Becoming Yamazushi | American Masters | PBS (2024)

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Becoming Yamazushi is directed by G Yamazawa. Creative produced is Beau Sia. Produced by Kelsey Kawana, Beau Sia and G Yamazawa. Edited by G Yamazawa.

For American Masters, Michael Kantor is Executive Producer, and Julie Sacks is Series Producer. Joe Skinner is Series Producer for American Masters Shorts.

This film was produced by YMZWA, LLC in association with American Masters Pictures

About American Masters
Now in its 38th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape—through compelling, unvarnished stories. Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards—including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special—two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the podcast American Masters: Creative Spark, educational resources, digital original series and more. The series is a production of The WNET Group.

American Masters is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. PBS station members can view many series, documentaries and specials via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

About The WNET Group
The WNET Group creates inspiring media content and meaningful experiences for diverse audiences nationwide. It is the community-supported home of New York’s THIRTEEN – America’s flagship PBS station – WLIW21, THIRTEEN PBSKids, WLIW World and Create; NJ PBS, New Jersey’s statewide public television network; Long Island’s only NPR station WLIW-FM; ALL ARTS, the arts and culture media provider; newsroom NJ Spotlight News; and FAST channel PBS Nature. Through these channels and streaming platforms, The WNET Group brings arts, culture, education, news, documentary, entertainment and DIY programming to more than five million viewers each month. The WNET Group’s award-winning productions include signature PBS series Nature, Great Performances, American Masters and Amanpour and Company and trusted local news programs MetroFocus and NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi. Inspiring curiosity and nurturing dreams, The WNET Group’s award-winning Kids’ Media and Education team produces the PBS KIDS series Cyberchase, interactive Mission US history games, and resources for families, teachers and caregivers. A leading nonprofit public media producer for more than 60 years, The WNET Group presents and distributes content that fosters lifelong learning, including multiplatform initiatives addressing poverty, jobs, economic opportunity, social justice, understanding and the environment. Through Passport, station members can stream new and archival programming anytime, anywhere. The WNET Group represents the best in public media. Join us.

UNDERWRITING

Original production funding for American Masters Shorts is provided by the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, the Anderson Family Charitable Fund, the Marc Haas Foundation, The Charina Endowment Fund in memory of Robert B. Menschel, the Ambrose Monell Foundation, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Philip & Janice Levin Foundation.

Original series production funding for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Judith and Burton Resnick, Seton J Melvin, Koo and Patricia Yuen, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, The Marc Haas Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, and public television viewers.

TRANSCRIPT

(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)