Comunicación Para El Desarrollo

Julien Cholet

Japanese culture from a foreign point of view:

The Japanese food culture

Japan is a country benefitting a very strong culture, which is specific to the country. Indeed, Japan seems to be the balance of modernism and tradition, of eccentricities and respect. From a foreign point of view, it is sometimes difficult to apprehend the Japanese culture. Neverthe- less, there are some particular aspects of the culture which are more striking than others.

One of the most famous aspects is the tea ceremony, which is much more than simply drink- ing tea. This is almost a cult of aesthetic. This is a ritual during which people have to follow rules such as beholding, give the tea, drink it, then wait... The tea ceremony can be considered as a mental discipline and a way to learn good manners. It is also the opportunity to share a unique moment. There is also the art of calligraphy, that of writing kanji, which are ideo- grams. The calligraphy is linked to the noble art of letters and is much respected. People who are experts in this domain are respected and regarded as inheritors of the history and the tradi- tions. Kabuki could also be cited as a striking cultural aspect of Japan. This popular theatre combines scenic play, wonderful costumes and make up for the exclusively masculine actors, all of this supported by the music. It is important to realize that very often Japanese cultural aspects have more or less the same principle, which is to share a special moment, which is somehow unique.

Nevertheless, the point which really deserves to be developed regarding culture is the food culture. With other countries such as France or Italy, Japan is one of the countries having the strongest identity on that matter. The cuisine can be compared to an art almost sacred and the presentation of the table is as important as the freshness of the food. This paper’s goal is first to describe the Japanese food culture, and then to see its impact in the rest of the world and the contrary.

Japanese food culture: The tradition of the rice served with vegetables and fish and other sea products has reached its most sophisticated form during the Edo period (1600–1868) and remains the heart of the Japanese food culture. Nevertheless, since the opening of the country to the occident (150 years ago), Japan has developed a rich and diversified food culture, including Japanese food but also numerous dishes from foreign countries, some of them changed to face the local taste, and other unchanged. The typical historical Japanese meal is the kaiseki ryori, which developed in its current form at the beginning of the 19th century, and is still offered in restaurants of high standards called ryotei and in the traditionnel ryokan. The sake is the drink during the meal, and because Japanese do not generally eat rice at the same time as they drink sake, the rice was served at the end of the meal. The meal is composed as follows, entries, sashimi, suimono (soup), yakimono (grilled food), mushimono (steam cooked food), nimono (simmered food) and aemono (more or less salad and sauce) are eaten first, then there is a miso soup, tsukemono, rice, Japanese sweets and fruits. The tea is the conclusion of this meal. Even though most of the Japanese almost never eat a kaiseki dinner in whole, its structure corresponds to that of the basic Japanese meal nowadays.

The choice of ingredients offered in department stores and food stores is so diversified, especially in big cities, that no matter the day, a dinner prepared at home can contain a large variety of dishes with a foreign origin. Nonetheless, Japanese food is still the standard. A «Japanese meal» at home will always offer in general white rice, miso soup, and tsukemono (small vegetables). The different dishes accompanying those three elements depends on the region, the season, and the taste of the family, but it would certainly be cooked vegetables, or tofu, cooked fish, sashimi, or beef, pork or chicken meat. The other possibilities are are foreign dishes, such as meat and vegetables in the Chinese style, beef and pork grilled in the Korean style, or even western food, such as pizza for instance. While many families keep eating every evening dishes cooked at home, one of the greatest changes in the eating habits recently is the increase of already prepared food. Sushi, Chinese and Japanese noodles, bento (lunch boxes), can be delivered at home very easily, and this also the case for pizza for example. Moreover, department stores offer a large range of dishes such as sushi, tempura, fried chicken, which can be brought back home, so that this tendency has strongly developed in the last two decades. Japanese and foreign food, impact and exchanges: Sushi, the most famous contribution of Japan to the global food culture, or rather industry, can generally be eaten in sushi restaurants, where clients seat and regularly ask the chief for new commands. The other type of restaurant is that of the popular chains of sushi restaurant, using a conveyer belt from which people take the plates on which lay sushis. Contrary to Japanese restaurants in foreign countries which offer a large range of dishes, restaurants in Japan generally specializes in one single type of cuisine. It can be udon, okonomiyaki, sushi, shabushabu, soba, sukiyaki... The main exceptions are chain restaurants for family which offer a variety of dishes from all over the world. There are also two types of restaurants which have developed widely in Japan but still cannot be considered as Japanese restaurants, these are the restaurants of ramen, which has a Chinese origin, and the restaurants of yakiniku, which corresponds more to the Korean style of barbecue. Most of the big cities have a considerable number of foreign restaurants which offer French, Italian, Indian, Chinese, or Korean food, and in Tokyo, there are so many places to eat that the offer has almost no limits, and food from everywhere can be found. At the opposite on the scale of prices from kaiseki ryotei or French restaurants, there are also typical places such as stalls in urban places and during festivals or other events where people gather. The most popular stalls certainly are those with yakisoba, yakitori, okonomiyaki, francfurt sausages...

As mentioned previously, during more than a century, Japan has imported a lot of foreign foods, but there have only been a few exchanges in the other side. Nevertheless, during the last two decades, the growing importance everywhere of sane food habits has put the light on the Japanese cuisine. This phenomenon has contributed to the boom of Japanese food in foreign countries, and the incredible increase regarding the number of Japanese in the world’s biggest cities. The majority of these restaurants are sushi restaurants, also offering a few other dishes such as tempura. The number of restaurants specializing in cheap noodles such as ramen and soba also increased. The Ministry of Agriculture, forests and fishing, estimates that the number of Japanese restaurants in foreign countries is now superior to 20 000, 10 000 of which being in the United States. The total number of Japanese restaurants in the United States is considered to have increased by 250% during the last 10 years, and their number in the United Kingdom by 300% during the last five years. Nevertheless, this business doesn’t benefit directly Japanese people, as it is considered that less than 10% of the restaurants owners in the United States have Japanese origins. To put it in a nutshell, it seems obvious that Japanese food, as the rest of the culture, has a very strong identity, history and background. Japanese food is recognized as one of the best from the health point of view, a cuisine which is complicated and simple at the same time. Even if the globalization tends to standardize everything and has already an impact on sushis, spreading all over the world, there is no doubt that Japan is strong enough to keep its food cultural almost intact. I would like to finish with a personal point of view, which is that Japan is definitely a country of wonderful cultural habits, each of them being a real “moment” in a day or in a life.