April 13, 2006
Sushi Lovers Beware: Rev. Moon Wants Your Money
If you're a fan of sushi, it may come as a bit of a surprise to know that your eating habits may directly be propping up the Washington Times and the rest of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's quirky religious empire. A reader recently tipped us off to an article in the Chicago Tribune outlining how Moon -- a self-proclaimed messiah and leader of the Unification Church -- has all but cornered the sushi market, using a company run by his adherents to fund his many other interests, religious or otherwise. Reads the article:
Adhering to a plan Moon spelled out more than three decades ago in a series of sermons, members of his movement managed to integrate virtually every facet of the highly competitive seafood industry. The Moon followers' seafood operation is driven by a commercial powerhouse, known as True World Group. It builds fleets of boats, runs dozens of distribution centers and, each day, supplies most of the nation's estimated 9,000 sushi restaurants.While Moon can't seem to run a profitable newspaper to save his life -- the Washington Times annually bleeds money and talent -- his sushi empire has fast become one of his most profitable ventures. In 1974, he predicted that his sushi operations would "lay a foundation for the future economy of the Unification Church," part of an "oceanic providence" to spread his odd gospel. And it seems to have worked -- True World Foods boasts of $250 million in annual revenue, and its 230 refrigerated trucks delivers raw fish to 7,000 restaurants across the country.Although few seafood lovers may consider they're indirectly supporting Moon's religious movement, they do just that when they eat a buttery slice of tuna or munch on a morsel of eel in many restaurants. True World is so ubiquitous that 14 of 17 prominent Chicago sushi restaurants surveyed by the Tribune said they were supplied by the company.
Of course, it's easy not to read the Washington Times, both because the newspaper leaves something (well, everything) to be desired and because few us want our hard-earned dollars to help keep Moon's excuse for journalism alive. But sushi? Can we give up sushi? Much like dolphin-free tuna, we're guessing there might soon be a rush on Moon-free sushi.
|
I'm curious as to what restaurants in the area are supplied by his company. Hopefully not all of them?
re: Washington Times: to "bleed talent," don't you first have to have talent?
Who cares? So eating sushi keeps the Washington Times in publication. Can't you not read the paper and continue to enjoy sushi?
Next time I go to Kotobuki I'm going to ask them. I always wonder how they get such great fish and charge so little for it.
to "bleed talent," don't you first have to have talent?
Actually, many bright young reporters have come out of the Washington Times.
And the brighter they were, the faster they came out.
(That said, I'm going on a sushi strike. Unless they can tell me they don't buy from True World, I'm not eating at any sushi places. And I love sushi.)
Does anyone have a list of DC sushi places not tied to to True World?
Can someone please tell me, a spoiled sushi snob from Seattle, where I can eat some really good sushi in DC? I repeat: IN DC (not VA or MD).
And please don't say Kaz Sushi Bistro or Sushi Taro. They're pretty mediocre.
Fishy --
Partner of DC1974 is from Japan. And we both were spoiled by having American sushi in San Francisco.
The ONLY Japanese restaurant (sushi and otherwise) that he's found "truly satisfying" in DC is Kotobuki.
And we've been to Sushi Taro and Sushi-ko as well. (He actually thinks Sushi Taro is okay, although other DC people seem to not like it. But he also tends to put strong emphasis on the politeness of the Japanese staff. Good Japanese food, but snobby or bad service would rate a no in his version of Zagat.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, DC1974! I will definitely have to check out Kotobuki. To me the fish is what matters most but service is always a plus.
fishy,
kappo kawasaki is a good authentic option.
DC1974:
My girlfriend is Japanese; she agrees that the closest thing to real sushi can be found at Kotobuki, which is surprising because she's generally distrustful of American seafood. Everywhere else it's usually made my Mexicans or Chinese people, not trained Chefs.
A friend of mind from Japan (who has since moved back) swore by Sakana on P Street. I've always enjoyed their sushi.
I just got back from Panama city, where I had some of the worst sushi ever. We figured we'd give it a shot because a) we were jonesing for sushi after 2 weeks in Central America b) we were on the Pacific and less than 100 miles from the Caribbean for criminy's sake! (there's even a dang canal connectin' 'em there!) and c) our hotel concierge told us it was the best sushi restaurant in the city.
I'm all excited to be back in the US and now I hear Moon has a sushi supply monopoly? WTF? I want the list of non-Moonie sushi houses in DC posted ASAP, please. Oh and other seafood restaurants for that matter. I practically live on crab meat in the summer.
Not only Rev.Moon wants my money, so does everyone
else, it's called free enterprise. If he's providing the best sushi and best service, more power to him.
I'm sure the sushi tastes alot better than this refried scare article. The so called Moonies, or the
Unificationists, as they call themselves, are decent
people doing positive things. I'm not going to stop eating sushi at any establishment based on a prejudiced report.
I love sushi, and I also love to breath fresh air. So Rev. Moon has monopoly on the sushi market and we should stop eating sushi. What next, should we stop breathing air, because Rev. Moon breathes the same air as us? I don't think so. Perhaps Martin Austermuhle should look at some serious issues to report about or get some work in the scandel rags.
It is unfortunate that media professionals have fallen so low that they cannot discern what is right from what is wrong.
These kind of "copy and paste" journalist cannot help this world in any way and it seems the best way is just to ignore them. This prejudiced report from some racist will not stop me from eating sushi. To hell with your article.
Yeah. Lighten up a little. We Moonies aren't so bad. Besides Communism wouldn't have worked anyway even if we hadn't opposed it. ;-)
what on earth does religion have to do with business? Shall we not stay at the Marriott because we don't like the Mormons?
Seems most the food service that answered said if they got it fr TWG it was because of quality. Sounds good to me!
who sent the moonies?
Those aren't the Moonies. Most of them sound like Rees.
I for one, would prefer to eat at Moonie-free establishments.
I think it's a good idea to be aware of who you're supporting with your hard-earned cash. I don't want to be giving money to the Moonies, or any other cult for that matter (e.g., Republicans), so I say Martin's caution is well-taken.
I think it's a tough call to make. Like, I try not to let the fact that a company's CEO, etc., is an asshole/Republican/etc. influence my purchasing decisions (for one thing, it isn't practical, as we don't get character assessments of the providers of every product we use), but there is a certain element to sanctioning things with your wallet.
For example, I don't like Clear Channel's business practices, so I don't listen to their stations. But as for the Moonies? It's a tough call to decide whether there's enough of a direct connection between the religion and the sushi (it's easy to ignore the Times just on the basis that it sucks). But those quotes Martin cites about using the earnings to directly fund their religious empire definitely make me a bit wary of patronizing them.
It always amazes me how little people know about Moon. There is NOTHING in his empire which is not part of his effort to manipulate the planet politically, which is all he does. In fact, the Moon organization is more a political front than anything.
Moon isn't a businessman either, not as we know it. He made billions swindling the Japanese, targeting widows. google "lawyers Japan spiritual sales"...That is where much of the money comes from for his fronts. His employees are known to turn their paychecks back over to him. There is NO free enterprise market where Moon is involved so don't buy that crap.
This business about him being anti-communist and conning conservatives into working with him because of same is a fraud also, his goal is to replace democracy which he says is failed, also.
Moon literally brags about using his propaganda paper to "influence" our nation.
You know how the conservatives bitch and moan about CITIZEN George Soros, spending a few million on liberal causes the last election? What a bunch of uniformed hypocrites. Moon has not only funded the right with BILLIONS of dollars - much of which conned from widows - but he has guided them right into taking control of our government. Without him they don't control our government.
You can laugh but he is getting the last laugh.
People think because the WT doesn't say "become a moonie" on its front page it isn't a main cog in his efforts to mold our nation. WAKE UP - He's right in front of you and you are blind to him.
this quote is NOT a joke:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon3.html
Yet, Moon also made clear that his longer-range goal was the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and America’s democratic form of government. “History will make the position of Reverend Moon clear, and his enemies, the American population and government will bow down to him.” Moon said, speaking of himself in the third person. “That is Father’s tactic, the natural subjugation of the American government and population.”
here's just a small bit of what he has done.
http://www.cellwhitman.blogspot.com/
All that said it is way, way too late to boycott him. He has already stuck the fork in us. Standing up to him should have been done in 1982 when instead of welcoming him into their movement, Republicans/conservatives should have told his propaganda paper to take a hike. Instead they welcomed him, worked with him, helped him.
The world is blind...
Rev. Sun Myung Moon, flea on a dog.
Murasaki is the best sushi in DC