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Short short with English summary                                    

                       

牛肉・豚肉・羊肉
先日、能登半島に往きました。　地元特産でこれぞ珍味とされる「くちこ（干くちこ）」をほんの少々賞味しました。　人によって、好き嫌いが激しそうな食品でしたが、大変、私の好みの、天下の美味でした。　これはお土産に絶好と思いましたが値段を聞いてまた仰天しました。　巾７ｃｍ・高さ１５ｃｍ・厚さ数ミリの三角形で一枚・７０００円也。　もっとも、この一枚には、「なまこ」の卵巣５０個、つまり雌なまこ５０匹、目方にして１５ｋｇを使うのだそうです。
「なまこの腸」は「このわた」で、これなら東京でも口に出来ますね。　ほんの一すすり分が器に入ってきます。　酒席に「なまこ」とか「このわた」が出ると、たいてい誰かが一言コメントします。・・・「最初になまこを食べた人は勇気があった。」・・・これには不賛成ですね。　大昔のひとは、とにかく何でも食べたと思います。　だから、世界の食文化として見渡せば、こんな昆虫・幼虫・動物・内蔵・諸器官と、豊かなメニューです。　豚を食べない・牛を食べない・犬を食べない・猫を食べない・鯨を食べない・海藻を食べない。　メクソハナクソです。　心の狭さ、視野の狭さ・独善・無知・排他性・閉鎖性、を証明するのに絶好のフィルター・踏み絵ですね。
「ラーマヤナ」・「孫悟空」・「さるかに合戦」、世界には、猿を身近にする人々が数多くいます。　猿の群れを観察すると、親子関係・ふざけ・脅し・喧嘩・ボスと子分、自分自身と、身の回りをつい見回して、赤面します。　しかし、世界には猿とは無関係な環境に住む人々も、意外に数多くいます。　猿を知らない人々の文化は、自己中心的で押しつけがましく、謙虚でなく、知性に欠ける。　これも、無知なたわごと？

Beef, pork or lamb
I made a short visit to Noto, 300km NW of Tokyo. “Kuchiko”, the ovary of the sea cucumber is a local delicacy, only known by real gourmets, Japanese gourmets.  I tried and loved it. But I don’t guarantee that all Japanese would like it.  If you can enjoy a cut of very strong Gorgonzola or Blue cheese, you should try it.   A thin triangular sheet of Kuchiko, 15 cm by 7 cm, is made from 50 ovaries, i.e. 50 female sea cucumbers, (15 kg). Its price:   70 us$.   The intestines of the sea cucumber called “Konowata” are also very delicious.  You can try the intestines and the body, the flesh, of sea cucumber, raw or marinated, at Japanese restaurants.  They are rather common.  The dried sea cucumbers have been exported to China for long time.  
There is a stereotyped comment when Japanese eat the sea cucumber: “The first man who ate it must have been very brave.”   But I don’t agree with this opinion.  Our ancestors must have eaten everything edible.  Therefore we have such rich menus today if you look around the world.   Insects, larvae, animals and their organs, we can meet unbelievable things at a table.   
There are some groups of people who state that one may not eat the pork, the beef, the dog, the cat, the whale or the seaweeds.   I don’t find any logic in their codes.  They are just in their own closed exclusive communities based on their narrow mind and ignorance.
Ramayana, Xiyou Ji. Even today, many people live with apes and monkeys in the world.   When we observe a group of monkeys, we can learn their patterns of life; how they take care of babies, how they play, threaten, quarrel and scuffle, and the boss and henchmen relationship. It is difficult not to associate them with my own behavior patterns.
But, in our world, there are quite large groups of people without any contact with apes or monkeys since simply they have never seen apes or monkeys in nature. The morals and attitudes of the people who have no contact with apes and monkeys are egocentric and are immodest. Is it ignorant rubbish?
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