Chief elements of the Japanese food

Let us now consider the chief elements of the Japanese food. First comes rice, which we believe is by far the best in the world, and which, according to the analysis of food scientists, contains a greater quantity of food units than the rice of any other land. The proper name for Japan, as given in the Kojiki, is "Ashihara-no-mizuho-no-kuni," which may be freely rendered as "the land of abundant crops of good rice." At a pinch the Japanese could thrive on rice alone plus some vegetables. A certain writer has said that the boasted yarnato-damashii, or the national spirit of Japan, is made up of the nourishment of rice, and it is the testimony of every soldier at the front that he could dispense with any other food, provided he has plenty of good old Japanese rice. Fortunately there is no sign of the land diminishing in rice crops, and the safety of the country may be said to be assured as long as this national staple food is obtainable.

The next great pride of Japan in food is tea. In black tea we must probably give the palm to India, but in all other kinds of tea, especially in the superior varieties of green tea, Japan decidedly commands first place. The green tea has fairly made the conquest of the world, but the world at present knows only a few limited kinds. The whole range of variety and quality of Japanese tea is as yet little more than a sealed book to the rest of the world.

The third boast of Japan in food which we claim as being better than the best anywhere is fish. For reasons which need not be stated here, the fish caught in the waters around Japan, taste far more delicious than similar fish caught in any other sea. It is a fact universally conceded. The most conspicuous among them are eels, tai, maguro, and soles of various kinds. As for the lobsters and crabs, they are world-famous. What foreigner knowing anything about Japan has not tasted the lobster tempura, and Japan's canned crabs are now shipped to the remotest corners of the earth. As for the eels, they are obtainable in Europe and America, but they differ vastly from the variety found in the rivers around Tokyo, and the kabayaki cooking is unique.

In fruits, too, Japan may fairly pride herself on occupying a foremost place in the world. In some fruit Japan cannot beat other lands, such as tropical melons, pineapples, grapefruit, lemons, etc., but in others, such as oranges, pears, apples, persimmons, bananas, Japan's products stand unsurpassed by the best products of any country. The Japanese table is not without fruit from January to December.

The Japanese beef is conceded to have a better taste than that of many other lands, thanks probably to the fact that cattle-raising in Japan is still in the natural state, not as yet having attained that of industrial breeding. As for poultry and game birds such as pheasant, duck, moor-hen, partridge, snipe, etc., Japan is their native home, having exported many precious birds to the United States and other countries, and it need hardly be added that the Japanese cooks know how to dress them for the table!

Thus, in every variety of food materials Japan is abundantly blessed and is indeed a paradise for cooks. It is all the stranger that this great feature of Japan is so little advertised. It is probably because Japan possesses so many beauty points, i.e. in scenery, blossoms, etc., that her quality as a land of good eating is apt to be overlooked. Besides, she has hitherto considered it undignified to make a point of advertising her viands.

Japan is an island country

Japan lies in the Pacific, with her face toward the morning sun and her gates open to the east. Geographically defined, Japan is a series of long and narrow volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, lying off the north-eastern coast of the Asiatic continent in the shape of a longitudinal curve.

This simple definition would require a detailed explanation were we to exhaust its full meaning --a task for which we have now no space at command. All we can do is to take up one by one the salient points of the definition and treat them from the standpoint of anthropo-geography. In the present discourse, I wish to amplify the following points: 1st, that Japan is an island country; 2d, that it is volcanic; 3d, that it is narrow; 4th, that it is long; 5th, that it lies off the coast of the Asiatic continent; 6th, that it lies in the Pacific Ocean.

Islands naturally possess a maritime climate, the distinctive features of which are equability, relative humidity, and great cloudiness. One curi- ous effect of our moist atmosphere is the frequent use of very warm baths, which are taken at a temperature as high as 120° Fahrenheit. New- comers to Japan regard such a practice as highly unhygienic, but a few years' residence demonstrates to them that the custom is dictated by climatic demands. Our people are not happy unless they bathe frequently, and this habit of daily ablution is perhaps due to atmospheric humidity.

It has throughout the year an average of 150 days of snow or rain, and 215 days of fair weather; that is, for every three days of rain or snow, we have four fine days. As to quantity, the rainfall ranges, according to locality, from twenty to thirty inches a year.

Being located where they are, the Japanese islands are farthest removed from the centre or centres of world politics,--from European capitals or from the Atlantic coast of this continent. It is over seven thousand miles from New York to Yokohama.

View Yokohama from Nogeyama

Yokohama City Mount Fuji Photo Print

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The best point of vantage to view Yokohama from is Nogeyama, just behind Sakuragichō Station. It affords a fine view of the city and the harbor, and in itself is a charming little park, one of the city's favorite haunts. Hard by is Kamonyama, a hill adorned with cherry trees, on which stands the somewhat uncouth statue of Lord Ii, the courageous Prime Minister of the Shōgunate who opened the port to foreign intercourse in spite of the fiery opposition of the reactionary party. Below, in the busy, commercial and shopping district run the famous streets of Honchō, Motomachi, Benten-dōri and Isezakichō, which by day and night attract great throngs of shoppers, saunterers and amusement seekers, not only from the rest of the city but from districts far away, as far in fact as Tokyo on the one side and on the other, Kamakura, or even Hakone. They abound in department stores, theaters and amusement houses of all sorts dear to the hearts of youths and flappers. Yokohama's dance-halls are by no means the least of its attractions.

As Yokohama is an irresistible magnet to the numerous smaller towns lying around, the latter in their turn exercise the same magnetic power over Yokohama. It is the dream of all Yokohama boys and girls to spend their week-end at some spot among the rural scenery, away from the port's bustle, say, at Kamakura or Hakone. But Yokohama itself abounds in beautiful places, of which Negishi, with its famous race-course and golf links (near the Bluff), and Sugita plum garden (at the tramcar terminus of Sugita), Tsurumi (4.7 miles from Yokohama Station) with its Sojiji Temple and Kagetsuen Garden, are most frequently mentioned. In fact, one is advised to make a temporary home at Yokohama, from which to visit the cardinal centers of business and pleasure, for here there are complete facilities of communications over land and water, and the accommodation afforded by Japanese and foreign-style hotels of various grades is as good as the best anywhere. Yokohama has many sides, its serious dignified side, as in the upper walks of the Bluff, commanding a grand view of the land and seascape, and its hectic side as din the gaiety of Isezakichō and vicinity.

Yokohama 1923 Earthquakes

Every newcomer to Yokohama will be told the tragic story of 1923. The old Yokohama was wiped clean off the map. At the first shock of the earthquakes most of the weaker houses crashed to the ground, and the rest of the stronger houses were destroyed by the fires which broke out everywhere and raged for three days on end. Altogether 21,384 persons were killed, 278,388 (or 64 per cent. of the whole population) lost their homes, and ¥904,000,000 worth of property went up in smoke.

Of all this tragedy, however, one scarcely sees any trace today. Unless you go out of your way to look for them, you will never notice the scars of 1923. No former resident of Yokohama, who left it in the pre-Earthquake days, if he returned today, could believe that anything like such an earthquake had ever happened, and he would be greatly surprised to find many an improvement upon the old city: roads cleaner and wider, parks smarter and prettier, houses newer, taller and more prosperouslooking, and business brisker and haunts of pleasure gayer, and the people everywhere working as diligently and smiling as happily as ever they did. It all testifies to the dour enterprise of Yokohama's brave children. And Yokohama's spirit is the spirit of Japan, worthy of a city forming the doorway to her Empire.





Yokohama, Japan Photo Print

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Great Japan Cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, Nara

The inevitable process of urban centralization, which has become so evident in recent years is, comparatively speaking, not so pronounced in Japan as in some countries of Europe. One reason is that the population of Japan, principally agricultural, is dispersed all over the land in well-proportioned numbers, and each district with a radius of 10 or 20 miles, is sure to have an urban center of some pretension, so that the rural populations everywhere have little reason to miss city atmosphere. The trouble in Japan, if it is a trouble at all, is in the urbanization of rural districts rather than in the urban centralization of rural populations.





Kyoto: Small Street in the Restaurant and Bar Quarter Photographic Print

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One of the first geographical phrases our schoolboy learns is the "santo" (the three capital cities), namely, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. After these are pointed out the four interesting cities: Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, Nara, each of the latter not only being a notable modern city but having a character of its own, worth describing, as has already been done. There are other fine cities, following close upon the heels of the big seven. Some of them are hardly worthy of mention in a book like this, such, for example, as Yawata and Omuta of Kyūshū, which have attained the city status because of their coalmine and iron-works populations respectively. But there are others which either in age, in historic associations, or in natural beauty, justly rank with the big seven, but we have space to mention only their names, with their respective areas. They are:

Hiroshima (Area 26.9 sq. miles)
Fukuoka (Area 34.1 sq. miles)
Hakodate (Area 7.3 sq. miles)
Kure (Area 18.6 sq. miles)
Sendai (Area 33.8 sq. miles)
Sapporo (Area 9.3 sq. miles)
Kumamoto (Area 17.5 sq. miles)
Kanazawa (Area 7.0 sq. miles)
Otaru (Area 21.9 sq. miles)
Okayama (Area 18.3 sq. miles)
Kagoshima (Area 5.9 sq. miles)
Shizuoka (Area 23.3 sq. miles)
Saseho (Area 19.2 sq. miles)
Niigata (Area 7.8 sq. miles)
Sakai (Area 5.6 sq. miles)
Wakayama (Area 12.5 sq. miles)
Yokosuka (Area 13.2 sq. miles)
Hamamatsu (Area 5.9 sq. miles)
Moji (Area 16.0 sq. miles)
Shimonoseki (Area 6.0 sq. miles)