SAKURA, SAKURA

PART II - Autumn: Getting

Used to Japan

The haiku by Basho introduces the next season, autumn. I notice that the seasons seem to be more closely followed and celebrated in Japan than in any other countries. As time passes the foliage begins to change colour, the temperature drops slightly, the sun rises later and later. The signs of nature showing me that it is time to say goodbye to summer and welcome to autumn. The lush green scenery slowly gives way to the browns, oranges and reds of the leaves as they start to fall from the trees.

My personal experience in Japan is also evolving in unison with the seasons. After the euphoria of the summer festivals and the intense learning experiences I have already enjoyed, I feel my life is now slowing down and I can breathe again, moving into a new routine, fit for the new season. My family too. Xavier and Aksel are settling down well in their new school environment, enjoying a mixture of the international curriculum as well as various classes at the Japanese school next door. After school they both play football three times a week, at the Rokkasho FC. I am enrolled in various classes, including shodo, ikebana, Pilates, yosakoi, and Japanese. Only my husband has a similar routine as before leaving Europe. He is still working in an international environment on the same project as when we were in Germany. Some of his in-person meetings are now replaced by videoconferences with Europe in the evening, because of the time difference. The only real change to his routine is that we have the opportunity to regularly eat lunch together since his work is much closer to home.

Japanese food and Aomori specialities

As soon as we set foot in Japan, our eating habits changed. From the first day I put chopsticks (hashi) on the table instead of knives and forks. I think Xavier and Aksel hardly even notice the change. It seemed natural to all of us. Instead of trying to reproduce our European eating and cooking habits in this environment, where I would struggle to find the required products, I decided to adapt to what is available at the local supermarket. Instead of looking for courgettes, ham or feta, I started buying fresh scallops, tofu or daikon.

Japan pushes me to rediscover rice. Because of my son's intolerance to gluten, rice becomes a staple. It is very easy to get and it's one of the few things that we are sure is gluten free. I use a good quality rice to make sure I maintain a high vitamin and mineral content in our diet. When I cook rice, I mix the already high quality Japanese white rice, with the germinated brown rice, called GABA rice or hatsuga genmai. This form of rice has been sprouted, which increases its gamma-aminobutyric acid content, an important neurotransmitter that affects the brain and other organs and muscles. To simplify life, I bought a rice cooker, which totally changed my relationship to rice. Being French, rice is not something that I am expert at cooking (maybe it is just me?) so I never ate it that much. Now with a rice cooker, I'm happy to eat rice often because it does a wonderful job at it.

At first, I am quite shocked by the price of fruit and vegetables. But after some adaptation time, I notice that aubergines (nasu), are quite cheap, compared to courgettes, avocado or any other traditional western food. When in season, fruit or vegetables are also reasonably priced, so we eat seasonal products. Apples in winter, kaki fruit in autumn. Also, there many varieties of fruit which are new to me, especially citrus fruits such as mikan, yuzu or kinkan, just to name a few amongst the 30 varieties available in Japan. Bananas seem to be, like everywhere else in the world, readily available all year around. I discover new vegetables such as Japanese pumpkins (kabocha), which are green on the outside but orange on the inside, large, long white radishes (daikon), and very sticky long, thin potatoes (naga no imo or yama no imo).

Sashimi

There is also a big difference in the quantities available when comparing the Western world to Japan. The Japanese container size for yoghurt and ice cream is half the size of a European container, cookies are much smaller and are all individually packaged. It compels me to ask the question, "Do I really need or want another one?" In fact, after a while, I find the Japanese sizes to be much more reasonable. Not too much, not too little, but just right.

As for meat and fish, both the preparation and packaging are very different to Europe. In Japan, the meat is thinly sliced and packaged in small quantities, which naturally leads us to reduce our meat intake. There are two quality levels for the fish, the best quality fish looks beautiful and is to be eaten as sashimi or in sushi, while the slightly lower quality fish is for cooking or frying.

Aomori prefecture is not only famous for its Nebuta festival, but also for its culinary products. Over the months, in addition to discovering ho-ta-te, I am also introduced to other products including black garlic, tuna and Fuji apples. Living in Aomori prefecture, I must mention Aomori apples. The prefecture produces the most apples in Japan, supplying over 50 % of the apples to the national apple market. The most renowned cultivar of the region is the Fuji apple, a cross between Ralls Janet and Delicious, which was developed in 1962. When driving through Kuroishi or Hirosaki, it's impossible to miss the 21,400 hectares of apple orchards in the region. The first apple trees were imported during the Meiji era (1868-1912), coming mainly from America, but also some from France and England. Nowadays, the area attracts many tourists because of apples and associated apple products. Some hotels in the area, even use apples in their onsen, where bathing amongst floating apples adds to the onsen experience. It is said that the malic acid in apples has moisturising properties, while the linoleic acid promotes blood circulation and the oleic acid softens the skin and replenishes skin oils. Although many apple products can be purchased in the area, from apple juice, apple vinegar, apple candies, to apple soaps and apple skin creams, just eating a red, sweet and crispy Fuji apple, on its own, is already a delicious experience.

Black garlic, a somewhat peculiar product, is also one of the Aomori specialities. Imagine opening a normal looking clove of garlic, to find inside a softer piece of jelly-like garlic, as dark as charcoal. The first question that came to mind when I tasted this speciality was, "Does it grow black like this or has it been processed?" It is produced by fermentation of the entire head of fresh garlic, at a temperature of between 60 and 90 °C and humidity of between 70 and 90 %, for a period of two to four weeks. The garlic turns black due to a set of non-enzymatic browning reactions, including phenol oxidation and caramelisation. In the process of turning black, the garlic acquires more antioxidants, giving it new therapeutic properties including anti-obesity, anti-cancer, hepato-protective and neuro-protective effects.

Not only are hotate famous as seafood from our region but tuna (maguro) is also, especially the tuna from Oma, on the Shimokita Peninsula. This tuna is so tasty that people from Tokyo drive all the way to Oma for the weekend, just to enjoy the fresh tuna from the area. What makes Oma tuna so exceptionally tasty is the perfect fat balance in the meat, from feeding on saury (also known as the mackerel pike) and squid, present in its natural habitat, the Tsugaru Strait. After tasting the tuna in Japan, I finally understood the importance of fat in the taste of food. It renders the tuna meat much moister and tenderer than the tuna normally found in Europe.

Home-made gyoza

With the discovery of new products and some help from my Japanese friends, I increase my cooking repertoire, not only with tempura, chicken karaa-ge and gyoza, but also with chanchan yaki, a salmon dish traditionally prepared for the fishermen; yaki soba, a fried noodle dish, and the traditional miso soup, drank daily by most Japanese. It takes many attempts before I can make a miso soup that tastes good. I guess that's why I really do appreciate a good miso soup. I understand the effort that goes into making it.

Politeness - tatemae and honne

I really notice that food is very much ingrained in the Japanese culture, with the amount of food and cooking programs available on TV. But group harmony, politeness and the art of apologising are also extremely important in Japanese society and culture.

The first thing that a person usually notices upon arrival to Japan is how polite everyone is. I think in my two years in Japan, I only met one person who was not friendly and polite to us. Being polite is part of the Japanese way of life. It is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and goes a lot further than the European way of thinking about politeness. Sure, around the world, politeness is important. Each country teaches children to say "Please", "Thank you" and "Sorry". In this regard, the closest country to Japan that I've experienced, is Great Britain, where "Sorry" seems to be the first word you hear as you land in the country. It is used a...