today's traditional-style Japanese house. Characteristics of the shoin-zukuri development were the incorporation of square posts and floors completely covered with tatami. The style takes its name from the shoin")
(ii) Japanese-English dictionary:
* zashiki 座敷【ざしき】 (n): "tatami room"
* su 酢(P); 醋; 酸 【す】 (n):  "vinegar"
* 鴨鍋 【かもなべ】 (n): "dish of duck meat cooked with cabbage, spring onions, tofu, etc"  (The "kamo" is Japanese pronunciation of 鴨.)
(iii) folding screen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_screen
(photos)
(iv) OGATA Kōrin 尾形 光琳
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogata_K%C5%8Drin
(1658 – 1716; folding screens)
(v) Drop ceiling is 天花板 in Taiwan. An example of drop ceiling is
https://ceiling.paperhatco.com/w ... iling-Ideas-DIY.jpg

(d) "Tora fugu, the potentially toxic tiger puffer fish, made its first regular appearance outside Japan at Nippon in 1989, when the owner, Noboyushi KURAOKA 倉岡 伸欣, finally prevailed in his yearslong campaign lobbying the Japanese and American governments to allow importation of the fish. Mr Kuraoka died in January; now the restaurant is in the hands of Yasuhiro MAKOSHI 馬越 恭弘, the manager for more than 40 years, and Akira Azuma, who has been the chef for almost that long, and it probably remains the best place in town to try fugu.  As sashimi, fanned out in transparently thin slices, it is lean and very firm, like fluke [比目魚in Taiwan] but slightly richer. * * * The least expensive serving, what is called a “half portion” for $70, is just big enough to give four people a couple of bites each. If I were going to spend money on fugu again, though, I would make a beeline for the sperm sacs, or shirako 白子. Barely broiled, either plain with salt crystals or brushed with a miso glaze, Nippon's shirako is as smooth and thick as fudge, with a flavor that recalls buttered crab meat"
(i) fugu  河豚
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu
(The torafugu, or tiger blowfish (Takifugu rubripes), is the most prestigious edible species and the most poisonous)
(ii) The "tora" is Japanese pronunciation for kanji 虎.

(e) "Restaurant Nippon's soba noodles are nutty, bouncy, springy, slightly rough and very good. I like them chilled, dunked in ponzu."
(i) ponzu  ポン酢
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu
(ii) For 酢 in dictionary, see (c)(ii) above.

(f) "The kamonabe is a duck hot pot cooked over a burner set on the table."

See (c)(ii) for definition.