New research with healthy volunteers shows it is actually probably a congestant. via increasing blood flow to the nasal mucosa. But, because it may stimulate nasal flaring, it gives the impression it is helping the person breathe more easily. (Yahoo! News ) During college, I spent three months vagabonding around Japan with a fellow student, bingeing on sushi whenever possible. Although I am not sure what role wasabi plays in this, we were convinced as we wandered around the phantasmagoric strrets of Shinjuku or Shibuya or the deer park in Nara that we had left the sushi counter ‘sushi-stoned’, a hitherto undocumented altered state of consciousness. And this was regardless of the extent to which we had been washing down our sushi with sake. Funny, there must be something lacking in American sushi because, although my friend and I attempt to recreate the experience whenever we get together these days in the US, we seem to be unable to do so…