This post was touched off by an omiyage (お土産) that a co-worker brought into work recently. He had to go out on a business trip to Kyoto and he brought yatsuhashi (八つ橋) back as a souvenir.
First off, let's talk about the Japanese custom of bringing back people souvenirs. When you go out on a trip, it's good form to bring back people you know some sort of gift, particularly some sort of specialty found in the area where you went. This is called "omiyage," and the kanji for it, "お土産," literally means "product of the earth," or "product of the land" you went to. This practice of bringing back gifts is not limited to family and/or close friends; at a Japanese workplace, if you go out on a business trip, you're kind of expected to bring everyone you're working with, some sort of gift. That gift doesn't have to be extravagant; it's usually a small packaged sweet or food. Typically what happens is, a person will buy a box of individually packed candies, crackers or cakes, with enough for the whole group.
Another word for locally produced specialty is "meibutsu," or "名物." If you ever visit Japan and meet locals, they'll want to know where you're from, and what is the "meibutsu" where you live. It maybe a learning experience; you may be forced to look up your home town, state or province to find out what exactly it is that your area is famous for. In my case, I'm from a little town called "Salinas" in the state of California. It's not really famous for anything; the only shit that ever came out of that town was John Steinbeck. That and lettuce. If you ever visit Salinas, as you approach it along Highway 101, it's nothing but fields of produce as far as the eye can see. We also have an incredible crime rate; Salinas is also famous, or shall I say, infamous for its out-of-control gang activity.
But I digress; let's stick to the topic at hand.
When it comes to Japanese confectionery, in my view, the Japanese are fond of three things; "mochi" (餅), a sticky concoction made of pounded rice, "an" (餡), sweet bean paste made from adzuki beans, and "kinako" (黄粉), a kind of flour made from roasted soybeans. Japanese sweets often include one of these things, and a lot of the time, are actually some sort of mixture of all three.
Perhaps the most famous of all Japanese confectionery is "daifuku" (大福), which consists of mounds of mochi stuffed with an.
White and pink daifuku stuffed with an
Daifuku are traditionally stuffed with an, but now you can find different fillings, such as strawberries, chocolate, ice cream, etc.
Which brings us to Yatsuhashi (八つ橋), the specialty treat of Kyoto.
This quite possibly the most Kyoto-esque thing you can get someone, which immediately tells a Japanese receiver of it that you've been to Kyoto.
In my opinion, yatsuhashi are nothing more than elegant, dainty, over-stylized daifuku.
Yatsuhashi mochi
Mochi is rolled out and cut into small sheets, and then stuffed with an.
Sweet bean paste, AKA "an."
The sheets are then folded into neat little triangles and arranged ornately.
Pat them with kinako, and you have yatsuhashi.
My co-worker thinks like I do.
He could have brought back the most run-of-the-mill yatsuhashi he could find. But instead, he chose to bring back a box which included out-of-the-ordinary flavors.
Not shown here is the package of normal, mochi-and-an yatsuhashi. But if you can read the katakana and kanji, you would see that the blue package reads "ramune" (a Japanese carbonated drink), the yellow one reads "choko banana," and the green one says "matcha," or "powdered tea." (You can find Green Tea everything too.)
Of all of these, the ramune yatsuhashi called my attention.
How very peculiar!
A very traditional Japanese sweet that tastes like a soft-drink! I thought I had to give it a try.
The mochi had a blue tinge to it to hint at the ramune. The an was also somehow flavored.
I'm afraid I forgot to take a picture showing the filling, but it looks like any other yatsuhashi.
This one, though, was surprisingly refreshing.
Very appropriate, since the Japanese idea of a cold refreshing drink in the hot summer sun is a cold, dripping bottle of ramune.
For those of you who don't know, "ramune," is a Japanese soft-drink that usually comes in a strange bottle with a marble stuck in it.
I tried the choko banana yatsuhashi too.
Could it be that Kyoto-ites are trying to compete with Tokyo's banana?
Incidentally, if Kyoto's sweet is yatsuhashi, Tokyo's sweet is Tokyo Banana. If you're on a train and you see someone with a bag with the above logo on it, you'll know they're coming back from a trip to Tokyo.
Until the next time! :-)
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