バレンタインデーとワイトデー

On February 14, the women of Japan celebrate Barentain dee.  Based on the Western Valentine’s Day, barentain dee has the uniquely Japanese tradition of only women giving gifts to men (at least in the heterosexual context; I don’t know if and how Japanese homosexuals participate). 

The most popularized gift to give is handmade chocolate, and it’s kind of a big deal.  There’s the honmeichoko, which you give to the person you like.  There’s the girichoko, translated as “obligation chocolate,” which is like the Valentine’s Day cards you had to give to everyone in your elementary school class.  Girichoko is typically given out to classmates and co-workers, and it is a very popular joke theme for barentain dee episodes of dramas, especially those set in the office.  And recently, there have been two new types of choco: the tomo(dachi)choko or “friend chocolate” and, my personal favorite, the ji(bun)choko or “chocolate for oneself.”  I guess every day is barentain dee for me.

On and around barentain dee, I got to try out all types of choco.  First was a test-piece of honmeichoko, which my friend made for her boyfriend. 

Next was the girichoko that my sensei (teacher) handed out to the class.  Pudding flavor, wootwoot.

Then I spend balentain dee at my host parents’ son’s house, and I got to try the grandchildrens’ tomochoko.  The granddaughter unexpectedly received a lot of tomochoko, so she stressfully spent the afternoon making tomochoko to give in return to everyone the next day.  The grandson received some fancy crocodile-themed “tomochoko” (I think the girl who gave it to him might have been crushin’ on him a little). 

I thought that was to be the extent of my barentain dee experience until I got a surprise tomo-candy that my friend Kimmie* brought with her from America.

And now it’s White Day, part of the Japanese twist on Valentine’s.  On March 14, a month after barentain dee, the men must return the favor to the women who gave them chocolates.  As far as I understand, on White Day, men can’t just give women chocolates or something and be done with it:  They must make an extravagant date of it, complete with romantic meals, lots of sweet pastries, and probably a 6-foot-tall stuffed animal of some sort. 

One of my friends has planned a day out to the onsen (hot springs) with his girlfriend.  Now what will I plan for my Kimmie?? . . .

*Name changed at the person’s request in order to protect her identity

Vegetarian in Japan?? (Now blogging with photos and labels!)

One of my larger concerns before studying abroad was what I would do about food. At Soka, I did the vegetarian thang for about two months, but I didn't know what I'd do on study abroad when someone else (my host family) would be feeding me. I knew avoiding beef and chicken would be relatively easy in Japan, but I was concerned about Japanese food's being very fish-oriented, so I asked some very lovely SUA vegan ladies about what they did on study abroad. I was told by one of them that it was very hard to be vegan in Japan because even seemingly unlikely things like soymilk can contain some sort of animal/fish-ness. They offered me some ideas about what I could do to keep up the vegetarianism, such as offer to do my own cooking or just not eat 和食, or traditional Japanese foods. These solutions, however, were almost impossible (nothing is impossible if you believe you can!) options for me, and it looked like there wouldn't be much I'd be able to do to stay a vegetarian. Still, I identified myself as a "somewhat strict" vegetarian on my homestay application.

I broke the vegetarian thing at home during winter break because I figured it's not fair to ask my mom to cook a special non-meat meal just for me (also my mom kept bugging me by 1) setting a dish of whatever-meat-thing in front of me and listing the health benefits of said whatever-meat and 2) telling me that I am culturally required as an Okinawan to continue eating pork, a prominent ingredient in Okinawan cuisine, so I just kinda gave up). And I realized that this should have been my attitude for Japan. I can't stay in my host parents' home and ask them to cook for me and expect them to adapt to my food habits, which are nonhealth-related in nature. So my plan became to avoid meat where I could but not to feel bad for eating meat.

My host parents asked me about the meat thing on the first night. I explained to them that when I had identified myself as a "somewhat strict" vegetarian, I meant that I didn't intentionally get meat to eat, but I wouldn't let food go to waste if there were meat in it. They were relieved to hear that because, unfortunately, there was no space in the questionnaire for me to explain in all that detail, and they had worried that I would freak out over food. They assured me that although they eat a lot of fish, I wouldn't have to worry about other types of meat, which they used much less often. Then my host mom listed the various health benefits of fish.

* * *

That first night, we ate nabe, a winter dish which is cooked in a pot at the "dinner table" (at my host house, it's the kotatsu) and contains all sorts of fishy things and vegetables. Not something I particularly like, but it is definitely probably healthful.

節分 Setsubun!

Today is setsubun, the day before the change of the seasons on the Lunar calendar. On this day, the typical Japanese family celebrates with several rituals. First, the father of the household dresses up as an oni or demon. The children throw roasted soybeans at the oni, chanting oni ha soto, fuku ha uchi: "Demons out, fortune in." Then, as papa oni is driven out, the children shut the door behind him. It's not clear to me whether they let the father back in.

I wasn't able to celebrate this specific ritual with my host father, unfortunately, but I was able to participate in a different Kansai region-specific ritual. Here, it's tradition to eat an uncut roll of makizushi (pictured below in splices) on setsubun.

But here's the kicker: You eat it silently while facing a direction that is specifically designated for that year (at least that's my understanding). So as I picked up my roll of makizushi, my host father pointed to the direction of seinansei (west southwest), and we turned out bodies that way and ate our rolls without speaking. When I took my first bite, all the juices from inside spilled down my arms. I wondered how long we would do this, and after a minute, my host mom somewhat impatiently said that that was enough. The rest of the dinner passed by normally. I asked my host parents what the origins of this tradition were, and they had no idea. They kinda shrugged and told me that they do it just because you're supposed to do it.