As a qualified sake sommelier and international kikisakeshi, I always find it worthwhile to continue to further my Japanese drinks education. Thanks to the kind folks over at Taste of Japan, I have some new bottles to work through and here are three of my favourites from the Taste of Japan range.
Continue reading “Sake Flight Review Featuring Tsuki No Katsura and Endo Brewery”
In my home city of Manchester, there’s a statue of the influential feminist and activist Emmeline Pankhurst. She was a key figure in the Suffragette movement, fighting for women’s rights alongside Emily Davison, Dora Thewlis and many other women across Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The suffragette movement swept the western world, smashing traditions and upsetting the status quo and we can’t overlook the fact that it didn’t stop in Europe or the US. A world away in Japan, women were campaigning for their right to be seen as human beings in a society that had arguably even more restrictions than the west, with women like Hiratsuka Raicho leading the charge.
A pioneering feminist in Japan, Raicho shook the foundations of her country with the same force as Pankhurst did in the UK. Her character, strength and willpower are contained within the first issue of a feminist magazine she founded called Seito (Bluestocking): ‘In the beginning, woman was the sun. An authentic person. Now she’s the moon, a wan and sickly moon, dependent on another, reflecting another’s brilliance.’
Continue reading “The Thunderbird And The Fight For Women’s Rights”
In Japanese culture, the relationship between studentship and mentorship is an important societal pillar. This dynamic is shown within different martial arts styles, underpinned by a network of constructs. And a lynchpin for these constructs is the idea of shu-hai-rai.
Shu-hai-ri refers to the process of learning a skill and becoming a master. While its origins is rooted in martial arts, the idea is relatable to other areas of life as we’ll see.
Continue reading “The Mechanics Of Japanese Mastery: Shu-Hai-Ri”
Japanese work culture is made up of several concepts that are meant to champion collaboration, communication and productivity, all with varying results. One of the most prominent is gemba, which has its origins in lean manufacturing.
Translating to ‘the actual place’ gemba has several dimensions that will be explored in this article.
Continue reading “Gemba – The Science Of Japanese Productivity”
Japan has a rich, creative history, dating all the way back to the Heian period (794 – 1185). This was a time when creative practices were the highest expression of what a person was capable of – poetry, calligraphy and art were all prized.
Japanese nobility were expected to excel in every creative arena they stepped into and there are plenty of takeaways that we can apply for our own use today. A specific creative practice that I enjoy is zuihitsu, meaning to follow the brush.
Continue reading “Zuihitsu – How To Follow The Brush Of Your Writing Inspiration”
It’s 2015. Shoryu, a popular Japanese ramen chain, is opening in Manchester. I’m ready to find the meaning of life at the bottom of a bowl of ramen and when I walk through the door, I hear the phrase itadakimasu! and the banging of a drum. I don’t really think much of the word until the drum bangs again and I hear it repeated for the next customer. And the next customer. And the next customer.
Since then, I’ve been back to Shoryu several times and I continue to search for the meaning of a life at the bottom of every bowl of ramen. But it’s not the only thing that’s stuck with me. Itadakimasu is a word that captures a lot with a little, a proclamation of what Japanese food is or can be.
Continue reading “Itadakimasu And The Ritualisation Of Japanese Food”
The thing about Japanese idioms is that they are always more than what is said on the surface. It’s why they are useful for exploring in the context of mental health and desire. Specifically, drunken life, dreamy death is a phrase I’ve thought about for the last few years and how it’s applied to my own life.
A major stereotype of Japanese culture is an overwhelming seriousness, encapsulated in the concept of majime. This translates to seriousness or soberness, implying a lack of emotion and straight-facedness linked to the working world. The personification of majime is the salary man who works long hours, spends all his life in one job and sees his tenure as a badge of honour, an emblem to be wielded as fiercely and as proudly as a samurai with his katana.
But is majime a stereotype or can it have certain benefits when looked at from the wider perspective of Japanese culture? Let’s explore that in more detail and see what that looks like from a mental health perspective.
Continue reading “The Mask Of Majime – What Is The Price Of Extreme Politeness?”
It’s a Friday night. You’ve had a long week at work and you’ve already eaten plenty that day. But you have a craving for pizza, even though you know you’re full in the sense of getting all your calories and basic human needs satisfied. You know you aren’t ‘hungry’ in the ‘I’m-starving-not-actually-starving-life-or-death’ kind of way that gets said so much it’s a first world cliche (especially if you’re from the UK).
You order the pizza anyway because the craving demands it. And once you’ve finished, all you can think is why did I eat that goddamn pizza? I wasn’t even hungry.
If that sounds familiar, then maybe it’s time to embrace the concept of kuchisabishii. This Japanese concept roughly translates as ‘lonely mouth.’ But rather than it being a damnation of mindless eating, kuchisabishii offers a reframing of why we eat when we’re bored or sad.
Continue reading “Can We Develop Healthier Eating Habits With Kuchisabishii?”
For as long as I can remember, my life’s been filled with books. Crime novels, fantasy epics, philosophy texts, historical narratives and subjects with only a passing interest. Some books I’ve read multiple times, others I’ll never touch again and will probably keep gathering dust on the shelves.
Maybe for you it’s different. Maybe you stack your shelves with books you’ll never read once. And that’s okay. There’s a term for that in Japanese called tsundoku, which means collecting books that pile up in the home and won’t ever be read.
But at its core what does tsundoku represent? The habits of a hoarder? The preening of a pseudo-intellectual? Let’s answer those questions in my third essay on an exploration of Japanese mental health concepts.
Continue reading “Tsundoku – The Art Of Never Reading Books”
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