Becoming Yamazushi

(upbeat music) - [G Yamazawa] My name is G Yamazawa.

I'm a poet, an MC, and a storyteller.

(upbeat music) But where does a story really begin?

And does it ever really end?

My parents have been running a Japanese restaurant in Durham, North Carolina for the past 37 years.

Most people think restaurants are only about eating.

For us, it was breathing.

And sometimes it take a lifetime to find meaning.

♪ (hip hop music) ♪ - That feeling of being invisible is very valid and real.

And I think 35 years ago in Durham is a different place.

- [Commentator] We're in Durham, North Carolina, the heart of the ACC, and tonight, number two North Carolina faces the Blue Devils.

(upbeat music) - The beauty of the story is that everything is always related to Yamazushi.

There has never been a moment in my consciousness where Yamazushi has not been a part of, like, major decision making, the ebbs and flows of just life.

(chainsaw buzzing) - [G Yamazawa] As a child, I was never allowed to waste even a grain of rice.

'Cause in our food is our culture and the properties of life.

- One way.

- I think I really appreciate his, you know, the whole, like, beat of your own drum.

And I love that he doesn't care what other people think.

- His white blood cell count was out of whack.

Results came back off, and then we figured out that he, yeah, that he had cancer, and he was gonna have to do a lot of things to fix it.

(machine beeping) (speaker beeping) (engine coughing) (machine beeping) - [G Yamazawa] Eastern medicine stresses the importance of the patient's role in curing their own illness, and that there are 3,000 realms in a single moment of stillness.

(gentle music) - Most difficult part about working there was I think kind of like the problematic part of the whole restaurant business.

Like, of you providing a service and being treated poorly.

So because I'm paying you, you'll essentially need to comply.

Then you add insult to injury and have folks that may not appreciate just the cultural piece of Yamazushi and then, you know, having to watch that.

And early on, I knew I didn't wanna be in the service industry in that sense.

That if I'm gonna get paid to do something, there's equal responsibilities and boundaries that both people need to be aware of.

So you don't get to treat me like this because you're paying me.

- [G Yamazawa] Around 2012, as my father regained his health, my mother began the process of revealing their authentic self.

Started running the first traditional kaiseki restaurant in the American South in an effort to shed the shallow and seek the profound.

(soft reflective music) (upbeat music) - They only accept emails, so I just emailed Mayumi-san.

Started to search Japanese restaurant who can speak Japanese.

Most of Japanese restaurants, they cannot speak Japanese.

Before I work here, another restaurant, they focus on the benefit/profit.

Profit number one.

But here, they focus on customer.

♪ (Hip hop music) ♪ - [Mitzy] People thought we are really crazy here.

(upbeat music) (phone buzzing) - [Greg] Look, I said it's not new.

It's new here.

Or it was new here in 2012.

I gave him all the stars I had to give.

And for your reference, I think I gave five stars to a total of five, maybe six restaurants over the course of 25 years.

They're really special people to have persevered like that.

If I were in their shoes, I would've thrown in the towel.

I would've said, "Forget this BOGO crap."

- I just think Americans, I mean, I'm guilty of it.

I think we all kind of share this like, joint narrative of just what's in it for me.

It's all about me.

And I think Yamazushi just really flips a lot of the dining experience on its head.

And really it's like you're gonna do your homework, and these are the things that you will come prepared to do.

You will be quiet.

You will not be an (beep).

You will be, you know, open to a new experience.

- [G Yamazawa] These days, my folks serve eight guests per night, two nights a week.

The word "omotenashi" is the deep-rooted spirit of Japanese hospitality.

There is no direct equivalent in the English language, so it can only be understood through personal experience.

And isn't that how all culture is translated?

(gentle upbeat music) - It's not only about eating.

Yamazushi is not only represent Japanese culture, but also represent another different kind of art.

Time, space, quietness, taste, visual.

Yeah, all together.

This is Yamazushi.

(otherworldly synth music) - [G Yamazawa] I believe the greatest heirloom that can be inherited is philosophy.

I was taught to do my work carefully, properly.

What does it mean to be oneself openly, honestly?

Pops said the definition of an artist is someone who's not a stereotype.

How many lives get lived throughout one life?

Ma said a good artist is a good human being, someone with a reason to sing beyond being heard.

My breath, body, and word all came from them.

Got my name from them, but this is as if I was never ashamed of them for not being able to love me in English.

You know the genius thing y'all did was y'all never gave up.

You promised that purpose is worth more than profit.

You finally tell it proper.

Let the world watch it.

This bond is doctrine.

These palms been rocking.

This garment, not a costume.

This bow is our consciousness.

You know, all stories never end.

They just begin and begin and begin.

(upbeat saxophone music) (air whooshes) ♪ (Hip hop music) ♪ (upbeat hip-hop music) (upbeat hip-hop music continues)