A humble response to Tomo
I applaud Tomo's owner for his gracious response, and am sure Tomo will get over its initial growing pains.
A brief explanation is needed for readers.There have been a range of opinions over the descriptions I used when reviewing Tomo Sushi.Let me briefly explain how they came about.
1. People were angree that I wrote that it was a good thing I didn't say Konichiwa to the sushi chef, because he was probably Korean. This was not meant to be a judgement of Koreans, but a realization by me that it would be inappropriate to assume that a skilled sushi chef is Japanese, since Koreans (and Hawaiians for that matter) have been eating sushi for generations. I certainly meant no offense.
2. Many have said the sweatshop comment was an insensitive caricature of Koreans. I was inspired to make the comparison because as Mr. Lee toiled, with his eyes never lifting from his work, he was literally sweating. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was Korean. Indeed, as far as I know, sweat shops are not a Korean problem. They are an element of other, less developed Asian countries. I hope this illuminates where I was coming from. Believe me, you can't love food and hate other cultures. The two are one. I mean no offense and hope I can regain the trust of readers I offended.
A brief explanation is needed for readers.There have been a range of opinions over the descriptions I used when reviewing Tomo Sushi.Let me briefly explain how they came about.
1. People were angree that I wrote that it was a good thing I didn't say Konichiwa to the sushi chef, because he was probably Korean. This was not meant to be a judgement of Koreans, but a realization by me that it would be inappropriate to assume that a skilled sushi chef is Japanese, since Koreans (and Hawaiians for that matter) have been eating sushi for generations. I certainly meant no offense.
2. Many have said the sweatshop comment was an insensitive caricature of Koreans. I was inspired to make the comparison because as Mr. Lee toiled, with his eyes never lifting from his work, he was literally sweating. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was Korean. Indeed, as far as I know, sweat shops are not a Korean problem. They are an element of other, less developed Asian countries. I hope this illuminates where I was coming from. Believe me, you can't love food and hate other cultures. The two are one. I mean no offense and hope I can regain the trust of readers I offended.
posted by Nathaniel Glen at 10:29 AM
5 Comments:
Thank you for taking the time to explain the message you were trying to get across when you wrote those statements.
After speaking with Mr. Epstein, as I wrote in my e-mail to him, I don't belive that you were intentionally trying to say anything racially discriminating.
Rather a poor choice of words or analogy to convey the idea behind your message.
I am very sorry for such a bad experience.
No hard feelings and thank you for taking the time to respond.
There is a mistake to your explanation. The article didn't say that it was good that YOU didn't say konnichiwa because he was probably Korean.
Here is the sentence word for word as written;
"For all the attention He gave the fish, HE paid none to us. Not so much as a " konnichiwa," which is good, because I AM PRETTY SURE he is Korean.
I am dissappointed that you twisted what you had originally written.
Maybe, just a simple, "I didn't mean it the way it might have sounded." I will be more careful in choosing my words in the future, would of been much better.
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This is anything but "A humble response to Tomo". You should called it "An unapologetic response my editor made me wrote!"
Get over it people. Mr. Tomo has... why can't you? He's really the only one that matters.
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