"Aaaaah. Nihonjin dana . . . (Ahh, isn't this what being Japanese is all about?)"

That's my brother sighing with sheer, heartfelt delight as he digs into his bowl of "gohan (rice)" cooked by our mother. My mom, who has been reading one too many health-focused cookbooks lately, has ditched her super high-tech, turbo-powered "suihanki (rice cooker)" for the trendy "donabe (clay pot)." Claiming that her handcrafted gohan has never tasted better, she has taken to inviting us over for Sunday dinner. My brother, who 10 years ago would have scoffed at such an uncool gathering, now refuses to miss even one occasion. From the corner of my eye I watch his growing, intimate relationship with mom's rice. Really, the older Japanese guys get, the more they resort to Japanese cliches.

Foremost is the gohan obsession, followed by the "ofuro (bath)" obsession. Scratch the surface of a seemingly modern, completely Westernized Japanese guy (you know, the one who listens to Radiohead and mixes his own martinis), and you'll inevitably hear the clank of the shovel against the hard, metal surface of the "shin no Nipponjin (a genuine Japanese)" -- the one who believes in the twin virtues of well-cooked rice and a long soak in a hot tub.