Feeding Frenzy

Food. My first priority shortly after arriving in Japan was finding places to buy ingredients to recreate the dishes I love from home. Soon, I came to rely on Kaldi and Seijo Ishii  for allspice , Yamaya for Jamaican rum (even though it's just Myers's Rum) and my local Summit Supermarket for everything else in between. 　


Three years into my life here, I've gotten somewhat used to food shopping in Japan, but there are still some things that baffle me when I walk into the store, like:


Bread


The first time I ventured out into a Japanese supermarket in search of bread, I was extremely surprised to find this:

Bread in packets of six and eight slices. I still find myself longing for hard dough bread like what I could buy at National Bakery. However, I'm left to choose between the six-slice pack or the eight-slice pack (or even a three-slice pack at some supermarkets) each of the three times per two weeks I buy bread. I've gotten somewhat used to the available choices, but I still keep wondering whenever I see the three-slice packs, what IS one supposed to do with an odd number of slices?


Bacon


It seems to me that in Japanese supermarkets, with the exception of international supermarkets like National Azabu  and meat wholesalers like Niku No Hanamasa, bacon equals sliced ham. Don't get me wrong - I love ham but I like it in my sandwiches. I'm not a fan of frying it up. Why can't I find anything that fries like real bacon near where I live. A woman on Yahoo! Answers responds to (basically) the same question posted by another ex-pat three years ago:

Do you know how Japanese people cook bacon? I don't think you do. But before I answer how we cook bacon, I want to say that I really don't know how British people cook bacon because I've never visited and lived there. But I do know how Americans cook bacon because I've lived in the states for more than 10 years, and I do cook real bacon here in the states.

Well, many Japanese people who know how Americans cook bacon would say they cook bacon until it's really burnt. So we call the kind of bacon " burnt bacon." 

But for Americans, how we cook bacon is too rare. Well, my husbands's brother ( American) goes to Japan for business and he told me that the way Japanese people cook bacon is too rare. So he didn't want to eat bacon because he thought that he would get sick by eating " raw" bacon. Well, in America, cooking bacon like how the Japanese do is not safe to eat because Americans use " real" bacon. In order to eat real bacon, people need to cook it really well.

But in Japan, we don't really like to cook bacon that way. So we have our bacon that is safe to eat. Our bacon is smoked and heated through because we want to eat rare or medium-rare bacon. So the kind of bacon has been sold in Japan.

Well, actually selling " real" bacon (the bacon that is dangerous to eat as raw ) was prohibited by law. That's why, you couldn't see " real" bacon at any grocery stores in Japan. Well, we are very careful when it comes to food that when we want to eat something that is not safe to eat as raw, we need to do something. So stuff like eggs, bacon are pasteurized usually.

But these days, Japan has introduced unheated bacon which is very very close to " real" bacon. Since we are getting to know more western style food, we've changed the law a bit that some stores started selling unheated bacon. Even though many Japanese people still don't like to cook bacon like how Americans do, some people who like international food want to try to cook...well, " burnt bacon." But still we like to eat raw stuff so the bacon is not probably the exactly same as the bacon sold in the states if raw bacon is made through bacon companies in Japan:

 Chicken


I mentioned before on this blog how big a deal chicken is in Japan during the Christmas season. People pre-order buckets of fried chicken from KFC weeks in advance and whole chickens can be found in supermarkets everywhere. The week after Christmas, though, there are no whole chickens to be found except at a few international supermarkets and meat wholesalers such as the above-mentioned.

Also, there is the fact the boneless chicken as all most Japanese supermarkets seem to be interested in selling, with the exception of chicken wings. You can get wings, livers, hearts, breasts, boneless thighs and even chicken meatballs but no drumsticks! Where are the drumsticks?

Kit Kat


There are many flavours of this popular candy bar here that I'm sure people outside of Japan would have never dreamt of, for example, yuzukosho.  Yuzu is a citrus fruit that is found in East Asia. Yuzukosho is type of seasoning made from yuzu, peppers and salt. The first time I was offered  a Yuzukosho Kit Kat bar, I was a bit skeptical, but I ended up liking it a lot. Other flavours that can be found in Japan include candied sweet potato, apple vinegar (with white chocolate), sweet corn and green tea. You can get a look at more flavours on Nestle Japan's website here.

There are many other things that make me shake my head or raise an eyebrow whenever I go grocery shopping or receive gifts (such as the Yuzukosho Kit Kat bar I got from a student) but I will leave more for another post. Meanwhile, if you're an ex-pat in Japan and you've had any puzzling gastronomical experiences (apart from trying unusual traditional Japanese cuisine, obviously) please leave me a comment. Happy cooking and don't burn the ham, er, bacon.

Deck The Love Hotels With KFC Buckets

I just spent my third Christmas in Japan and it still doesn't cease to inspire the occasional shake of the head and utterance of "what the f---". Christmas here is so fundamentally different from what I am accustomed to back home that trying to make sense of it seems as impossible a feat as finding a lost earring on the floor in Forever 21, Harajuku on opening day. I guess the only way for me to tackle it is to get into the three recurring themes that continue to baffle me year after year.

Part 1 - Work

Many of my co-workers bemoaned the fact that they had to work on Christmas Day but that fact didn't bother me at all. Aside from the years I spent in school, I've never had Christmas Day off. My first job was in the call center of a cell phone company in Jamaica, and I had to work on Christmas Day. I didn't work on Christmas Day at two of my four subsequent places of employment - one being the IT department at my college and another being small film production company where the film makers felt like spending the day with their families.

So, working on Christmas Day didn't bug me (so much). The difference is the manner of work.

When I worked at the cell phone company, we got our quarterly bonuses in December, so everyone was in a festive mood at the office. Also, Christmas Day was a casual dress day and the company gave everyone a complimentary bottle of rum cream, which I suppose was to be taken as thanks for working on a day when everyone would rather be elsewhere.

In Japan, December 25 is not a holiday. It's a normal work day and everybody is expected to show up for work, of which I was well aware before coming here and so it didn't bother me at all. Also, the office is quite festive during the weeks leading up to the big day, but not in the same manner as offices in the U.S. or Jamaica.

Come December 1 (or earlier at some companies), every eikaiwa teacher (especially those teaching children) knows the drill. It's all about decorations, making origami Christmas objects or other crafts, reading stories about Santa Claus and sometimes dressing up as Santa Claus. Whereas back in Jamaica, one might work on December 25 in spite of it being Christmas Day, here, as an English teacher at an eikaiwa school, Christmas IS work! Christmas is a Western holiday and the activities we do at work are part of a large effort to tell the story of Christmas to our students. In fact, what we end up doing is sharing the Japanese vision of Christmas in America, with the turkey and the red-and-white-clad Santa Claus. After doing this show for three years, it is not at all shocking to me that quite a few Japanese people (kids especially) have the impression that all people from the West celebrate Christmas in the same way.

I can recall a conversation I had with an adult student about Santa Claus.

Student: I bought my daughter's Christmas present yesterday. I have to hide it until Christmas morning so that she thinks it's from Santa.

Me: Oh? Your children believe in Santa Claus?

S.: Yes they still do. Oh! You're from Jamaica, right? So, what is Santa Claus' costume in Jamaica?

Me: [cringing inwardly] I beg your pardon?

S.: How do Jamaicans imagine Santa Claus' wear? Does he wear swim trunks and sunglasses?

Me: Well....and I can only speak for myself, of course but...when I was a child, I just saw Santa Claus as a character on TV. In fact, until I was about four years old, I thought he was American cartoon character, like Mickey Mouse.

S.: [bewildered] So, you don't believe in Santa Claus in Jamaica?

Me: Now, I can't say that NO CHILD in Jamaica believes in Santa Claus, but I never did. I just always thought it would have been impossible for a fat man to come down a chimney. Besides, Jamaica is a tropical country. We don't have chimneys and fireplaces in our houses.

S.: But, Australians have Santa Claus even though they have Christmas in summer. He comes to Australia on a surf board.

Me: Is that so? Well, I don't know what to say about that, since I'm not Australian, but that surely is interesting.

Part 2 - The Events

How do you know Christmas is coming in Japan? Lights. Christmas illuminations here starting from the end of November herald the coming of one of the big shopping seasons in the country. Elaborate light shows around various shopping malls and train stations (many of which boast large department stores) bring people several miles from home to take them in and then take part in the subsequent bargain-hunting around the surrounding areas. The illuminations usually lift my spirits somewhat (in spite of my inner Grinch) and those that are done well are definitely sights to see.

I recently walked around Ebisu Garden Place and checked out the Baccarat Eternal Lights chandelier that's displayed there every Christmas.

Christmas lights in Ebisu Garden Place



The red carpet leading to the chandelier. Ebisu Garden Place.




Baccarat Eternal Lights

For those of you in Tokyo, the chandelier will be on display until January 11. For a list of Christmas illuminations in Tokyo (some of which might be continuing through January) check out this list.

Another thing you will notice about Christmas in Japan is the ubiquitousness of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) here during the season. Somehow, KFC has managed to convince Japan that its chicken is THE traditional Christmas food and thereby has managed to take the lion's share of the fast food market during the Christmas season for a long while. I still marvel at the long lines and the many sold-out lists posted to certain delivery dates leading up to December 25. I went to KFC a few weeks ago because I had forgotten my homemade lunch in the kitchen like an idiot. I went up to the cashier and (to her apparent dismay) ordered two pieces of original chicken and a side of coleslaw. She looked at me disappointed that I was not ordering a Christmas meal. I looked back at her thinking:

Lady, I am from Jamaica. This fast-fried nonsense will never compare to the ham, rice and peas, roast chicken, stuffed fish, sweet potatoes, manish water and sorrel I grew up eating and drinking at Christmastime so hurry up and give me my damn lunch so that I can go back to my office. *kiss teeth*

Christmas lights, thumbs up. Christmas food will be somewhat satisfactorily left to the facilities in my Japanese kitchen.

Part 3 - The Loved Ones

Now, I am the first to say that my family is screwed up. I am related to far too many crazy-ish people living dysfunctional lives to think that I have a snowball's chance in hell of calling my family normal. Still, I liked being with them all at Christmastime. The sorrel always flowed. The ham/chicken was always perfect, as was the rice and peas and my family could always put aside their pettiness for show, especially in the presence of my great-grandmother (who passed away at the grand age of 97 in 2008, R.I.P.). For me, Christmas was the time when my always pensive mother would relax, and laugh and show me how to cook things and how to make sorrel (without rum until I was 18). I didn't feel distant from my distant relatives at that time of year and whether or not I got presents, it was always a happy time for me.

Well, here I am in Japan. I haven't laid eyes on my mother since January 2006 and each Christmas that passes by, I miss her more. For me, Christmas has always been about family, even if it involved snickering at crazy relatives with my mother in some corner of the kitchen or watching animated Christmas specials with my cousin on Christmas Day.

Here, Christmas (especially Christmas Eve) is a time when young couples get together and have a romantic time on the town. Usually, this involves a romantic dinner and a stroll around town looking at Christmas illuminations, capped off with the exchanging of expensive gifts and a stay in a love hotel.

I've never had the Japanese ロマンチッククリスマス (romantic Christmas). My first Christmas in Japan was spent at work thinking about a guy I had met a few weeks before who had gone home for the holidays. By the next Christmas, I was in a relationship with said guy, but he got violently ill with a stomach virus after we had exchanged presents and this year, we spent Christmas night watching old animated Christmas DVDs while I fell asleep on his shoulder after a long day at work.

So, Christmas has been neither here nor home for me during my time in Japan. My boyfriend and I have each other, the makings of a ロマンチッククリスマス in Japan, but without our families, it's just not the same.

Intro

Let me begin by explaining the title of this blog. "K-Y" (ケーワイ) is a Japanese slang which is the abbreviation of "kuuki ga yomenai" (空気が読めない), which literally means the "air is not readable." In Japanese, K-Y is used to describe someone who can't read between the lines or can't understand a situation. Basically, what we refer to as "clueless" in English.

I've been in Japan for two years and even though I've gathered up enough knowledge of my surroundings and the culture by way of good old experience, I still feel clueless here sometimes (and this is not only due to my ineptitude with the language), hence the title of the blog.

More and more though, I find myself baffled (most times amused) by the reactions of people back home and friends of mine in the U.S. to some of my experiences here. Maybe my friends are right. Maybe I have been away from home for too long to understand why people would sometimes opt to remain closed to having certain experiences that I take for granted.

The other day I tried fugu (blowfish) for the first time. I don't usually photograph my meals in restaurants,  as many people in Tokyo are in the habit of doing, but since eating fugu is kind of a big deal (the possibility of almost immediate death on account of the poisonous liver) I decided to document the event.  We went to a really nice, reputable restaurant in Ginza, so I was pretty sure I was in no danger of suffering from fugu poisoning. That aside though, it was a first for me, so as soon as the first dish came out, out came my camera.

What you're looking at below is fugu sashimi (thinly sliced, raw fish). It's a pretty bland fish, but with some spicy daikon (Japanese radish) and ponzu (soy sauce with citrus juice), it's  pretty good.

Another fascinating thing about the place was that they had this special sake called "hirezake." "Hire" means fin and zake, of course, is sake. They put some fugu fin in a cup followed by warm sake. Then, they light the drink with a match to stave off the raw smell. It was interesting.  Weird enough for one of my girlfriends in Canada to react to this picture with: "OMG...whatever happened to Jamaican food?!"

What really got to my friends in Jamaica and the U.S. was the following video, which sparked responses such as:

"OMG!!!!! Nassstyyyy"

"I pride myself on being pretty open minded especially when it comes to trying new things in the food department... but that is disgusting."

"Reminds me of Star Trek Klingon food."

"I would have to find the nearest Mcdonalds, KFC or Burger dude..........."

Here's the video. Watch closely; it's only 15 seconds long:

Now, as I watch it again, I'm thinking that I probably would have been tripped out by seeing this had I never come to Japan. Maybe I've become somewhat "asianized" as one of my friends put it. But when it comes to life here, even two years later, I'm still definitely closer to the margins than to the center. More on that later.