Nosh of the Day: warabimochi & anmitsu

Actually, TWO nice traditional desserts we tried in a tatami-matted Kyoto restaurant.

Haruko chan's - warabimochi: very soft-sticky-style mochi made from bracken starch (yes, those ferns we stomp through in woodland!) with brown sugar syrup. It is usually rolled in some kind of powder to make it easier to manage. This one used matcha (green tea) powder.

Warabimochi

Mine - anmitsu: various sorts of agar jelly, mochi, something else chewy, anko (sweet, mashed, red beans), marron (chestnut) and syrup. I had mine with matcha jelly and ice cream (more sophisticated than it sounds!)

Anmitsu

 

Martial art of the month: Japan - Sumo

Tournament ceremony, Tokyo *

Pronounced 'smo' by Japanese, sumo is a grappling art, and a professional sport (exclusively) in Japan. It has ancient roots and connections with Shinto beliefs, and is still heavily ritualised.

How it's played
Two rikishi (力士) battle to push their opponent out. A rikishi is out if he steps from the ring (dohyou 土俵) or touches the ground with anything other than the soles of his feet.

At the start of the bout, both wrestlers crouch and touch the floor with their fists (the only time they can touch the floor with hands). They must then both simultaneously launch into the fight. If it is not simultaneous, the referee will restart the match. Bouts themselves tend to be very short - sometimes just a few seconds. The referee and judges decide the winner.

Frieze from my visit to Sumo HQ (ryougoku kokugikan) in Tokyo. Tickets to an actual event are very expensive!

Kit

Two mawashi 廻し (belt / apron things). An ornate one for the tournament opening ceremony; a plain one for fighting. Mawashi colour and ornateness reflect rank. On entry to the stadium, the very top wrestlers can be distinguished by a thick rope around their waists.

Tournaments
There are six professional Grand Sumo championships (honbasho 本場所)  held in Japan each year - in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. Each event lasts for 15 days, where senior fighters will compete daily, lower ranks less.

There is a lot of money in Sumo, but despite heavy modern commercialism and sponsorship, ancient practices are still upheld. Before fights, opponents are kept in separate East / West rooms and observe a number of rituals. When entering the dohyou, stomping is used to drive out bad spirits, and sacred salt is tossed into the ring.

The 'cede' list for a tournament is called a banzuke 番付 and is written using a specific kind of calligraphy. Even today a dohyou and platform are contructed fresh for each event, by special craftsmen using traditional materials - clay, straw bales, sand.

Stablemates and brothers are not allowed to fight each other at tournament.

Stable
Typically, wrestlers join a 'stable' where they have to observe a strict way of life. If they break rules, they can be banned from wrestling, and bring shame to the stablemaster.

Demands include growing their hair long, always wearing traditional Japanese dress (reflecting their rank) in public, a ban on driving and other aspects. They are allowed wives. Fighters are divided by rank in accordance solely with their performance. Senior fighters might be allowed to have their own apartments etc - but this could all go if they fail during one tournament.

Wrestlers will train, bathe and eat in accordance with rank. The pay for the more senior fighters can be extremely good, but by all accounts stable life can be very tough and pressurised, with all ranks subject to immediate change depending on performance. Lower ranks don't get a good deal. As recently as 2007 a young sumo trainee died after brutal bullying from his seniors.

Foreign rikishi can join a professional stable in Japan.

Women are not allowed to compete professionally, or even touch the 'pure' dohyou during tournament season!

Click on this link to see a sumo fight in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=nsmo4YxISx0&NR=1

* Image courtesy of Konnichiwa blog.

Japan: toilets

It's a cliche, but it had to be done. 

Japan's loos are a thing of wonder. During my brief recent visit I encountered all varieties - from the squatover pan with no toilet paper provided (e.g. Kyoto JR) to the bafflingly hi-tech.

In the techno case, you have a variety of sprays, 'bidet' and drying facilities while still sitting. Often you can  also choose duration, angle etc. Ladies toilets also usually have a sound and volume setting for modesty: recordings of gushing water sounds to disguise any, er, 'other' noises.

Basic options.

Flushing is another poser. A flush device might be recognisable from the West, but it also might be automatic, part of some light sensitive thing you need to activate, or on a wall-button nowhere near the loo. And it probably won't be indicated in English. So be warned.

At Shinjuku station I mistakenly pressed the emergency button - prompting a concerned official in uniform to come rushing into the karzy. (And requiring me to sashay out nonchalantly, pretending I didn't understand.)

A slightly more complex offer. NB: no English, though the pictograms are useful!

But the thing the Japanese really have got right: heated seats! My friends had these in their homes, and you will find them in nicer public amenities too. What comfort on a freezing February day! When I get rich, I am definitely importing this idea to my home in the UK!

Japan: bus, zmaaaas and class

When you go somewhere different, things will be different. In Kyoto I travelled quite a bit by bus. Generally (and conversely from the UK) you get on at the back, then pay or swipe your travelcard when you leave - from the front doors. Sometimes you need to ping the card both on boarding and alighting.

Bus drivers wear smart uniforms and white gloves. Rather than cowering quietly behind (what should probably be) bullet-proof glass a la London, drivers sit in an open seat and talk to customers as part of their duties. As each person exits you will hear him say 'zmaaaaas'. I thought this was a weird recording at first, in fact it is a real man saying 'thank you' (arigatou gozaimasu). He also announces 'ugokimasu' (we're moving) as the bus pulls away. I admit this must be pretty much a snore if you are a bus driver, but it's friendlier for customers.

To me the Japanese bus experience reflects the low-crime and in a way 'un-cynical' side of Japan. Who could be trusted to consistently pay after their journey in London? Or not knife the driver and grab the cash? OK, I could be trusted, but you get my drift! (Actually I think London bendy buses were scrapped partly due to fare-dodging.)

Japan is highly advanced, but (or should I say 'and'?) there seems to be very little inclination to dodge, rebel, rock the boat. To a Westerner - and possibly to Japanese too! - there is an element of repression here; but it does lead to a more harmonious society, and there appears to be a far stronger ethic of considerateness (see Masks, Shibuya entry). I know traditionally Asian cultures focus more on the wellbeing of the group - less the individual - but I have certainly seen plenty of rule-dodging in other parts of East Asia!

So why is Japan so orderly?

Having read, and talked to both Japanese friends and lived-in-Japan-gaijin, it seems Japan has a very broad middle class. There must be an underclass somewhere, but I certainly haven't seen it during my visit in the way I have in Europe, US, and SE Asia. So perhaps this lack of divide plays a part in the non-desire for boat-rocking? In Japan, are people less likely to look at others with envy or genuine disgust at the rift between have and have-nots?

One Japanese friend I spoke to didn't view janitors, bus drivers or shop workers as people with 'lesser jobs'. (And I think we do in Europe and other parts of Asia!) To my friend, a bus driver is a trusted official, others might be more commonly expected to be old people (working in retirement to earn a bit of extra cash and keep in socially with colleagues) younger people working their way up, or perhaps married women jobbing for pocket money. The social stigma element is not there. Of course this is just one person's opinion, but if the view is common, this lack of stigma feels kinda healthy. And if you feel you have respect and an OK life, surely there is less appeal in rebelling?

Plus it could throw a different light on the idea of hierarchy. Are we in the West, perhaps just as hierarchical as infamous Japan, but in another way - with class?

All of the above is my own conjecture based on observations. I am not a socio-economist and my experience of Japan is of course very limited! But there is definitely something very different going on in Japan and I find it interesting!

Meanwhile, please do feel free to comment. And as for your time in reading this: 'zmaaaaas'!

Japan: around Fushimi Inari

I was hungry after my day at the shrine. So I had a mooch around the local village and found these yummy, crunchy little biscuits shaped like fish! They are sweet-tasting. (If anyone knows the reason they are shaped like fish, please comment!)

Here's what the shop and village looked like. Traditionally, low-rise, wooden buildings are more common in Japan. Without advanced techniques, tall, brick or stone buildings do not fare well in earthquakes.

        

                                           

Japan, Kyoto: Fushimi Inari shrine

Tourist times! But a really wonderful day out of snowflakes and sunshine for me. (Apologies for the mad layout, Blogspot is next to impossible to format at prez.)

Avenues of Torii

This shrine (really a collection of shrines and beautiful spots) is scattered across a hillside of bamboo forest, and - if you want to do the whole thing - involves a 4km walk up steps and paths lined by thousands of Torii (red gate-like structures used in Shinto religion).

Torii literally means 'bird-perch' and actually the one thing that struck me about this visit was the loud and vibrant birdsong at the site. (I even thought it was a recording at first; it wasn't!) The inscriptions on each Torii are actually the names of the businesses that have donated them and supported the temple. Yep good old corporate sponsorship! This might seem unromantic to the Westerner - but they still look lovely, don't they?

Inari is the name of the mountain, but also a kind of Shinto 'deity' which represents business (so the corporate sponsorship is pretty apt!) and, among other things, rice and foxes.

Priests unloading rice?

                                                                                                                               
I don't know a lot about Shinto, and even if you don't pray here, I can thoroughly recommend a visit for great vistas, peace and nature.

This day also marked my first stand-alone train ride in Japan using survival language skills to get from Kyoto to the small village near this mountain. So proud!

Japan: linguistics

" Verb: 触ります (sawarimasu) - to touch (a door) "

So the textbook says. Some of you might be familiar with it. To 'touch' a door? I had always assumed this meant perhaps to 'knock at' a door. On my arrival in Tokyo, however, I realised it meant exactly to 'touch' a door. In Japan you open most sliding doors by touching a sensitive electronic pad.

Mystery solved.

(Though a lot about Japan still remains unanswered!)