Japan

Japanese cuisine as a national cuisine has evolved over the centuries from many political and social changes. Starting from the ancient era when much of the cuisine was influenced by Chinese culture. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of Shogun rule. In the early modern area massive changes would take place that introduced western culture to Japan.

The modern term “Japanese cuisine” means traditional-style Japanese food, similar to what already existed before the end of national seclusion in 1868. In a broader sense of the word, it could also include foods whose ingredients or cooking methods were subsequently introduced from abroad, but which have been developed by Japanese who made them their own. Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on seasonality of food, quality of ingredients and presentation.

There is more tea in China than in Japan.

National cuisine

Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a soup, and okazu – dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like, designed to add flavor to the staple food. These are typically flavored with dashi, miso, and soy sauce and are usually low in fat and high in salt.

A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice, a bowl of soup and some tsukemono (pickles). The most standard meal comprises three okazu and is termed ichiju-sansai (“one soup, three dishes”). Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered (sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared, or dressed. This Japanese view of a meal is reflected in the organization of Japanese cookbooks, organized into chapters according to cooking techniques as opposed to particular ingredients (e.g. meat, seafood). There may also be chapters devoted to soups, sushi, rice, noodles, and sweets. This is also why a Japanese menu is never divided into appetizers, entrees, main dishes and desserts. Japanese menus are instead divided according to the cooking method.

As Japan is an island nation its people eat much seafood. Eating meat except wild animals, which is proper for eating in mountain areas, has been rare until fairly recently, especially Meiji era, due to protection of farming stocks, thoughts of Shinto and Buddism, and mixture of these factors. However, strictly vegetarian food is rare since even vegetable dishes are flavored with the ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes). An exception is shojin ryori, vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist monks. However, the advertised shojin ryori usually available at public eating places includes some non-vegetarian elements.

Noodles are an essential part of Japanese cuisine usually as an alternative to a rice-based meal. Soba (thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) and udon (thick wheat noodles) are the main traditional noodles and are served hot or cold with soy-dashi flavorings. Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth known as ramen have become extremely popular over the last century.

Common staple foods found on a national level (Shushoku)

There are many staple foods that are considered part of the nation’s national cuisine today. Below are lists of a few of the more common dishes available in Japan on a national level.

Rice (gohanmono)

The rice most often served in Japan is of the short-grain Japonica variety. In a traditional Japanese setting (e.g. served in a conic bowl) it is known as gohan or meshi (generally only males say meshi). In western-influenced dishes, where rice is often served on the plate (such as curries) it is called raisu (after the English word “rice”.) Other rice dishes include Kayu or Okayu, donburi (big bowl) and Sushi.

Noodles (men-rui)

Often takes the place of rice in a meal. However, the Japanese appetite for rice is so strong that many restaurants even serve noodles-rice combination sets.

Bread (pan)

Bread (the word “pan” is derived from the Portuguese pao) is not native to Japan and is not considered traditional Japanese food, but since its introduction in the 19th century it has become common.

Common foods and dishes found on a national level

There are many dishes that are considered part of the nation’s national cuisine today. Below are lists of a few of the more common dishes available in Japan on a national level.

• Common Japanese savory main and side dishes (okazu) found on a national level :

Grilled and pan-fried dishes (yakimono), stewed/simmered dishes (nimono), stir-fried dishes (itamemono), steamed dishes (mushimono), deep-fried dishes (agemono), sashimi, soups (suimono and shirumono), pickled, salted, and dressed foods (tsukemono, aemono, sunomono), chinmi, etc.

• Common Japanese Sweets and snacks (okashi, oyatsu) found on a national level :

Japanese-style sweets (wagashi), old-fashioned Japanese-style sweets (dagashi), Western-style sweets (yogashi), sweets bread (kashi pan), etc.

• Teas :

Amazake, Genmaicha: green tea combined with roasted brown rice, Hojicha: green tea roasted over charcoal, Kombucha: specifically the tea poured with Kombu giving rich flavor in monosodium glutamate, Kukicha: a blend of green tea made of stems, stalks, and twigs, Matcha: powdered green tea, Mugicha: barley tea, served chilled during summer, Sencha: steam treated green tea leaves then dried, Umecha: a tea drink with Umeboshi giving refreshing sourness.

Flavorings used on a national level

It is not generally thought possible to make authentic Japanese food without shoyu (soy sauce), miso and dashi.

• Kombu (kelp), katsuobushi (flakes of cured skipjack tuna, sometimes referred to as bonito) and niboshi (dried baby sardines) are often used to make dashi stock.
• Negi (welsh onion), onions, garlic, nira (Chinese chives), rakkyo (a type of scallion).
• Sesame seeds, sesame oil, sesame salt (gomashio), furikake, walnuts or peanuts to dress.
• Shoyu (soy sauce), dashi, mirin, sugar, rice vinegar, miso, sake.
• Wasabi (and imitation wasabi from horseradish), karashi (hot mustard), red pepper, ginger, shiso (perilla or beefsteak plant) leaves, sansho, citrus peel, and honeywort (called mitsuba).

Imported and adapted foods

Japan has incorporated imported food from across the world (mostly from Asia, Europe and to a lesser extent the Americas), and have historically adapted many to make them their own.

• Foods imported from Portugal in the 16th Century
• Other adapted cuisines in Japan
• Fusion dishes

Yoshoku

Japan today abounds with home-grown, loosely western-style food. Many of these were invented in the wake of the 1868 Meiji restoration and the end of national seclusion, when the sudden influx of foreign (in particular, western) culture led to many restaurants serving western food, known as yoshoku, a shortened form of seiyoshoku (Western cuisine), opening up in cities. Restaurants that serve these foods are called yoshokuya (Western cuisine restaurants).

Many yoshoku items from that time have been adapted to a degree that they are now considered Japanese and are an integral part of any Japanese family menu. Many are served alongside rice and miso soup, and eaten with chopsticks. Yet, due to their origins these are still categorized as yoshoku as opposed to the more traditional washoku (Japanese cuisine).

Regional cuisine

Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialities known as Kyodo Ryori in Japanese, many of them originating from dishes prepared using traditional recipes using local ingredients.

While “local” ingredients are now available nationwide, and some originally regional dishes such as okonomiyaki and Edo-style sushi have spread throughout Japan and is no longer considered as such, many regional specialties survive to this day, with some new ones still being created.

Regionalism is also apparent in many dishes which are served throughout Japan such as zoni soup. For example, the dashi-based broth for serving udon noodles is heavy on dark soy sauce, similar to soba broth, in eastern Japan, while in western Japan the broth relies more on the complex dashi-flavoring, with a hint of light soy sauce.

Traditional table settings

The traditional Japanese table setting has varied considerably over the centuries, depending primarily on the type of table common during a given era. Before the 19th century, small individual box tables (hakozen) or flat floor trays were set before each diner. Larger low tables (chabudai) that accommodated entire families were becoming popular by the beginning of the 20th century, but these gave way to western style dining tables and chairs by the end of the 20th century.

Traditionally, the rice bowl is placed on the left and the soup bowl on the right. Behind these, each okazu is served on its own individual plate. Based on the standard three okazu formula, behind the rice and soup are three flat plates to hold the three okazu; one to far back left, one at far back right, and one in the center. Pickled vegetables are often served on the side but are not counted as part of the three okazu.

Chopsticks are generally placed at the very front of the tray near the dinner with pointed ends facing left and supported by a chopstick rest, or hashioki.

Dining etiquette

• It is customary to say itadakimasu (“I shall receive”) before starting to eat a meal, and gochisosama deshita, (“That was a feast”) to the host after the meal and the restaurant staff when leaving.
• Before eating, most dining places will provide either a hot towel or a plastic wrapped wet napkin. This is for cleaning of the hands prior to eating and not after. It is rude to use them to wash the face or any part of the body other than the hands.
• The rice or the soup is eaten by picking the relevant bowl up with the left hand and using chopsticks with the right. Bowls of soup, noodle soup, donburi or ochazuke may be lifted to the mouth but not white rice. Soy sauce is not usually poured over most foods at the table; a dipping dish is usually provided. Soy sauce is, however, meant to be poured directly onto tofu and grated daikon dishes. In particular, soy sauce should never be poured onto rice or soup. Blowing one’s nose at the table is considered extremely offensive. Noodles are slurped.
• Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice, as this resembles incense sticks (which are usually placed vertically in sand) during offerings to the dead. Using chopsticks to spear food, to point, or especially to pass food into someone else’s chopsticks is also frowned upon. It is also very bad manners to bite on your chopsticks.
• When taking food from a communal dish, unless they are family or very close friends, turn the chopsticks around to grab the food; it is considered more sanitary. If sharing with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another; passing food from one pair of chopsticks to another is a funeral rite.
• It is customary to eat rice to the last grain. Being a fussy eater is frowned upon, and it is not customary to ask for special requests or substitutions at restaurants. It is considered ungrateful to make these requests especially in circumstances where you are being hosted, as in a business dinner environment. Good manners dictate that you respect the selections of the host. This is a common mistake that visiting business people make.
• Even in informal situations, drinking alcohol starts with a toast (kanpai) when everyone is ready. It is not customary to pour oneself a drink; but rather, people are expected to keep each other’s drinks topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.

Dishes for special occasions

In Japanese tradition some dishes are strongly tied to a festival or event. These dishes include:

• Botamochi (sticky rice dumpling with sweet azuki paste): Spring equinox.
• Chimaki (steamed sweet rice cake): Tango no Sekku and Gion Festival.
• Hamo (a kind of fish) and somen: Gion Festival.
• Osechi: New Year.
• Sekihan, literally “red rice”, rice cooked with adzuki: celebration in general.
• Soba: New Year’s Eve. This is called toshi koshi soba (“year crossing soba”).
• Chirashizushi, Ushiojiru (clear soup of clams) and amazake: Hinamatsuri.
• In some regions every 1st and 15th day of the month people eat a mixture of rice and adzuki (azuki meshi, see Sekihan).

Sake and shochu

Sake is a rice wine that typically contains 12~20% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. At traditional meals, it is considered an equivalent to rice and is not simultaneously taken with other rice-based dishes. Side dishes for sake is particularly called sakana or otsumami. Shochu is a distilled spirit, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato, or rice.