It’s Over because of Google’s Bias against Small Content Creators: Oishii-desu – Japanese Food and Culture

In August/September of 2023, Google rolled out the “Helpful Content Update (HCU),” which has negatively impacted content creators from bloggers to YouTubers (Google owns YouTube).

Is there specifically a negative bias against Oishii-desu.com or creators of Japanese food and culture? Yes and no.

No, there may be no targeted attacks specifically at Oishii-desu.com or the creators of any particular cuisine or segment. However, I believe there is an agenda to reduce your access to smaller content creators and other legitimate sources by upwards of 70-80%.

I started Oishii-desu.com in April of 2016 because I got tired of mainstream media (MSM) outlets hyping Bou’s Sushi in New York City, a 6-seat sushi bar, as “the smallest sushi bar in the world,” it’s not.

The staff writer right out of college apparently has never been to Japan, so they are impressed by the sushi chef dude who pretended to have a Japanese accent (at the time, dude had recently graduated from a sushi school in Los Angeles).

Yes. All it takes is a Google search to confirm the validity of what I am saying because the newest change to the search results will now be filled with random Joes and Janes. All, are nonchalant chats about various topics on Reddit, and it is what we in the “biz” call UGC or “User Generated Content”.

Google is blatantly promoting UGC (User Generated Content) to train their Large Language Model (LLM) via Reddit and Quora on how us humans conversate. Although, if you wonder how a search query resulting in random conversations helps you, well, it’s not meant to, it helps Google.

Google is no longer a search engine of the internet, and their primary goal is to train their artificial intelligence, so you can conversate with a black Viking in the near future.

How does that search result reflect sources of credible information? It doesn’t, but Reddit is a platform that Google is in collusion with (and Reddit will be IPO’ing soon): a 60 million dollar deal to train its Artificial Intelligence utilizing large language models (LLMs) on how we humans conversate, well, except with the threat of the “don’t go against popular opinion” downvote.

The rest of the results will vary in credibility from Quora and YouTube with some good to great content, to a total crapshoot via social media on TikTok.

Why is this an issue?

If you Google or watch YouTube, the access you will have to information from a range of content creators is being limited by Google who are constantly changing the algorithm/rules. Keep in mind, the rules are never explicitly defined for fear of individuals gaming the system, although it supposedly values E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

Not many people will tell you that you are outright ugly, and many have to figure it out for themselves, which is a lot like how Google operates.

Google does not explicitly say what the rules are although they do tout that they value experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. That is everything I tout about myself on my Tinder profile.

Yet try Googling:

• An instant noodle like ramen: In Asia, they all know what ramen is, but most American producers think ramen means “instant noodles.” It does not matter if it is a Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, or Korean-style instant noodle product because it is branded as ramen in the US. Yet in Japan, ramen is commonly served in restaurants, and is not primarily thought of as strictly an instant noodle.
• Ever wonder how the hibachi misnomer for teppanyaki came about in the US? It’s not due to anyone who is Japanese because they would know that a hibachi is a room heater. Except Google and opportunistic business owners in rural areas of the US market themselves as Japanese hibachi (any Asian running a “Japanese” restaurant is automatically assumed to be Japanese).
• Love Japanese food and looking for a recipe: Now, every food influencer from Britney, Taylor, and Chelsea has their authentic “Japanese” teriyaki char siu and kimchi gluten-free sushi poke bowls. A mix of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, cuz “like, you Orientals are all the same.”
• Japanese yakitori grill: You will come across every generic product made in China marketed as a yakitori grill, or a Texas company marketing their massive dumpster-sized BBQ as a yakitori grill (it’s the size of a Tokyo studio apartment). Also, Google prioritizes businesses over all other content, so if you call your product an “authentic yakitori hibachi konro,” that is what it is to Google.
• Want to visit a Japanese bakery or try a non-Americanized/fusion Japanese restaurant in the US: Business owners control the narrative, so if they claim they are Japanese, Google and the MSM will promote it as such (if not, they will lump you generically all in as Asian). So taiyaki (Chinese/Korean), mochi donuts (American/Hawaiian), sushi (American), or shabu shabu (Chinese hot pot) all use Japanese culture to market their businesses.
• Want a Japanese knife: Many online marketers market their Chinese-made knives as Japanese, and avoid any association with China or being Chinese. So, the search results for a Japanese knife are filled by “Kamikoto, Kitchin-to™, Mitsumoto Sakari, Tedzukuri, or Huusk Japan, and one of the biggest douches, Milk Street, Christopher Kimball (this is the partial list of 90%+ of the knife results on Amazon)” All products are made in China and branded to imply they have some sort of Japanese connection because they believe being Chinese is not a selling point.

Google seems to not care about race/culture, which is why their image generator, Gemini produced search results with racially diverse Nazis, Vikings, the Pope, and Native Americans (here is a Vox article going over the debacle). So after all these incidents and the recent changes, I am starting to see why Google got rid of their motto “don’t be evil.”

Google is also playing catch up with their acquisition of the UK-based DeepMind to keep up with OpenAI and ChatGPT-4 (partially owned by Microsoft and there is a current lawsuit by Elon Musk because they may have achieved AGI). Although, their efforts with Gemini, and this massive change with Google Search does not make me hopeful for the future.

Google does not care about culture or being historically accurate, and their primary focus is on profit and appearing virtuous. Truth and accuracy will go be the wayside in their race to be the first to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

Even one of my non-Asian acquaintances had said, he is an expert of everything Japanese food related because he owns a Japanese restaurant in Sebastopol, and I don’t.

Many media outlets and other sites will continue to regurgitate the content above, and Google will further compound the problem by promoting their Google Merchants and paid ad results at the top of the search results (SERPs). A highly valued section of the page because most people will click on the top three results, so having your content now buried at a seventh to eighth place ranking will perpetuate the above misinformation.

During the pandemic, I focused on the blog, which took off during that time. The site grew significantly in the last 4 years and managed to do 29k/38k unique visitors/views per month.

Not too shabby.

We are also not at a point where Artificial Intelligence can differentiate between misinformation (inaccurate information) or disinformation (deliberate), yet Google’s Generative AI or SGE (Search Generative Experience), will also double team and continue to perpetuate the problem by plagiarizing and reconstituting that questionable content.

As an American and a Japanese American, I care about the culture behind all food

American’s tend to be oblivious of food culture, and many of us think Taco Bell is a reflection of Mexican culture which it is not. It is inspired by it, but it is a brand that reflects the segregation in LA’s IE in the 60s, and their brand tie-in with Dorito’s locos taco is a continual and regional influence because Dorito’s were invented at Disneyland in Los Angeles.

I have a cousin who grew up in LA, and both my sister and my brother know very little to almost nothing about Japanese food and culture.

I laughed when my cousin from LA, pronounced tempura, as tempooooRUH.

In the US, we Americanize things simply due to a lot of stupid because we don’t value having deep cultural roots, and you see that in the Japanese American (Nikkei) community. A community, where many are Americanized, so they have no clue why “brown rice ramen noodles” make no sense at all (Japanese produce noodles primarily out of wheat, not rice you porkly mustached Twinkie). So, unlike the Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese American community, it tends to feel like I am a lone voice in a ocean of clout seekers and regurgitated BS.

Also, many of the first generation Japanese in the States (Issei), and the vast majority of Japanese and Japanese companies are oblivious of race and how it plays in to the culture in the US. So, you won’t see many Japanese offended or bothered by many of the things many of us Asian American’s aka ching chongs had to contend with growing up.

Also, if it is not obvious, I am not a writer, and I am really embarrassing Carol Greene (De Anza, Cupertino, CA), one of the best instructors I have ever had. Yet, I do it because the staff writers for so many media outlets were not cutting it.

Do you know how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.

So expect more less than stellar content from a staff writer at America’s Test Kitchen who may have never grown up with the food, or tried the ingredient, because all they do is regurgitate the content in their own words for a paycheck. All on a site they claim to be a “tester,” so that they can promote their online shop of kitchen products. Except, one of their staff writers confused mirin for rice vinegar and touted mirin as acidic (this is a question that is commonly asked online).

How content creators monetize their efforts

There is a ton of “free” content online, but unlike the platforms, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, where it comes at the cost of your data, that is not the case with news outlets, and content creators on YouTube to bloggers.

85% of search users will use Google (and YouTube), and search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, and a multitude of “others,” round out the 15%.

Google is also losing out to Social Media because more and more of us are ditching the search engines, and relying on Instagram to TikTok for our information.

On the content creation side of things, news outlets are struggling to stay afloat and writers in Hollywood are struggling to get a piece of the pie scraps (let them eat cake instead?).

If you don’t have big pharma and Pfizer funding you, like your local news station, here are the major ways that content creators monetize their efforts:

1. Ad revenue: ads placed by Google Adsense or a 3rd party company such as MediaVine.
2. Affiliate programs: commission based links to products you are promoting via Amazon or other affiliate programs.
3. Selling a product: an all out e-commerce store or simply selling only t-shirts or plushies to support the channel (Mr. Beast does food pop-ups to Mr. Beast chocolate bars).
4. Donations/contributors: many YouTubers utilize Patreon to subsidize their efforts with monthly contributions such as a $1 a month.

It was not till early 2022 that I finally decided to monetize Oishii-desu.com because I never did the site for monetary reasons. I only turned to the blog when my food endeavor was shut down during the pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, due to the uncertainty of the food and restaurant industry, I opted to go back to my core, which is marketing and branding.

None of the above methods are banned or prohibited, but as of the HCU and the March update, if you are not a “chosen” content creator by Google, the 2nd option of affiliate marketing has been targeted and kiboshed (psss, remember “don’t be evil”).

Not just Google Search

The impact Google has had on a trillion dollar industry all in a race to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a massive one.

Vice at its peak was valued at 5.7 billion dollars, but as of April ’23 the media oulet declared bankruptcy because content like “These Are the People Making Porn Out of Your Favorite Childhood Memories” aren’t conducive to selling Tide Pods?

Not explicitly cited by Google, but swords, shields, or other weaponry of medieval knights, Vikings, and the samurai seem to be taboo by Google.

While I work, I like having YouTube playing in the background, and I just happened upon Shadiversity, a channel I subscribe to. A content creator that amuses my inner 12-year-old and my immature adult self with content like “We tested carbon fiber armor” or “How did Veritasium get SO MUCH wrong in their katana video?! a reply.”

Science, space, and astronomy lovers are also being impacted because another favorite channel, Astrum also announced how they are being impacted by Google’s algorithm.

Google and YouTube does not want a diversity of content, and they only reward content that is “face-paced, action and explosions” vs. educational and slower-paced content.

It is also a channel that was also mysteriously hit by a change within YouTube that you are not given any notice of. Instead, you have to have a keen sense to detect a disturbance as if a million voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. A change that the creator did feel and had to figure out what happened by comparing his stats for the channel from previous years. All of which you can see him do via his YouTube channel video YouTube is KILLING this channel – Shadiversity is dying.

Thank you for your support

Regardless of what I say, or no matter how much I research things, or try to be as neutral as possible, it will not matter because Google will promote the off-the-cuff comments on Reddit and social media.

I enjoyed the additional time I got to focus on the blog, but I have to put it on the back burner although you can continue to help by sharing this content, or if you are a brand, create a link to Oishii-desu.com.

I am posting this article with all the grammatical and coherency issues, although I will continue to go over it and try to edit it over several beers at a bar.

Where we are headed as a society, I am glad I got 4 years since the pandemic to try and shape Japanese food and culture for us Americans. However, I knew with the advent of AGI on the horizon, the days of static content would end. I just had hoped for another year, but I was wrong.

UPDATE: May 1, 2024, Google is laying off at least 200 employees from its “Core” organization, which includes key teams and engineering talent, CNBC has learned (moves some jobs to Mexico and India).
UPDATE: May 2, 2024, Google is getting even worse for independent sites via the Verge.com