I ike certain types of Japanese teas…especially hoji-cha which is a roasted green tea with an almost smoky undertone to it. But in general, I’m not a fan of matcha, the type of tea served at tea ceremonies (I do like SOME matcha-flavored sweets, though…especially good green tea ice cream).
During my first stint in Japan (summer 1984 to fall 1987), I took courses in tea ceremony and ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) so that I could get a cultural visa and study 20 hours a week and work 20 hours a week (such visas are no longer offered). But because I was unable to sit on the tatami (straw mats) due to knee problems and couldn’t develop a taste for matcha, didn’t like the inane rules of tea ceremony such as NEVER stepping on the seam between the individual tatami, I had to change to just studying flower arrangement. The teacher was the same woman, a very old-fashioned thinking 80ish lady and that decision pleased both of us. I studied flower arrangement for 3 years and only quit because they wanted thousands of dollars to get my certification which wouldn’t have done me much good. Soon after I returned to the US as my father had passed away and said certification would have had even less value. I loved studying Japanese flower arrangement and did it as gifts for friends and businesses until I left the US for Japan again on my third and most recent stint from 2009 to 2024 where I did it a few times then to display flowers in my classroom.
Thank you for that glimpse into another world. It strikes me as a rather rigid society in general. I recall Bourdain visiting & arranging some flowers himself.
Your welcome! Yes, it can be (is?) an incredibly rigid society. But like most things, there are good and bad aspects about it. In general, Japanese people are much better than Americans in following rules and mores (by “Americans”, I mean those from the US as opposed to others from North/Central/South America) and that makes for an incredibly safe place to live. This was especially true during COVID when there was no official lockdown at all.
But the inanity of some aspects of Japanese society & culture can be mind boggling! The newest one is that recently the Japanese government has put new historical people on the paper currency. The man on the ¥10,000 yen bill was apparently known for having numerous concubines. Well, this has caused a slight uproar in Japanese society because when one goes to a Japanese wedding, one is supposed to give cash and always in new bills (the MINIMUM amount is ¥30,000…approximately $207.00). Etiquette experts are now saying that one should find the newest possible of the older bills with the former person on them because giving bills with a person on them who had many concubines is bad luck for the newly married couple. Now people are saying “To hell with that! If you don’t want my money, give it back or just change to a cash-giving app!” (In many ways, Japan is still far from being a cashless society and the whole ritual of giving cash at a wedding is very complex!)
I still love Japan much more than my country of birth, but the rules and regulations of what keeps it ticking can really drive one nuts!
They’ve come out with an Oreo-flavored Coke and yesterday I saw a Slurpee made with it. I can’t even begin to think how bad either one of them would taste.
