With my current interest (obsession?) in Japanese food,
I decided to find out some more things about Japan. Here are some things I found interesting:
Rice
Paddy Art is not an ancient tradition. It started in a village as a way of raising
revenue (via donations) and then caught on.
The patterns are made by planting different kinds and colours of
rice. Ingenious! The village does different designs each
year. So far they have resisted the
temptation of planting paid ads.
Square
Watermelons are a favourite with the Japanese. Often used as decoration. They are very expensive – about 3 times the
price of round ones. The watermelon is
grown in a box and that is why it is that shape.
Capsule
Hotels are another Japanese invention dating back to the late
70's. You can now find capsule hotels
(or pod hotels) in other countries.
These capsules are cheap to rent but have no bathroom or cooking
facilities. You use communal facilities and have access to lockers for
storage. I would feel too hemmed in –
but they certainly are an ingenious concept.
Kaiseki
is a traditional Japanese dinner. There
are multiple courses – an appetiser, sashimi, a simmered dish, a grilled dish,
steamed dish. There may also be other
courses. Ingredients are fresh and
seasonal and very prettily presented.
Wisteria
Tunnel – boy I would love to walk through this – although I
suspect there would be lots of other people – so the experience wouldn't be
quite as magical as this picture suggests.
This is part of the Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu – about 5 hours
from Tokyo by fast train. To see it in
flower you have to go in late April or early May.
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