As a Japanese student attending MSU, I have counted myself lucky that the local area contains many excellent Japanese food and sushi restaurants. As a result, I was disappointed by the content of your recent articles School of fish and Sushi showdown (SN 1/15).
I found it hard to understand the methodology used by your reviewers in “Sushi showdown.” The only criterion used to determine which restaurants to visit seemed to be that the menu featured a California roll and that the word “sushi” was in the location’s name.
Unfortunately, by these rules, the sushi section at your local Meijer could count as a sushi restaurant.
While the California roll is certainly popular and it is nice that it is so widely available, this is only one tiny aspect of the sushi experience. To limit your review to this item ignores the chief assets of many of the restaurants in the area: Large, diverse menus featuring a full range of rolls, sushi and sashimi, a decent selection of fresh, quality fish (not just imitation crab meat), and, of course, an actual sushi bar.
The reviews also focused on the service provided. I would like to point out that the reason a customer often finds a longer wait is the restaurant is actually popular because the food quality is high. It’s easy to provide a lot of personal attention when there are no other customers in the store. Also, the emphasis on distance from students seemed skewed toward students living on the west side of campus, ignoring the larger population of off-campus and east-side students. Also ignored were several other quality restaurants that are within reach of students, whether by foot, car or bus.
It seems these pieces were written with the belief that students at MSU are novices in the world of sushi. Personally, I think young Americans are becoming more and more culturally aware and look for more in a sushi restaurant than speedy service and a cheap California roll.
Because the reviews were formulated in these ways, I found them to be extremely misleading. While these are just State News writers’ opinions, the paper holds a large influence over the student and East Lansing populations. Some very fine restaurants have been unfairly maligned by the narrow focus and poorly defined goals in “Sushi showdown.” The State News should be more aware in the future of the effects of its work, and try to present information that is both factual and clear.
Ryuma Haga
human biology senior
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