Document 72 Hours

Where Cultures and Meat Meet

From the outside, this butcher shop in Hiratsuka, a city just southwest of Tokyo, looks like any other. But lining its shelves are many kinds of meat rarely seen for sale in Japan, such as cow kidney and even pig's blood. Among the shoppers drawn by this vast array of meat are Peruvians buying for their usual weekend barbecue with family and relatives, and a Filipino woman cooking for her large family. The large volumes of meat purchased at this shop are transformed into ethnic dishes in people's kitchens. We listened to the stories of those who eat hearty, meaty meals while living far from their country of birth.