 A. VM = vending machine in below.
Following the previous post, today I’m writing about non-beverage VM. Burgers, udon noodles, takoyaki octopus balls VM are sometimes found at toll road service area, frozen in the machine, heated up when it comes out. Cigarette VM everywhere, you need to apply for a card to scan and prove you are over 20. Peeled and cut ready-to-eat fruits VM which I’m not sure if we really need it. Ice-cream VM at stations, lifesaver in mid summer because summer in Japan is brutal. Diaper VM, when you run our of diaper for your baby, you can get 2 from VM, not a whole package of 20 ! Try-your-luck VM, you put 1000yen and you get junk or Nintendo 3DS for example. Egg VM at entrance of chicken firm. Everything-you-need-to-dip-in-Onsen VM at some Onsen (hot spring or spa). This EYNTDIO VM is amazing. Let’s say you go for a day trip to Hakone, which is very famous for Onsen, to see lakes and Mt. Fuji and you come across Onsen which wasn’t on your plan but you want to try. No worries ! They have EVERYTHING you need in VM. Towel, shampoo and conditioner, razor, shower cap if you don’t want to wet you hair, hair elastic to tie your hair up (dipping hair in Onsen is considered bad manner !), even underwear !
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 A. VM = vending machine in below.
There are 2.4M VM for beverage alone, 4.2M including others. In this post, let me write about beverage VM and in next post about non-beverage VM ! Variations of drink you can get from VM is endless. There is literally nothing you can’t get from VM. Soft water bottled in Japan, hard water like Evian, fizzy water, flavored water like “lemon water” or “apple water”, all different types of tea such as green (sometimes 2~3 different types of green tea in one machine, welcome to Japan !), jasmine, black, pu-erh, oolong and such, coffee with/without sugar, with/without milk, soda, fruit juice, onion soup, corn soup, Oshiruko - Japanese red bean soup and even Dashi Japanse soup stock. You’ll see more chilled drinks in summer, more heated ones in winter. Red price tag means hot and blue means cold. Also room temperature water is available for people who don’t want to take pills with chilled water. (I heard VM you can change the temperature depending on seasons is available only in Japan, is it true ??) Not available on streets but if you stay at hotel or Ryokan, sometimes you can find alcohol VM for beer and cocktail. When I was little, alcohol VM were still available on streets and I remember getting a can of beer for my dad but after minors buying and drinking alcohol from VM became an issue, these were banned from street. VM here in Japan is not just a machine you get drink from. It’s also our lifeline. When you make emergency phone call to police from public pay phone, they can trace your call and allocate where you are but pay phone disappeared from streets with the popularization of smart phones and people can’t always tell where they are making emergency call from. So a lot of VM have address sticker attached so that people can find the closest VM and tell exact address to police. Some VM also work as free wifi spot, news source using the electric bulletin board attached to it and free drink supplier in case of natural disaster. In 2011 when we had the big earthquake, these VM were great help. Next post will be about non-beverage VM !  A. Sukombu is popular Dagashi (penny snack for children), made with Kombu seaweed or kelp. It started as Dagashi but this days it’s popular among grownup too as healthy substitute for other snacks such as chips and chocolate. Until around 1945, apprenticeship system where kids around 10 years old were sent out to merchants to learn ABC of business was still popular. Kids lived with merchants, three meals provided and they learnt not only basic of business but also how to read, write and calculate, even discipline as a merchant. One boy was working as an apprentice at Kombu wholesaler in Osaka and fragments of Kombu, pickled in vinegar to soften, that couldn’t be sold as proper products was always his snack. He thought to himself if he seasons it sweet, it can be a popular snack and when he was 19, he went independent to make this idea into product. It first became popular among children in Osaka but after he started to sell it at Kiosk at JR stations in Tokyo, in a small bright red package which was eye-catchy and easy to fit in pockets or bags, it was spread out to all over Japan by passengers using JR lines and become well known and popular nationwide. It’s greenish black strips of Kombu softened and seasoned with vinegar and then coated with white sweet powdery seasoning called “magic powder” (suspicious !). To be honest it doesn’t look appetizing and the texture is funny, soft but chewy and it kinda tries to escape from your teeth when you bite. But as said in the question, it’s oddly addictive. The reason behind its addictiveness is “Umami”. Umami is one of 5 basic tastes, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and Umami. It’s Japanese word literally translates “yummy-ness”, often described “savory” in English. There are three acids that create Umami and Kombu is full of glutamic acid, one the three. Breast milk contains a lot of glutamic acid and it works as a signal to tell babies it’s safe to drink and nutritious. So Umami created by glutamic acid is a flavor you (or your tongue) are familiar with since you were born and something you naturally crave for. So this is why Sukombu is addictive !
 A. Kewpie mayonnaise is captivating stomach of people not only in japan but also all over the world but what’s making it so special and different from other mayo out there ?Two reasons, ingredients and container.
✅Eggs In Kewpie mayo, only egg yolk is used while whole egg is used in western mayo. This creates its richness. Left over egg white ? They sell it to fish cake makers who need egg white only. ✅Vinegar They brew special vinegar designed specifically for their mayo using apple and malt by themselves. I’ve never tasted their vinegar by itself but looking at the ingredients, I can guess it has rich deep sourness compared to let’s say Heinz for example which has sharp clear sourness. This add Kewpie mayonnaise its signature sourness. ✅Container Flavor of mayo drastically drops when it’s exposed to air. Kewpie mayo comes in a tube, looks like a huge fat toothpaste, made with special three layered plastic to keep out air as much as possible. This helps mayo to stay fresh and flavorful. One more thing about the lid. If you take the whole red part off, there is star shaped nozzle and if you flip the too part up, there is thin nozzle. You can use the star shaped one when you want to use large amount, and thin one when you want to use just a little or for decoration just like I always do in my Okonomiyaki class (presentation matters !). There is a Japanese word “Kodawari” meaning relentless pursuit for perfection and their Kodawari is making Kewpie mayo not just mayo but Kewpie mayo !  A. Wondering about S & B curry sauce which we can get here in Australia. I thought I read in an advertisement that it's the most widely used curry sauce in Japan, even when you go to restaurants (izakayas etc).
Q. S&B and House are two curry giants followed by Glico. In 1930’s, S&B was a leading company of made-in-Japan curry powder but curry powder from a British company C&B was still considered as “genuine” and widely used at restaurants. But C&B curry powder was a bit expensive so someone started making money selling fake C&B curry by filling the jar with japan-made cheep curry powder. When this was revealed, it created diplomatic conflict between the UK and Japan but restaurants were surprised that they didn’t notice it was fake C&B and realized japan made curry isn’t so bad. Since then, restaurants started using S&B curry powder instead and it’s still the most used curry powder. But when it comes to curry bricks or cubes that looks like a gigantic chocolate bar, it’s another story. After WW2, someone invented curry granule (mixture of spices and flour as thickener), that you just need to dissolve in hot water, to make making curry at home a lot easier than making it all from scratch. And then some one invented cube curry that looks like a huge candy to make it even easier. And finally Glico (sweets company back then, foods company now) invented the current brick style curry sauce that looks like a chocolate bar using their chocolate bar making knowledge and technique. So S&B does have the biggest share of curry “powder” but when it comes to curry “bricks”, massive hit of “バーモントカレー or Bermont curry”, which is not too spicy for children, and also its effective tv commercial with song that sticks to your ears propelled House to the leading company, followed closely by S&B, then Glico.  A. In Japanese myth, it’s believed Amaterasuohmikami (grand god so to speak) sent her grandson Niniginomikoto down to Japan. One of his mission was to bring rice seeding 🌾down here and have Japanese people fertilize this country. So rice is sacred food gifted by gods and this is why rice is so important in Japan.
Every year, the emperor of Japan who is believed to be a descendent of gods conducts a special ceremony to thank for harvest of the year called “Niiname-sai”. The very first Niiname-sai conducted by new emperor is called “Daijyo-sai”. Emperor Naruhito enthroned last May will conduct Daijyo-sai November this year. Rice from which area to be used for these festival is decided by augury using turtle shell🐢. This year rice from Tochigi prefecture and Kyoto prefecture will be used.  You may know miso soup but do you know Tonjiru ? Tonjiru is a type of miso soup with various vegetables and pork while miso soup is usually with one or two ingredients and no pork. Government of Japan used to encourage us to take more than 30 different ingredients per day, 10 per meal. This was to improve nutrition balance and also to avoid risk of cancer by not eating only a few specific ingredients for a long time. This guideline was removed long time ago because it can end up with consuming too much calories but I still loosely stick to it by using as many different ingredients as possible. Tonjiru is a great dish to hit the goal. My version of tonjiru contains Chinese cabbage, daikon, carrot, sweet potato, spring onion, burdock root, konnyaku, shimeji mushroom, satsumaage fish cake, tofu and pork which is 11 ingredients already ! A bowl of rice, grilled fish along with tonjiru will make perfectly balanced meal !
 When I chat with my guests, I sometimes notice they try to do both east side and west side of Tokyo in one day, like putting Asakusa in east side and Shibuya in west side together. Asakusa and Shibuya are only 30 min apart using metro so it's not totally stupid thing to do but it's definitely better to spend one day in east side and another day in west side. East side where the TOKYO KITCHEN locates seems less popular among tourists compare to west side where Shibuya and Shinjuku are but there are a lot to see ! For some people, west side can be a bit overwhelming with too many people while east side is relatively quieter and slower. So DO SPEND one day in east side ! Places you can try in east side are, Asakusa for sure, Ueno, Yanaka, Ginza, Tsukiji, Akihabara, Kanda and such. I will write about each area when I feel like it.
 It is said there are over 400 words to explain texture of food in Japanese language. In English, fresh vegetable like lettuce and crackers are both "crispy" but in Japanese, lettuce is "shakishaki" and crackers are "sakusaku". There are many more just for "crispy". Karikari for deep fried crispy, poripori for firm crispy like pickles, paripari for dry crispy like hard rice crackers, not like the light ones in the picture. Same for "soft". Torotoro for creamy soft like custard, Fuwafuwa for fluffy soft like white bread, hokuhoku for floury soft like baked potato. Many of those texture words are onomatopoeia to describe the sound when you bite and that's why these are repeat word.
But why are there so many in Japanese ? It seems there are two main reasons. #1. There are inherently more onomatopoeia in Japanese language compare to other languages and onomatopoeia is not only for children. These are used a lot in daily conversation just like normal adjective, adjective verb and adverb. #2. Japan is a long mountainous country from north to south, surrounded by ocean. This means wide variety of seasonal ingredients are available. Japanese people traditionally try not to over cook those ingredients to enjoy and maximize the texture of each ingredient. We even appreciate textures that are unpleasant for western people such as "slimy" or "stringy". Food matters a lot here !  You will be surprised to see the variety of flavors when you go to chips section at supermarket or convenience stores in Japan. It's not just salt & vinegar and sour cream & onion. You can find those basic flavors of course but you can also find Japanese flavors such as Teriyaki chicken, Wasabi and Soy sauce & mayonnaise. Try some and I'm sure you'll like them all !
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AuthorHi ! I'm Yoshimi, the owner of TOKYO KITCHEN ! Archives
December 2019
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