Japanese Pickles

Pickles are to Japan what cheese is to France. Each region uses local produce and traditional processes of fermentation to produce distinct varieties of pickles that are closely identified
with the area where they are made.

To eat Japanese pickles is to eat a piece of Japan–its soil, climate, history, andculture—with all the specificity that comes from local knowledge. Like cheese and wine, pickles are a “cultured” product.

Rice, soup, and pickles are the three basic elements in a classic Japanese meal. Many pickles are traditionally made at home and are the test of a good cook, particularly in rural areas.

Families will keep the same rice bran pickling “bed” alive for generations, passing it, as well as their pickling utensils and techniques, through the family.

Extending the abundance of summer into the harsh winter, pickling locks the fragance of the season into a delicious package that can be savored all year long.

But the term pickle does not quite capture the meaning of the Japanese term tsukemono, which refers more broadly to steeping food–for as little as an hour or as long as several years–to alter its texture and flavor.

Bracken, radish, turnip, cabbage, eggplant, cucumber, onion, mushroom, plum, cherry blossom, chrysanthemum flower, kelp, and wasabi are traditionally treated with salt, vinegar, rice bran, sake lees, koji (a mold), miso, and shoyu.

The result is a stunning array of colors, textures, shapes, and flavors that offers an intense contrast to the plain rice with which pickles are generally eaten and a rich source of vitamins,
particularly during the winter when fresh vegetables were once in short supply.

The Japanese Love For Umbrellas

Speaking of umbrellas, I’ve just remembered something. The Japanese love umbrellas. In fact, one could say that many of them have a downright fetish for them. Show me a Japanese with a horrible umbrella, and I’ll show you an Englishman with a beautiful one.

Unlike the English, who either have a black umbrella or even worse, one of those stumpy plaid ones you can find stacked by the checkout at boots, the Japanese always have an interesting one.

And we’re not just talking about the traditional stuff – those beautiful paper ones skillfully painted with wonderful colours. I’m talking about the ones you can find in any city in Japan, above people’s heads in the street.

When the rains come down in Japan, the coolest umbrellas go up. Even my local Japanese discount shop has a find – simple wooden umbrellas in a wonderful array of colours. Pretty decently made (I’ve had mine for 3 years already), and at an even more decent price ($3), you can imagine the choice and range they have in Japan itself.

One of my aunts has admitted to an umbrella fetish (brought about by several trips to Japan), and will attest to the Japanese’s championing the umbrella prize – in terms of aesthetics most of all.

On to the traditional paper umbrellas. The manufacturing of Wagasa began in the Kano district of Gifu City in the middle of the 18th century to stimulate local industry.

The traditional Japanese umbrella, considered an art form in Japan, uses only natural materials and, requiring several months to undergo the various separate processes that are needed for completion, the skilled hands of a dozen seasoned craftworkers contribute to the finished item.

As well as the usual type of rain umbrella, Gifu Wagasa also come in various other types including large red outdoor parasols that are used to provide shade on outdoor occasions like tea ceremonies, and smaller ones for dance performances.

Everyday News: Box-Cutter Blades and Umbrellas

Here are a couple of the wierd (and ouch!) headlines to hit the Japanese press lately. One involves a box-cutter blade from a supermarket meal, and the second, an eye being poked by an umbrella. The latter has happened to me, and I can assure you it was a painful and ugly scene which resulted in me walking the streets of Amsterdam with a sore blackeye for days.

In the blade story, a 58-year-old man bit into a rusty box-cutter blade hidden in a packaged meal he bought from a supermarket after mistaking it for a piece of dried seaweed, police said.

He told the police he had found a box-cutter blade in a boiled rice and tea dish he bought. The blade was rusty, and the man accidentally put it into his mouth after mistaking it for a piece of dried seaweed, but he was not injured, police said.

Investigators said the man bought a six-package bag of the rice and tea dish at a local supermarket in Tosu. The blade was about 2 centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide. There was reportedly an incision in the package in which the blade had been hidden.

The umbrella story, on the other hand involves a dissatisfied customer who stabbed a Tokyo department store employee in the eye with an umbrella after trying out oxygen breathing equipment meant to revitalise the body.

The woman, thought to be in her late 20s, complained to the 55-year-old assistant that the oxygen product had made her feel unwell, Kyodo news agency said.

She then stabbed the employee in the eye, seriously injuring her, and ran away, Kyodo said.

The victim is being treated in hospital and police are searching for the woman.

Haruki Murakami

I just got a book by Haruki Murakami about birthdays. As my birthday is coming up in September, I thought it was appropriate - besides, an anthology of short stories about birthdays seems interesting enough.

Translated from Japanese, only one story and the introduction is by Murakami, but I thought it was a good way to get a start on this prize-winning Japanese author also famous for his translations of great works.

Its good to learn a bit about the author you’re reading, so here’s what I’ve dug up:

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, in 1949 but he spent much of his childhood in Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest. His mother was the daughter of a merchant from Osaka. They both taught Japanese literature.

Legend has it that on a warm day in Spring 1974 while watching a baseball game Murakami-san had the inspiration to write his first novel, later called Hear the Wind sing.

It won him his first Literary award and is part of The Trilogy of the Rat together with Pinball 1973 and A Wild Sheep Chase .

His career as an writer took off fast and a steady flow of Novels, Short Stories, Articles and Documentaries followed.

The fact that he spent a good part of his life outside Japan, mainly in the US and southern Europe, is maybe the key factor of his growing worldwide success.

The stories and settings are familiar to Westerners and yet there is a distinctive Japanese touch.

I’ll keep you posted on how the book goes.

Japanese Tattoos

Japanese tattoos are called “irezumi” or “horimono”. These days tattoos are becoming more common again with the young set, although for years it was considered as something used only by the lower dredges of society, or worse –the Yakuza or Japanese mafia.
In fact, many public bathing houses around the country wont let you in if you’re an “illustrated man”.

Irezumi, are tattoos which cover large areas of the body, like the back. Historically, the tattoo has been around Japan for a while.

The Ainu people, Japan’s early settlers used facial tattoos. And more reports around 1700 years back talk about the Japanese having whole bodies covered in tattoos.

When Buddhism was brought from China to Japan and with it a strong influence of the Chinese culture, tattooing got negative connotations. Criminals were marked with tattoos to punish and identify them in society as the higher developed Chinese culture saw tattooing as a barbaric act.

From around 1603 to1868, known as the Edo period when Japan closed its doors to the world, Japanese tattoo art became a part of “ukiyo-e” also known as “the floating world culture”. Prostitutes or “ yujos” used tattoos to increase their attractiveness for customers.

In 1827 the ukiyo-e artist Kuniyoshi published the first 6 designs of the 108 Heroes of the Suikoden. The Suikoden were honorable bandits. The richness and fantasy of the Japanese tattoo prints designs shown by Kuniyoshi are used by some tattoo artists up to this time.

The Imperial Meiji government banned tattooing as something considered a barbaric relict of the past. During the first half of the twentieth century, horimono remained a forbidden art form until 1948, when the prohibition was officially lifted.

The Largest Indoor Water Park On Earth

The other day my husband asked me if I thought it was possible to “fake” a beach or to create an artificial one. I immediately remembered something the Japanese have done, which in true-Japanese style is a “fake beach” done on a grand scale - complete with permanent sunny skies, perfect warm weather, fabulous white sand and waves of all sizes.

And that’s not all. In Miyaki, on the Southernmost island of Kyushu, The Ocean Dome also has a fire-spitting volcano, rainforest complete with mechanical birds, a variety of rides (like white-water rafting!), and to keep with its 21st Century theme, its very own simulated “Boardwalk” or Seaside Pier, with restaurants, cafes and boutiques galore dotted with fake palm trees.

Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest indoor water park, The Ocean Dome of Japan measures 300 metres in length, 100 metres in width and has a retractable roof. The air temperature is constantly at a balmy 30 degrees Celsius, and the wind and humidity is closely regulated by a humongous computer which controls the entire operation.

Sanitized, chlorinated heated water make up the sea, and the 85-meter shoreline of pristine beach easily makes this place too perfect for words. And the price for this perfection isn’t too cheap. For a day’s entrance fee it costs $50 per person. Rides, buggy boards and extra stuff are at an additional price.

But the strangest this about this simulated Japanese “Garden of Eden” is a REAL beach, a mere 300-meters away.

The Next Level Of Wrapping A Present

For the Japanese, the simple act of wrapping a present (or even a purchase at a store) is also another part of their rich culture, one that has been taken to an art level.

Gift-wrapping to the Japanese is equated with the heart, so the care and thought one puts into the act is paramount. Presentation plays a key role here, and what matters is harmony between the combination of papers and trimmings – their textures, colours, and patterns must combine to produce a melodious rhythm – an art form both spiritually and physically.

Opening the package is an honoured ritual in itself, and the packages must have elements of projected interaction with the receiver insofar as what is revealed and what is concealed, with hinges, flaps or cuts hinting at contents without disclosing them.

The Japanese see the act of giving a gift as the presenting of one’s feelings to the recipient. Even in daily life, when offering a small item to one’s host on a visit, for example, and certainly in the context of a celebration or similar, it is important not to pass on anything negative- be it external or any internal disharmony one’s experience.

This is an unspoken tradition which continues in Japan as a sense that has come down to the present in the form of tsutsumi. And although this tradition has changed with the modern times, the influence of this delicate consideration for others beneath the wrapping can be seen if one makes the effort to observe closely.

Sapporo’s Winter Wonderland

Imagine a huge palace lit up with amazing details. Or Hello Kitty perhaps or even a gargatuan Christmas bow as big as a giant boulder. Or tunnels and slides all for the kids to frolic in….all made out of snow.

The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan’s largest winter events, attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year.

Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park,the grounds at Satoland, and the main street in Susukino.

For seven days in February, these statues and sculptures (both large and small) turn Sapporo into a winter dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow.

The first snow festival was held on February, 1950 at Odori Park, when local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. The aim of it was to present citizens outdoor pleasures during the long winter in Hokkaido. This included fun events like folk dancing, outdoor movies, dog races, and much more.

The festival took off and is now one of the best-loved festivals not just by the island’s residents but by the entire country as well as the world.

In 1995, at the 6th festival, the Self Defence Army joined in and made some huge sculptures (something the festival is famous for now) as well as opening its base at Makomanai for children showcasing a plethora of delightful ice and snow sculptures from fairy tales, with ice slides and tunnels in the snow.

From these humble beginnings, the Sapporo Snow Festival has evolved to become one of the biggest and most popular of Japan’s winter events.

The Largest Indoor Water Park On Earth

The other day my husband asked me if I thought it was possible to “fake” a beach or to create an artificial one. I immediately remembered something the Japanese have done, which in true-Japanese style is a “fake beach” created on a grand scale - complete with permanent sunny skies, perfect warm weather, fabulous white sand and waves of all sizes.

And that’s not all. In Miyaki, on the Southernmost island of Kyushu, The Ocean Dome also has a fire-spitting volcano, rainforest complete with mechanical birds, a variety of rides (like white-water rafting!), and to keep with its 21st Century theme, its very own simulated “Boardwalk” or “Seaside Pier”, with restaurants, cafes and boutiques galore in three levels. The evenings also play host to some pretty spectacular water shows.

Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest indoor water park, The Ocean Dome measures 300 metres in length, 100 metres in width and has a retractable roof. The air temperature is constantly at a balmy 30 degrees Celsius, and the wind and humidity is closely regulated by a humongous computer which controls the entire operation.

Sanitized, chlorinated heated water make up the sea, and the 85-meter shoreline of pristine beach easily makes this place too perfect for words. And the price for this perfection isn’t too cheap. For a day’s entrance fee it costs $50 per person. Rides, buggy boards and extra stuff are at an additional price.

But the strangest this about this simulated Japanese “Garden of Eden” is a REAL beach, a mere 300-meters away, which clearly isnt as popular.

The Revival Of The Shamisen

Shamisen is an age-old Japanese musical instrument. It looks like a banjo with a long neck and until about 1999 was known in connection with traditional “stuffy” parts of the culture such as the Geishas, the Kabuki or Bunraku puppet theater.

But in 1999, two brothers with an attitude changed how the pop culture seen the Shamisen forever. The hip musicians, the Yoshida Brothers have updated the Shamisen turning what was a somewhat twangy high-pitched sound into something more akin to an electric guitar. And while the instrument is always traditionally played solo (or with several Shamisens), the Yoshidas play it as a duo and also back it up by drums, bass, keyboards and guitar – all at exhilarating lightning speeds showing a telepathic quality the brothers have.

The Yoshidas started playing the Shamisen at the age of 5 in their hometown of Noboribetsu, on Hokkaido Island, North Japan. It wasn’t long until the duo were winning national competitions which evolved into a touring act. The brothers soon sined with a record label in Japan, and released their first album entitled Move, in November 2000.

In August 2003 the Yoshida brothers debuted in the United States with an album simply titled Yoshida Brothers, released on Los Angeles-based label Domo Records. And in October of 2003 the performed for the first time live to U.S. fans in New York and Los Angeles.