History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

• Summary: The author, vice-president of the Japanese
Natto Association, would like to see tempeh become popular
throughout Japan. Address: Zenkoku Natto Kyodo Kumiai
Rengokai, Fuku Kaicho.
916. Aihara, Herman. 1982. History of work with
macrobiotics and Chico-San. Part II (Interview). Conducted
by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center, Nov. 29. 5 p.
transcript.
• Summary: Continued: Chico-San imported their fi rst
Japanese foods from Herman personally. At that time, there
was no Muso and no Nippon CI. Ohsawa Japan (which
started in about 1965) was the trading / export company
and Nippon CI was devoted to education. Before Muso was
“Three Boys,” the “Three L” (San-L) company. Ohsawa
told them to take charge of exports. Then Mr. Okada took
over from them. Osaka was PR and education. “Three L”
(which started in about 1962 in Osaka) was whom Chico-
San was importing from. George Ohsawa kept a careful
watch over what was being exported from Japan. Chico-San
later imported from both Muso (Osaka) and Ohsawa Japan
(Tokyo). Note: Did Ohsawa have two trading companies? If
so, why?
The fi rst edition of The Book of Judgment was printed
in Japan in about 1956, then revised in 1966. There is no
publication date in the book. This book came after Zen
Macrobiotics. It is actually The Philosophy of Oriental
Medicine (subtitled The Book of Judgment), probably fi rst
written in French.
Herman has just started writing a biography of Ohsawa,
but he is too busy, so it will not be fi nished for a long time.
The Ohsawa Foundation in Paris was started by 1956 by
George Ohsawa. The Ohsawa Foundation in Tokyo started
before 1960. The Ohsawa Foundation in Los Angeles was
started in 1965 by Lou Oles, an older Jewish trumpet player.
The Ohsawa Foundation of New York was founded in 1961
by Michio Kushi and Irma Paule. The name “GOMF” was
coined in 1970.
Herman has a green 8½ by 11 inch edition of Zen
Macrobiotics. Herman says the date was about 1960. It
shows that the Ohsawa Foundation then existed in New
York, Paris, Brussels, and Tokyo. It also contains lots of
recipes. I copied some pages. Copyright date of the fi fth
edition was 1966, Ignoramus Press, the Ohsawa Foundation,
1424 N. Curson Ave., Los Angeles.
Michio Kushi was Ohsawa’s senior student in the sense
that he came to America fi rst. I should omit the concept that
Herman was Ohsawa’s closest associate. Herman and Michio
simply have different styles. Michio has broad appeal; he has
started a mass movement, and is more businesslike. Herman
appeals to a small group, deeply; he works more with
individual students.
Lou and Shayne Oles got involved with macrobiotics
during the second summer camp, in 1961. They traveled
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 298
with the group from New York to Chico. He was a famous
trumpet player, worked with Benny Goodman. In California
he emphasized publishing more than his trumpet. His fi rst
publication was titled Spiral; 1-2 issues were published.
Then Macrobiotic Monthly. After Beth Ann Simon’s death,
Chico-San was separated from educational work. Lou Oles
went to Los Angeles and that year established the Ohsawa
Foundation; he did education and publication. He published
three books: Zen Macrobiotics, Book of Judgment, and
Guidebook for Living. Jacques DeLangre helped him. Lou
died in 1967 of cancer. He got depressed when George
Ohsawa died; he started drinking coffee, which may have
activated his cancer growth. Shayne continued his work.
Lima asked Herman to be president, so he traveled to Los
Angeles once a month. In those days they sold lots of Zen
Cookery books. The Ohsawa Foundation in Los Angeles
closed in about 1970.
Yes, Ohsawa was age 72 when he died. He died April 24
(Japan date) in Japan.
The spirallic multidimensional scale from yin to yang
was Peter Milford’s idea, not Herman’s. It is generally a
linear scale.
Infi nity Foods, founded by Howard Rower, is still in
existence. Herman thinks they started in about 1962, and
they imported foods from Japan.
Chico-San established only one organic grower–the
Lundbergs for rice. The controversy was complicated.
The Lundbergs and Bob Kennedy of Chico-San made a
contract. Eventually there was a lawsuit between Chico-San
and Lundberg [but it was resolved before it went to court].
Herman thinks Lundberg sued Bob Kennedy.
In 1963 Herman went on the lecture circuit with
Bob Kennedy as they tried to educate people about the
macrobiotic foods that Chico-San was selling.
The fi rst summer camp without Ohsawa was 1967 (or
perhaps 1968).
Macromuse is published in Washington, DC, by Michael
Rosoff. It started in 1981.
Chico-San was founded in Jan. 1962. In Nov. 1962
Chico-San’s fi rst location (a retail store) opened, downstairs
with hearing aid company. It moved upstairs to a different
location and opened on 6 March 1962; they had an open
house.
In 1973 the Aiharas established the Vega Institute, a
residential program for macrobiotic studies in San Francisco.
Then in 1974, they moved the Vega Institute and the George
Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation to Oroville, a town
southeast of Chico, where the Aiharas continued their work,
together with their students. Herman and Cornellia Aihara
moved to Oroville instead of Chico because it was more rural
and because Peter Milbury, a high school teacher in Oroville,
knew of some good land. The Ohsawa Foundation in San
Francisco bought the land, and then they moved. Herman
owns the Vega Institute on Oak Street.