Japanese, Queues, Food Fashion and Limited Editions

I have noticed something very odd about Japanese people. They love to queue. If there is a line, other Japanese people will seem to join, not really knowing what is at the front, but just assuming “Well these people are queuing so there must be something good at the front!” I would look at a long queue and rate it against my desire for what is at the end, but Japanese people seem to think the longer the queue, the better the thing at the end must be. I noticed this on a previous trip to Tokyo back in 2009. I saw a queue snaking it's way back and forth with people lining up for Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Apparently Krispy Kreme had just come to Japan and it was the in thing to be eating, even though the signs were indicating the wait at roughly an hour.

Which brings me to my second point; 'Food Fashion'. Japanese people seem to consider food to be fashionable and trendy in the same way as style, clothes, cars or other things of a more non-edible nature. I haven't worked out if it's 'cool' to be seen eating it, eating it with your friends, telling your friends you've eaten it or buying it to give to someone; or even all the above, but food can definitely be cool here.

Which brings me to 'Limited Editions', this can be food or something in general, but Japanese people love anything of a 'Limited Edition'. I know from living with Maki for so many years she is a sucker a 'Limited Edition'. If there is a TV advert for a new type of chocolate bar with a limited flavour, she has to have it, even though she's not a fan of chocolate. Japan has some clearly defined seasons and this bring with it seasonal items too. I once tried an Autumn Limited Edition Asahi Beer, which in my view tasted like normal beer; but this is the kind of thing Japanese people like, “It's autumn so I must drink autumnal beer.” Granted it makes sense for some food, unlike us westerners who want everything all-year-round, but when you stick a cherry blossom on something and call it a 'Limited Spring Edition' then Japanese people will line up to by it, literally.

The picture below shows people queuing out of a store just to buy a small, round, cake.  

My Christmas Day

We awoke in our 19^th floor executive hotel room in Sapporo, Hokkaido; with a breath-taking view of the city, coated in white. A lazy start, listening to Christmas tunes on my iPad to get in the spirit while we open presents and drink tea.

Once showered and dressed we went down to the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen and ate in front of a large window with a view of a snow covered garden; gorging ourselves on bread, waffles, fruits, eggs, bacon, french toast and yoghurt.

But no time to rest as we head to the station, not before Maki takes a complementary sauna while I pack up our wonderful gifts. We meet Maki's friend at the station to send us off and board our train to Niseko. On the train we eat an assorted sashimi-don bento while watching the Narnia like scenery whizz by and taking time out to start watching 'The Great Escape' on my iPad (It is Christmas after-all and never seen it all the way through).

We dropped our stuff at our hotel, grabbed our rented skies and headed to the slopes for our lesson.  The ski lesson was good with a slow start as dusk set in and the flood lights came on, lighting the slopes with a beautiful glow; soon after which a bit of a blizzard set in, giving us a little challenge for our first lessons. But we did well and learnt a lot.

We returned to our new hotel and a buffet lunch including roast beef, more sashimi, tempura and loads more food than we could realistically eat. Once our stomachs had been sufficient filled with all the great food, we retreated to warm our aching muscles in the hotels outdoor, mixed onsen; a hot bath surrounded by a winter wonderland, cover in a thick blanket of snow.

Splendid.

Merry Christmas from Your Man In Japan

Random English of the Month – Homemade Pie

This small snack says it is a “Homemade Pie”. However, it doesn't look or taste anything like a pie, more like a biscuit. And I think I can safely assume it is not homemade either.

Me Man, Me Bake!

At my schools there is a Japanese etiquette that if you go somewhere you should buy small sweets, or omiyage, for your colleagues to give them on your return. This is sometimes somewhat of an issue for me as I'm going somewhere most weekends and I also work at three schools, with in total about 85-90 teachers. A small trip would cost me a small fortune in sweets alone. so I don't always buy something.

However, for Christmas, I wanted to do something nice for my teachers and rather than buying a sweet, I thought why not make them something! Small cakes would be ideal, but I don't have an oven. I do, however, know how to make Welsh Cakes which are cooked in a pan, thanks to an old Welsh flatmate of mine. So I set about a mass batch production of mini Welsh Cakes (Modifying the recipe to have chocolate instead of raisons). They came out well and over two evenings I churned out over 150 mini cakes, making enough for my evening class as well and extra for hungry teachers. There reception was great, however, something of a patterned response emerged. Every time offered someone a cake, I was met with the question “Did your wife make these?” When I told them I made them, there was surprised, followed with something along the lines of “Really. Well done! They taste good”. However, after a while it became a little patronising. Just because I'm a man, why shouldn't I be able to cook?!?

It appears the divide between men and women in Japan is still stronger than I thought and that men of my age don't cook, clean or any kind of housework for that matter. Obviously this comes from a time when women didn't go to work, but women are working now and yet they still have the responsibility of cooking, cleaning and childcare. This coming from school teachers that only last week cancelled my afternoon lesson to educate their students on equal rights, this just smacks with a sense of irony. Japanese men, cook for your women folk!

Kyuushoku Dairies

Kyuushoku (給食) means school lunch and I have decided to try and remember to take photos of my lunch to share them with you all as school lunches in Japan are the best I've ever seen. There might also be hidden within the secret to why I've lost so much weight since I got to Japan, dropping from 82kg to 70kg (10kg of which was in the first 6 weeks). The Japanese diet seems to be working well and its not for the sake of the quality I am eating, as I am devouring anything edible that comes within arms reach. And it's all so tasty. If I leave Japan, the food will be the number one thing I miss.

Chocolate Crisps!

Thats right, crisps drizzled with chocolate. I'm getting the impression Japanese people don't know what to do with chocolate.