Japan, a Land of Sui Generis Surprises Part 2

For our second post about surprises encountered while traveling in Japan, I’d like to first introduce you to our next guest contributor: New Orlean’s resident, Kiki Bernard-Nixon.  Artist/sculptor, tennis fan, and educator, this is a woman who thrives on a house full of family and friends when not planning her next travel escapade with her husband, Mike, a retired electrical engineer turned guitarist and music composer.

Kiki and I crossed paths recently while helping a friend move residents.  Petite, energetic, and wickedly resourceful, Kiki became our command central for the move. She doled out, ever-so-nicely, “orders” with the decisiveness of a Marine of what needed to be done. Kiki struck me as someone to follow without questioning.  And I did.

Kiki and her husband had just returned from three weeks in Japan, a trip she had single-handedly researched and organized. Over our weekend of boxes, bubble wrap and beers, she recounted their experiences with unbridled enthusiasm. By the end of the move, my initial hesitations about the trip had evaporated.

When I returned from Japan last month, I was filled with a newly minted admiration for the country’s unique blend of high-low tech culture, stunning natural landscapes and delicious cuisine.  I couldn’t wait to compare notes with Kiki. What follows are Kiki’s comments in italics. Like the previous post’s contributors, she was asked what surprised her most about Japan. A few of my own reflections were added to give further context to Kiki’s observations.  

Surprise #1: People offering to help

What surprised me repeatedly is how willing people were to show me exactly where something was.  While in Hiroshima, I was at a mall and asked where a certain store was.  Three girls walked us through the mall area down steps and finally directly in front of the store.  (I cannot even get a worker at the Mary's Ace Hardware here in New Orleans to take me to an aisle a few steps away to show me where the strap is to hold the dryer vent together.)  

On a free afternoon in Kyoto, my group of four New York ladies set out for a highly anticipated lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in a Zen Buddhist Temple, Daitoku-ji.  We showed the address to our taxi driver who dropped us off at the entrance of a massive, 56-acre compound. Then, even with the aid of Goggle maps, we got hopelessly lost. We found ourselves in a virtual maze of buildings, walkways, and small courtyards with immaculately manicured gardens. Eventually we found ourselves outside the walls of the temple in front of a small, commercial office building. We were late and desperate. So, we timidly entered the building’s ground floor and said, Sumimasen, or “excuse me,” and explained our dilemma. An impeccably dressed, middle-aged Japanese businessman, who appeared to be the only person in the office, gave us a light, casual bow, then greeted us politely in Japanese. Clearly, he had not understood a word of what we’d said in English. Resorting to sign language, we pointed to the name of the restaurant on our Goggle map app. Immediately one of his fingers shot up in the air as if to say, “Wait a minute.”  He walked over to the entrance, opened the door ushering us out, then, after locking up the office, gestured for us to follow him.  He walked us four blocks back into the compound, then pointed out the path to the restaurant. After offering our group a somewhat timid smile and a ceremonious bow lower than before, he quietly disappeared. Like Kiki, we were dumbfounded with the gentleman’s willingness to assist. As if closing your office in the middle of a workday to help four tourists find their way was normal. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been so surprised given Japan’s legendary hospitality.

Surprise #2: The Pride of “Shokunin”

It surprised me how little sushi and sashimi I ate. The one time I specifically set out to eat it, I felt like I was in the presence of a food god by how meticulously the*shokunin prepared the dish and how heavenly it all looked and tasted. That is when I felt the meaning of the term, shokunin, which I had been reading about in my research. After taking my first bite of sushi I blurted out “delicious,” a word in English he clearly understood. He shot me a quick glance of acknowledgement looking directly at me. Immediately I experienced a connection between the two of us, a new feeling for me.

He looked at me as though it was an honor to prepare the exquisite sea urchin and other delicacies and all I could feel was how lucky I was to happen upon that tiny 10-person stand at the fish market in Tsukiji Market. (*Shokunin is a Japanese term for a master artisan who is deeply dedicated to his or her craft, its mastery and lifelong pursuit of perfection.)

Surprise #3: The tradition of Japanese brushes 

What surprised me was walking into the Hakuhodo (makeup brush) store in Kyoto  and haphazardly remembering a friend told me to buy some of their brushes.  I walked in and noticed there were thousands of makeup brushes made from many different animal hairs and so beautifully displayed!!

My group’s first encounter with Japanese brushes was in Tokyo while visiting the studio of Koshuyn Masunga, an award-winning calligrapher and ink painting artist. She proudly demonstrated her art using a dazzling selection of brushes.  Koshuyn explained that making brushes in her country is considered a highly respected, traditional craft, one which is perfected only after many years of apprenticeship with a master. Originally, she explained with pride, fine brushes were used just for calligraphy, her art form. Later, their use extended to makeup. She showed us a brush—which resembled a wide broom—made of hair from a horse’s tail. This, she explained, was her favorite tool for making broad, expressive strokes in her artwork. Koshuyn further noted that brush artisans use many different natural materials, as pointed out by Kiki: squirrel, deer, sable, rabbit, peacock, racoon, weasel, and horse.  We learned what makes Japanese brushes superior to synthetically produced ones: natural bristles hold and distribute the ink and/or make-up more evenly. Naturally, we all came home with a set of Japanese makeup brushes! Who could pass up that temptation?

Surprise #4: Department store food halls

The basement food hall in Takashimaya Department store in Kyoto was a revelation.  When I entered the floor from the elevator and saw the vast selection of food, I was literally mesmerized.  All I could tell myself over and over was, "OK, you win.  You win.  Japan, you win."  I cannot even start to describe what I saw.  It is a MUST for visitors.

What Kiki is referring to are the depachika or food halls that are tucked away in the basement of many Japanese luxury department stores. Each depachika includes sections for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, as well as Western prepared foods. Vendors sell everything from bento boxes for quick lunches to outrageously expensive, seasonal fruit exquisitely packaged for gift-giving, a long-standing Japanese tradition. For customers with a sweet tooth, the choice of local and Western products is endless. Such French notables as Pierre Hermé, La Durée and La Maison du Chocolat have stalls selling their delectables alongside more traditional Japanese pastries and confectionery. Many food halls offer picnic havens on the top floor of their building, too, where customers can quietly enjoy their bento box while looking out at a beautiful garden or city skyscape. Kiki is right: Japan’s depachika is a food lover’s dream comes true.

Surprise #5: Japan’s syncretism

Another thing that surprised me is that the Japanese, while not particularly religious, are fluid in their sense of religion.  They believe in some things that are Buddhist and some things that are Shinto.  They go to both shrines and temples.  I read they also like our white wedding dresses and sometimes combine wearing both: first a traditional Shinto wedding kimono followed later with a Christian, Western-style white wedding gown. This opened my mind to the notion of grocery shopping bits and pieces of many religions. There is so much beauty in various religious traditions, why keep them exclusive and elusive?

Like Kiki, my travel mates and I were fascinated by the “fluidity,” as she called it, and convenience of Japan’s syncretism, or tradition of simultaneously following Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. While there, we learned that religion in Japan is more about a moral code with strong social values integrated into daily life than about the requisite strict doctrines followed in our Western monotheistic doctrines.  

Shinto is Japan’s indigenous faith. It’s rooted in the veneration of spirits or deities associated with natural phenomena and various aspects of daily life. It focuses on practices related to the present world; births and marriages, good health, prosperity, and even more mundane things such as passing a college exam or getting a new job. Buddhism, on the other hand—which was imported from China in the 6th century—is linked with the soul and afterlife which obviously includes funerals. Both religions, however, include the concept of ancestorial worship.

Simply put, Shinto handles worldly matters while Buddhism addresses spiritual and afterlife concerns. What fascinated us most was how practical religion was in Japan. Japanese combine their two religions seamlessly using each as suits the occasion.  Rome would never agree with this!

Surprise #6 Japan’s 7-Eleven phenomenon

Two things about 7-Eleven stores that surprised me.  First, they are everywhere- even sometimes two in one short city block, one on each side of the street and second, just how delicious the food is at 7-Eleven.  It made me ache to think about how there was one in my suburban New Orleans neighborhood and all over the city in the 70's and when or why did they abandon America?

We discovered 7-Eleven convenience stores on our first day in Japan as one of our traveling mates had forgotten her deodorant. But first, some quick factoids about how one of our retail chains found its way to Japan’s shores. 7-Eleven started in Dallas in 1927 as an ice vendor.  Later it morphed into a convenience store open from 7AM to 11 PM where customers could purchase bread, milk and eggs on their way to and from work. It quickly expanded into a series of retail outlets across the country. A Japanese retailer discovered the American chain in 1974, joined forces with its ownership, and brought it over to Japan. Fast forward, today it’s a billion-dollar business, 100% Japanese-owned, with 84,000 stores throughout 20 different countries. In fact, its size dwarfs that of Starbucks and McDonalds combined!   

Currently, one in four 7-Eleven stores is in Japan. Their business model differs dramatically from what we find used for the American outlets. In Japan they are more like a “gourmet“ convenience store offering fresh, affordable, and delicious food.  No processed hot dogs, Slurpee’s, or soggy cheese nachos over there! In addition to food, Japan’s 7-Eleven chain offer its customers municipal and postal services as well as banking and ATMs. Hard as it might be for an American to imagine, in Japan 7-Elevens are also social hubs where people just hang out.  

For traveling foodies, the top thing to try at a Japanese 7-Eleven is their legendary egg salad sandwich. Its secret is that it’s egg yolk-heavy, whipped up with Kewpie mayonnaise (using eggs yolks with a touch of rice vinegar) and some heavy cream, then spread on fluffy Japanese-style milk bread.

Japan’s 7-Eleven stores are so popular with tourists that they have become pilgrimage sites for visitors to see how many meals they can eat there in a day!  If you don’t believe me, check it out on Instagram or TikTok!

Have a look at my take on the 7-Eleven’s egg salad sandwich in the “dessert” recipe section of this week’s post.

The next and final post inspired by my recent Japanese foray will discuss how to stage a Japanese Kaiseki, or multi-course dinner party. Spoiler alert: The secret is to make it potluck.  Move over, Martha-san!