The Most Delicious Import that New York Has Ever Seen

 Move on over Nathan's, Japan is taking over.

Meet the Terimayo. It ain’t your average hotdog. On top of an otherwise typical frankfurter is piled teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and seaweed flakes. It sounds crazy, right? But just prepare yourself, because the end result is something like a symphony for the taste buds:  salty, sweet, creamy, and savory, all existing harmoniously. It's unlike anything you've ever had before, but somehow it feels so right.

This crazy concoction is just one of 22 signature creations by the owners of JAPADOG, a Vancouver-based street-vendor-turned-restaurant. What started out in 2005 as one Japanese couple and their food cart has now expanded to five Vancouver locations and one in NYC. In just seven years, the chain has seen amazing growth. So what's their secret?

The genius of JAPADOG is its flawless combination of two distinctly different cuisines. With one glance at their menu, it’s easy to see the cultural melting pot at work. Their specialty dogs incorporate traditional Japanese elements.  The list of intriguing toppings includes teriyaki, seaweed, miso, noodles, and sesame seeds.  For the meat portion, customers can choose from a regular all-beef hotdog, countless types of turkey and pork sausages, and two vegetarian options. And if you want to add a little kick to your lunch, you can pick up a side of spicy wasabi fries. The meal that results from all of these unique offerings is one that truly blurs the lines between what is Japanese and what is American.

But the culinary influence doesn’t just stop there. With their offering of bratwurst and fried sauerkraut, there’s even a play on German cuisine.  Keeping that in mind, who knows what other cultures have contributed indirectly to the JAPADOG? Human history, and especially that of culinary traditions, is often marked by the exchange of ideas. As the modern world increases international trade, the process is sped up like never before. JAPADOG embodies this concept of globalization by becoming something that transcends the traditional boundaries of the nation-state. The interaction of different cultures forms new hybrid identities. The hotdogs could even be a metaphor for the lives of their creators, who moved to Vancouver from Japan to pursue their entrepreneurial dream. Perhaps they symbolize how as immigrants, the couple was forced to mesh their sense of being Japanese with their new lives in Canada.

Although their menu items may be unique, the cross-cultural idea behind JAPADOG is not. Just walking the streets of New York, you can see hundreds of street vendors and restaurants serving international cuisines. The options are endless- Thai, Ethiopian, Spanish, Argentinean, and Italian eateries could all be found on the same block. It’s even rumored that there are more French restaurants in New York than there are in Paris, (thanks to a certain Snapple fact). Just as we export “America” through the likes of McDonalds and other fast food joints, we also draw in an enormous wealth in foreign culture through their cuisines.

I see this vast culinary diversity as a reminder that we no longer belong to one city or country. In many ways, mankind is turning into a single, although still multicultural, global entity. The great thing about food is that it can act as a scientific indicator of this process. Through cuisine, we trace interactions between different regions of the world, and we can catch a glimmer of the far-reaching affects of globalization.

So next time you're over on St. Marks Place, drop in to JAPADOG. It'll be like taking a trip to Japan while keeping one foot in New York. 

Power to the People

Many Americans have a picture in their mind of what home schooling is. In the past it has been a huge burden on parents if they chose to stay home and guide their child's individualized learning. It also could be difficult to find the right textbooks at a local bookstore or know where to order them through catalogues. In today’s time, home schooling is incredibly better because the internet provides an endless font of benefits. Now, online courses take the weights off of parents teaching. Nooks and other e-readers cut textbooks costs in half and make buying them as easy as a swipe of your finger. And for the critics who say that the students miss out on human interaction, there is even the option for tutoring via Skype. Home schooling is now an easier method for families than it was ever before.

To start off- what exactly is it like to take online courses? I looked up the high school level program in the Keystone School online to find out. Like any traditional school, there is a curriculum and a set of requirements for graduation that emphasize math, science, social studies, and English. 

Delving a little further into the courses themselves, I found incredibly detailed outlines of what the workloads would be like. It surprised me to see that there are even lab sciences offered, many of which can be done with simple materials found at home and others for which they provide a lab kit with the cost of the course. It’s plain to see that in terms of designing a syllabus, parents no longer have to worry. Online courses are now a full-fledged industry with professionals collaborating to produce expert course designs and curriculums. In fact, parents no longer need to even be present for home-schooling, which maybe could free them up to bring in another source of income. (They’ll probably need one, with most courses priced at hundreds of dollars)

Then comes the next 21^st century blessing: e-books. This trendy technology can actually be a huge benefit to your wallet. As I recently found out at the NYU Bookstore, textbooks ain’t cheap. I can’t imagine having to spend thousands of dollars on books alone throughout high school or middle school. Not only is the content from textbooks now more accessible, but also cheaper than traditional hardcovers or paperbacks. Just browse the etextbooks section of Barnes and Noble’s website for proof:

Some of these digital volumes are up to three times cheaper than buying the physical tome. Options to rent them are even better, and there’s no worrying about if the book gets damaged. Although the starting price for a Nook is about $99, when you could save on average $50 per large textbook the extra cost soon pays for itself.

A major question about home schooling via the internet is if the student will miss out by not having the physical presence of a teacher to instruct them, which I find to be a valid concern. But in yet another of the many examples of cultural convergence, tutors now have the option to operate through videochatting. Programs like those offered through Sylvan Learning Center focus on the importance of speaking and working with teachers in real time. It’s almost like bringing the classroom setting to the student. Not only does the student get valuable human interaction, but they also get one-on-one help by an expert in the subject, something their parents wouldn’t necessarily be able to provide for them. Here's an example of a similar program offered through Revolution Prep:

So what’s the verdict? It seems that with these three Web 2.0 technologies, home schooling is a more viable option than ever. The quality of the education provided is guaranteed by online courses, and combined with cheap e-textbooks, it takes an enormous pressure off of parents. Students don’t lose out on the teacher interaction without a traditional classroom setting because they can receive even more individualized instruction via Skyping with their tutors. Logistically, the internet has streamlined the process of education from home. The only downfall is that for all of the methods I have described, there is money involved. Shouldn’t knowledge be free? But that’s an entirely different discussion.