Wagashi world make us give a feel of season

Japanese Wagashi cakes are made, in the shops, to give a feel of the seasons. When I visited the cake shop today, I found 桜餅/Sakura-mochi. Which is made using cherry blossoms and leaves. Cherry blossoms are pink, and its leaves are light green. Very beautiful.

These blossoms are preserved for making cakes, by being salted. Here in Japan the time when cherry blossoms bloom is the end of March, hence we cannot get it still now. Namely, these blossoms are preserved from last spring. It is meaningful for us to give seasonal gifts to someone, before the season comes.

For example, this Wagashi is often eaten at the place in 茶道/Sadou. In Sadou, we try to feel spring before spring comes, by eating these cakes such as Sakura-mochi. We call this sense “粋/Iki”, namely, it is chic.

And 草餅/Kusa-mochi is very simple Wagashi. This is Wagashi where red beans are wrapped in green rice cake. The color of green is the color of mugwort, its rice cake is mixed with boiled mugwort. Sweet and delicious.

In my childhood, I often went to the riverside to take wild mugwort. With my grandfather and grandmother. Those are my joyful memories in spring.

Sweets lovers called "Amatou" like "Daifuku", Japanese cakes

Regarding eating and drinking, it is said Japanese males are divided into two groups. One group is called "Ama-tou(甘党)". Which means sweets lovers. When it is called sweets, that means Japanese cakes.

And another group is called "Kara-tou(辛党)". Which means alcoholic drinks lovers. In short, Japanese guys belong to either sweets lovers or alcohol lovers. Speaking of me, originally I had belonged to the group Kara-tou for a long time.

When I started to drink whisky or beer, it was at the age of 17. Since then I have continued to drink for 40 years. And at last I stopped drinking in the autumn of 2020. I don’t have a deep reason, excluding the pandemic.

Until now I didn’t think I would become a sweets lover. That is because, since my youth, I didn’t like sweets very much. However my favorite is changing now, and I am recruited little by little by the group Ama-tou now.

Speaking of Japanese sweets, it can be said Japan has two big traditional sweets. One is called "Manjyu(饅頭)", which has the roots in China. Its shell is white and made of flour. In many cases, sweet red beans are wrapped in it.

And another one is called "Daifuku(大福)". I don’t know about it in detail, but it seems that Daifuku has its origins in Japan. Its shell is white and made of rice cake. Japanese have eaten rice for a long time. Same as Manjyu, in many cases sweet red beans are wrapped in it.

There are three traditional Japanese sweets shops near my house. Recently I often visit each shop, when I am taking a walk. And I realized one time, one of the shops sells a very unique Daifuku. It is called "Coffee Daifuku"(I attached the picture here).

Coffee Daifuku has very unique contents, which are composed of coffee powder, cream and red beans. When I eat it, I feel just like drinking coffee. “It’s so delicious and it has a very good balance!” My wife said, when I bought and brought it to my house. I agreed with her.

Here in Japan, various types of Daifuku are being invented one after another now. The type of one wrapping strawberries is especially popular now. Which is called "Ichigo-Daifuku(いちご大福)". That is a surprising taste.

Japanese people are good at developing things imported abroad. For example, Ramen is so. Also Daifuku will develop more and more. And we are waiting for the new type to appear in Japan.

At last it seems that I became a member of Ama-tou group, perfectly.

Busy days around the New Year's Eve in Japan

We are always like this, 1st January is in winter. In the case of Japan, it is always so. Last year was so too, and this year is so.

This year’s winter is quite cold. And we have a lot of snow. Also yesterday, it snowed since the morning. The road in front of my house was white.

I don’t know why, but Japanese people are quite busy preparing at the end of December. It is a preparation for the New Year. We clean all over the house, cook the New Year’s cuisine and go greeting relatives. I think you should do those things on very ordinary days because of being busy. But they are eager to do it this week.

My father is 80s and my mother is 70s. Though it snowed this week, my mother said that she was going to go tomb cleaning. So I said to her, “Don’t go tomb cleaning because it snows.” But she seemed to go with my father when the snow stopped.

My wife was arranging cutting flowers at night, for decorating on the New Year. It was a very cold night. Water in the kitchen is cold too. I thought you don’t have to do it now, at that time. As expected, the next day, she said to me, “I may have caught a cold today.”

We don't like a warm winter

I don’t know why, but it seems that Japanese people don’t like a warm winter. We seem to think that winter should not be warm. Surely, I feel the same too.

On New Year’s Eve night, many Japanese people are having dinner while watching TV, with family or friends. In many cases, its TV program is 紅白歌合戦/Kouhaku-Utagassen on NHK. It is a song program in which many singers sing.

Around the time when its program ends, Japanese religious events begin in many temples. It is called 除夜の鐘/Joya-No-Kane. And the sounds of bells in temples arrive within our houses. It is just the midnight of the last day of the year.

So we may often think this way at that time. It is beautiful if it is snowing outside now. My heart would be calm. We prefer a cold winter.