The Mechanics of Seeing

As a birthday present to myself I ordered a photobook, Pirelli Calendar Classics. A nice hardcover filled with “over a hundred provocative images.” As far as ten dollars go, it’s about the best I ever spent.

Of course the book is very conceptual, very high brow. A few selects from each calendar year with a pithy quote about the art direction. Fascinating to watch standards of beauty and taste change throughout the years as moderated by a corporate board. It’s held my attention longer than my book of advanced kanji. Made me laugh to think of these old continental tycoons, bored with tires, beginning to dabble in the finer things. Michelin made the guide to restaurants and Pirelli shot naked women on the beach. You make some money selling tires and the next thing you know you’re dropping your son off at Bard. Hey son, let me borrow that point-and-shoot.

There was a great quote by Derek Forsyth, who produced the calendar for years: “The intention was that the Calendar would not look out of place on the garage wall, and that, after a month of tea breaks, an interested mechanic might reflect on the mechanics of seeing.”

That which was a tire business has become a brand, and the board of directors demands branded jackets, t-shirts, and a box at the San Siro. For years I avoided merch, which I regarded as a dirty business. I’d rather be ordering fish, which is filthy too but in a familiar way. At 38, I have become that interested mechanic. Time for the t-shirt. Time to sell out.

The restaurant has always brought us exactly what we needed at exactly the right time.

Chatting about a possible shirt, Cameron put down his hamachi temaki at the counter and mentioned he had all the gear for a printing business sitting in a storage unit in St Louis.

Shall we then?

The inspiration for the shirt was also screaming our name. When I visited Japan having just moved to Santa Fe, I scratched my head when someone asked where I was coming from. What should I say? Los Angeles would be the safest white lie as it was sure to land. But I told the truth and queued up Google Maps, prepared to show them where that was in the world.

“Eeeee Santa Fe subarashii!!!!” (Wonderful).

It happened again and again. How do all these people know about Santa Fe? Shit, I didn’t know about it until a few years ago.

My cousin solved the mystery one night at a teppanyaki bar in Asakusa. The tux wearing waiter stood at attention refilling my cup of sake every time I took a sip.

“When you told me you moved to Santa Fe, I am imagining you are with Rie Miyazawa.”

I looked up who that was on my phone under the table. And there she was, topless and touching a cholla cactus. Couple sips. She must not know about the mini spikes that lurk beneath the bigger ones. One of her naked against an adobe wall. What a charming place.

As I would later find out, the book single-handedly put Santa Fe on the map for a few generations of Japanese. Go ahead and tell an old guy in Shimokitazawa you live in Santa Fe. He’ll be like, “Hell yeah, dude.”

The senbei are at sea. Snuck out of Tokyo bay just before the reciprocal tariffs hit. We have stretched a cord from here to the rice fields of Niigata, just as Kishin Shinoyama connected Tokyo to Santa Fe with his shoot. Rie-chan on the Ozu shirt is a wink and a nod to the days of the Bubble, when Takanohana was champ and the yen was strong. We are writing a new chapter in the old book. Long live 1991. Hope to see you for dinner tonight and stay tuned for the t-shirt launch next week.

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temaki
choice of blue crab, maguro, kanpachi namerou, or ikura

sesame miso bagna fredda
local raw vegetables with an umami-rich anchovy dip

hiyashi salad
local lettuces, radish, cucumber, sesame ginger dressing

mapo nasu
steamed eggplant topped with spicy beef, pork, & tofu

kanpachi namerou
tartare of raw kanpachi*, white miso, ginger, shiso, over rice

smoked salmon blini
3 buckwheat pancakes topped with crème fraîche, house-smoked salmon, & salmon roe

scallop ceviche
raw sea scallops, sudachi, ikura, aonori

hamachi bento
raw yellowtail over sushi rice with hiyashi salad, pickles

seared scallop bento
seared sea scallops over Japanese rice, hiyashi salad & pickles

maguro bento
raw bluefin tuna over sushi rice with hiyashi salad, pickles

chirashi
raw hamachi, tuna, scallop, shima aji, kanpachi, tai, ikura over sushi rice*

basque cheesecake
sesame miso cookie