Shrines and Temples - Sarah & Taylor

In Japan there is a significant mixture of shintoism and buddhism in equal measure. There are numerous places of worship for either religion at any random corner in Japan.

There are various large shrines and temples in significant places; the Meiji Jingu located in Yoyogi park, or the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa are a few examples.  These ones are larger and more publicized for public viewing and visiting, but even aside from that, many smaller and unknown-names ones dot the streets all over Tokyo.  Down the hill from the dorm, halfway to the train station, there is a small shrine up a very long, steep flight of stairs.  It is very simple, with only a torii gate at the bottom of the stairs, and a small prayer altar at the top.  Another slighter larger shrine in a small park that we visited was in Hakusan; kitsune statues guarded the shrines and torii gates.  

The atmosphere that was around the shrines and temples appeared to be directly affected by time of day, more so than the number of visitors.  Night versus day has a really strong influence on the feeling of the shrine; daytime makes the entirety peaceful and welcoming whereas nighttime makes it seem like something out of a Japanese horror game or movie.  (The one shrine at nighttime literally looked like something out of Fatal Frame; really super spooky.  We probably got cursed wandering around that time of night.  Oh well.)

Shrines appear in abundance, but the Buddhist temples that neighbour them are also in vast numbers.  With Japan having experienced a growth of uniqueness to their culture from the Isolation Policy, the blend of Buddhist and Shinto beliefs make for something very interesting; many shrines are neighboured or are in the same park area as temples.  Seeing these quiet places in the middle of a bustling city - even in the neighbourhoods outside of the main downtown-city hub - really throws contrast to the old and new traditions present in Japan.  

Traditional Japanese Sweets and Foreign Influences - Myles & Gaby

Traditional Japanese sweets are steeped in history. Known as wagashi, they have traditionally been used in tea ceremonies for hundreds of years. Wagashi
 are typically made using local ingredients like rice flour and azuki bean paste (anko), and often change with the season as different ingredients become available. These sweets are meant to stimulate all five sense, being not only food but a form of art. We wanted to experience this tradition, while also looking into how foreign influences have impacted sweets in Japanese culture.

Nowadays, as we found, wagashi aren't just used for tea ceremony or sold in specialized shops. Wagashi can also be found in in places like bars and convenience stores at reasonable prices for casual consumption. When we were taken out for drinks by the Senshu University students, we were able to try yokan. Yokan is a cold treat made with jellied azuki bean paste. The sweetness was subtle and the texture was smooth, it was a nice refreshing way to finish a meal. 7-11's here sell many varieties of wagashi, many of which cost less than 100 yen. We tried 7-11's daifuku, matcha mochi, and dorayaki. Matcha mochi and daifuku are both made from glutenous rice cakes stuffed with anko. The matcha mochi had, as the name suggests, match worked into the dough while the daifuku had whole bean scattered throughout the dough. Both had a chewy texture and again had a subtle sweetness. The whole beans in the daifuku gave it a grainy texture and the matcha in the matcha mochi unfortunately wasn't very detectable. Their quality matched their cheap price but the still made for a nice snack. We found the dorayaki to be the best of the bunch. The two pancakes on the outside were light and fluffy and the paste in between them was very smooth. If you're goin to 7-11 for wagashi, get the dorayaki. Wagashi are also commonly sold at tourists

Of course, you can still find high quality wagashi at specialized wagashi shops. Myles' host family mother, Kazue-san, was nice enough to take him to shop. Entering the shop immediately filled you with a simultaneous feelings of awe, excitement, and serenity. You could see the attention to detail and mastery that went into every variety of wagashi in the store. The seasonal wagashi were especially beautiful. Being mid-May, they featured bright spring colours and motifs like flowers, ponds, and seasonal fruits. Thanks to Kazue-san, we were able to try three varieties of these wagashi. These were mizu yokan, kingyo, and ajisai.

Mizu yokan is a special type of yokan that is only served during the warmer months as it has a higher water content than regular yokan. It had a sweet aroma, with a texture comparable to that of sorbet. The taste of the anko and the sweetness was much lighter than it had been in the regular yokan and it quickly dissolved in the mouth. The next wagashi, kingyo, was named for the goldfish embedded in the sweet, made to look like they were a live a swimming in a pond. It had a flavour and texture much like that of citrus jello, and had a pleasant fruity scent. The fish themselves had no flavour, and we assumed they were made of some sort of rice flour paste. The final treat, ajisai, is named after the spring flower it is meant to represent, hydrangeas. It seemed to be a type of mochi covered in brightly coloured, spongecake-like pearls. The flavour of the wagashi came largely from the anko in the middle. You could tell the superior quality of the bean paste, as it was much smoother and had a less intense flavour than that of the 7-11 mochi. If you really want an authentic wagashi experience in Japan, make sure you head to a real wagashi shop. Wagashi from anywhere else just can't really compare.

Foreign influence:

We explored foreign influence in Japanese treats at a place called Mister Donuts! They sell a variety of flavors from matcha (green tea) to chocolate donuts.  Matcha donuts were sold in man forms, illustrating how Japanese bakeries try to mix traditional flavours with modern ideas. Gaby being a great fan of chocolate was really excited to try one of their chocolate covered donuts! Truth is… they are not as tasty as she imagined.  Even though the presentation is quite attractive and very similar to what you can find in other western donut stores, the flavor of the donuts is quite different and really hard to compare to the ones found in other bakeries around the world.
The prices at this local are quite reasonable, ranging from 110 - 220¥ (~CA$ 1.50) for a donut.

We also had crepes in Harajuku! Their presentation was much more elaborated than those found in western places. For example, western crepes are flatter and with simpler fillings while Japanese crapes are cone shaped and filled with a variety of stuff! Fruit, ice cream… and they are much sweeter than western crapes.

It seems again that the Japanese culture was yet again able to take an idea from another place and successfully modify it to make it their own!!