Throughout its history, Japan has been an agricultural
based society. Therefore, like most
agricultural based societies, the changing of seasons became a very important
part of Japanese culture. Traditions,
religions, and life developed while keeping an eye on and also celebrating the
beauty and bounty of each season. But
while industrialization distanced other traditionally agricultural societies
from their close bond with nature, Japan’s self-imposed isolation kept farming,
and the seasons, at the heart of Japanese life until very recently.
Acknowledgement of the seasons is so deeply
ingrained in Japanese culture that even in the neon and concrete canyons of
Osaka and Tokyo one can’t help but be aware of the variations in Earth’s
journey around the sun. From plastic
sakura and momiji branches hung on shopping arcades during the appropriate season,
to lavish window displays at Takashimai, Daimaru, and even small mom and pop
stores. However, it is the food that
most reflects the change of season.
Japanese food is always a showcase of the best of each season. From fish to fruit and everything in between,
restaurants change their menu on an almost weekly basis to take advantage of
ingredients at their peak. And with
their leap into the industrial age, came a chance to create new, synthetic
seasonal flavors. Which has led to today’s
revolving door of chuhi, ice cream, coffee, pastry, confection, chip, and
pretty much any ingestible konbini item being offered on a short term, seasonal
basis.
There is already a great deal of variety in
Japanese food and drink options (have you seen my post on vending machines?),
but this system leads to almost infinite possibilities. I have greatly enjoyed my games of seasonal
chuhi Russian roulette. Some of the
flavors have been amazing! Other make me
wonder what Japanese people are thinking sometimes – like umeboshi (sour plum),
it was salty! There is always a new
flavor of Pocky or KitKat to try, a new pudding type sweet to enjoy with lunch. It is impossible to have a regular order at
any local restaurant since there are new things to try each visit. Even home cooking becomes an adventure as
seasonal produce and fruits offer new and exciting recipes to try at a lower
cost.
However, this embracing of seasonal flavors
also has a pretty big down side. As
quickly as sakura flavor season arrived, it will be replaced with soda, melon,
and other summer flavors. Like the
blooms it is meant to represent, it has a shelf life of but a moment. The Japanese seem okay with this. But as an American, used to getting whatever
I want, in season on not, it is a little bit soul crushing when a flavor I have
really come to enjoy is suddenly not available anymore. Or when the prices of a certain fruit soar to
five or ten dollars for just a few pieces.
But perhaps this is the point.
Perhaps even Japanese people mourn the loss of their favorite seasonal
flavors and eagerly anticipate their return the next year. Perhaps in this modern Japan, where people
have replaced the vast green rice paddies of their ancestors with towering forests
of metal and stone, seasonal flavors are the new almanac to keep Japanese people
tied to nature and the help the younger generation appreciate the beauty and
bounty of each brief season.
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| Only old men like this flavor. Well, old men and Anata. |
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