Kenka

     On one of the most interesesting streets of nyc, St. Mark's Place, on 8th street between second and third avenues.  Here there lies a restaurant, but more than that, it is a portal to another time and place.  Post-World War II Japan, specifically from the 1970s through the 1980s.  I know, because since 1970 when I was born, my Japanese mother took me back to Japan nearly every summer growing up.. I split time between the most modern parts of Tokyo and the most old-fashioned countryside of Hiroshima.  The first thing you notice as you walk up to Kenka (which means fight in Japanese) is the Giant Bear figure outside for good luck and the large number of people crowded around the entrance.. That's because there are always people waiting to get in.  Sometimes the wait can be up to an hour! 
    When you first enter, you may be forgiven for just noticing the typical Japanese restaurant cues, the names of dishes written in characters on the walls, the people greeting you loudly as you come in.  But there are a myriad of other details only available here, at this place.. There is a Red public pay coin telephone.  In Japan when I was young there were many color telephones available to the public.  There was Yellow, green, pink, and the most popular, the red. In America at the time, all payphones were the same black and chrome.  I hadn't seen a red phone like that in 30 years, and the effect is very pleasing, all sorts of pleasant memories come flooding back.. On the back wall leading to the bathrooms there are real Pachinko machines, and not the kind where you dial up your shot and leave it.  The kind with a real metal lever to shoot the balls one by one.. These machines are straight out of a Tokyo back alley.. (Pachinko is sort of like pinball, but with a gambling aspect to it as you can win prizes if you are great at Pachinko) The same Glico sign I remember from the only store in town near my grandparents house in the mountains outside of Hiroshima.  Glico was a carmel candy popular at the time.  In one of the smaller back rooms, there is a Royal Japanese Navy Flag proudly hanging on the wall, not seen much since World War II.  Some older Americans might actually take offense, since to them, Japanese were the "bad guys", but for me, and other Japanese people I suspect, I smile and remember my Grandfather, who narrowly escaped being killed but was affected by the events the morning of August 6th, 1945, with the dropping of the  Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima.  My Grandfather, like every man at the time, was in the military, and was in the city of Hiroshima the night before the bombing, and would certainly have been killed, but he was called back to his base, near our home, deep up in the mountains outside of Hiroshima city.  I remember vividly to this day how he would describe shaving that morning, then seeing the sky light up, thinking "we're hit," and going in to the city to help.. I remember my Granduncle, who was a POW and then thankfully returned alive and well after kind treatment from the Americans.  His chilling story told of how he had a choice at the end of the war to get on one of two boats.  Half the men boarded the American boat, and were nursed back to health and returned, and the other half had boarded the Soviet ship and were never ever returned, most never to be heard from again.. I remember all the great times we had sitting around the old house in the country laughing, praying and watching high school baseball.  I'm so thankful they survived, but most did not, and everyone was affected.  Over 70 years sounds like a long time, but the scope of something like WorldWarII is infinite. 
    One wall has a mural of Takakura Ken, the famous Japanese actor who had a background as a gangster before he became famous and made some of the best yakuza movies ever made. He's got that trademark scoul, tattoos and is brandishing a samurai sword.  This scene is from Showa Zankyo-den, or Remnants of Chivalry in the Showa era, aka Brutal Tales of Chivalry.  In it he plays an honorable old-school yakuza among the violent post-war hoods.  It is a time of radical cultural changes.
    In the background there wafts a mix of Japanese music.  One time when I took my best friend, he asked them what the music was that was playing and they happily presented him with the CD that had been playing.. It simply had the word Showa written in Red Marker.  Showa refers to the reign of the Emperor Hirohito, which began in 1926 and lasted all the way to 1989.  I was there when he passed away, it was actually the only time I visited in the winter.. I remember some older people killed themselves, all the channels on tv were showing specials about the emperor and the older generations were glued to the tube, and the younger generation crowded the video stores hoping to get a reprieve from all the media blitz.  The sounds include post-war Enka classics through 70s Japanese Punk Rockabilly. 
    And the last, and most curious aspect of the Kenka experience are the rules on the menu.  They include, but are not limited to things like:  No sex, no masturbating, no graffiti except in Japanese, no drugs, no fighting, you will be charged for throwing up.  So I started thinking to myself, for the owners to write all of these things down on the menu, what sorts of things were going on before they had any rules? 
    There is also an outdoor area, sort of like an open air room, where one can go smoke.  Helpful to many, as a majority of Japanese people are hard core smokers and there is a non-smoking ordinance for restaurants in nyc now.. 
    A wonderful aspect of Kenka is that it is not expensive.  At least it doesn't have to be.  Most of the items are smaller dishlettes that are 3 or 4 dollars, so if you order just enough to satisfy your hunger, you can get away cheap, but if you get carried away thinking they are cheap and try to get some variety you may be surprised at the end of the night.  There are dozens and dozens of types of sake and sho-chu, starting around 8 and going up to 100 or so dollars.  The quality of the food is good, if not the best, but most people will love it.. There is a very wide selection, I'd be surprised if there was something you wanted that they didn't have..
    But for me it is not so much about the food here.  It's about the chance to step back in time and travel halfway around the world and be a kid again, and be Japanese again.  As a final touch, the staff brings you a small plastic cup full of what looks like pink sand, and some thin wooden sticks.  It's actually sugar, for the authentic down to the 100 yen coin slot cotton candy machine that was everpresent as a backdrop to wonderful summer festivals.  You turn on the machine, put the sugar in, and you scoop out the cotton candy in a circular motion.  Very difficult to get right, but down to the last moment stepping away from the restaurant, you get to step back over 30 years, and have a familiar childhood taste.  Even if you were yet to be born back then it is nice to see how things used to be, and this place is very representative in every way. 
    St. Mark's Place is a very unique street.  There are many head shops, tattoo parlors, and one of a kind hat and glove and wig shops on both sides.  Years ago, and for a long time, there was a big social gathering spot where locals, and anyone who was there, could gather for poetry readings or other artistic endeavors, but sadly it is gone, replaced by big corporate clothing stores like the Gap.  Pinkberry has arrived as well.  The infamous pizza shop on third avenue that sold tasty slices but was a front for a huge heroine ring in the 70s is long gone and most people around here are new to the city so they never even heard about it.  But for now, Kenka remains.  Part of Little Tokyo but more uniquely, a chance to transport.  Experience a culture from far away and long ago.  Make mine a yaki niku and I'll take it around 1983 please, thanks.. See you back there my friends!