It’s said that a picture tells 1,000 words, so I’ll hand it over to the City of Sapporo to say a few thousand words on its behalf.
http://www.welcome.city.sapporo.jp/photolibrary/indexe.php provides a user friendly photo library that describes this beautiful city far more eloquently than I could hope to achieve.
Sapporo houses the head quarters of Charaku Co., Ltd ‘The Japanese Green Tea Club’, far from the tea growing areas of Japan but a scenic, affordable, clean and efficient city to live and conduct a business from.
Hi, I’m Derek, one of the ’Charaku’ team who’s privilege it is to bring this selection of premium quality Japanese green tea to your doorstep, or in this case desk top. As a westerner living in Japan my blogs over the forthcoming year will include aspects of everyday life experiences in Sapporo. My partner Ayano, whose family is steeped in the tea-making tradition, will contribute from time to time with tips garnered from our own experiences in trialing different teas and blends.
I’ll start my living in Japan blog with an account of the Christmas/New Year holiday season. In the shops you’d be excused for feeling that you were anywhere in The West starting from October. Canned Christmas music, decorations, Santa’s, fake Christmas trees and gift boxes of presents are everywhere. The similarity ends in the food halls and supermarkets. Tokyo maybe different but in Sapporo there were no signs of mince pies, Christmas puddings, short bread, turkey’s or any other roasts. I ordered my frozen turkey from a butcher friend, the first order for a turkey he’s ever had. The bird was from Brazil and proudly announced on its packaging that it was slaughtered in the true Halal manner; how it ever arrived in Sapporo I really don’t know, it’s a very long magic carpet ride to the nearest mosque from here. I will add that the bird was quite delicious and did its job admirably. So what’s the climax of all this spending? Christmas day is just another working day. I understand that in Japan it really is just for the kids and that KFC is the traditional Christmas dinner.
New Year is the BIG holiday here, people start travelling back to their families late in December and take about a week’s holiday from about December 28. New Year’s Eve is not for the drunken reveler; everyone’s much too busy preparing for the New Year’s Day feast. The evening is spent watching a marathon singing competition between the sexes on TV. This year the men won. At 11:45pm the TV coverage swings across to a temple service from Kyoto to see in the New Year. The mood is somber, reflective and reverent. After mid night my family and friends trudged through the snow to pay their respects at the local temple, state their wishes for next year and receive a cup of sweetened hot sake. Then everyone headed to bed.
On New Year’s Day the dining table groaned; full of those quaint Japanese food boxes brimming with 20 to 30 varieties of seafood, chicken roll, cold meats, pickles, veggies of every description, miniature soufflés and a vast array of dipping sauces. The main presentation was whole crab, in this instance ‘Hairy Crab’ a specialty of Sapporo, Hokkaido. Rice cakes cooked in a delicious soup were a side dish. (Only a side dish because it didn’t fit on the table).
The eating and family conviviality is an all-day affair liberally lubricated with sake and/or beer. Naturally we finished the day with a soothing cup of Saitama Sencha.
Feel free to recount your experiences of Christmas in Japan or ask any questions about life in Japan.
derek@tea-charaku.com
