Presents

Up until now I've mostly avoided blogging about gifts and souvenirs I've been given, thinking it a bit tacky or show-offy, but recently I've been in a grateful mood and wanted to share some of the bounty we've been lucky enough to receive.

A few weeks ago a very kind person, who read a confession of my love of red licorice on Facebook, sent me package of Twizzlers. It was totally unsolicited, out of the blue, and an act of kindness for which I'm extremely thankful.

The Japanese are not big on licorice, especially red licorice (with its day-glo colour, artificial "red" flavour and plastic texture, I can't imagine why), so it's almost impossible to find, and I find myself craving it more often than I'd like to admit. So this was a wonderful treat, and I'd like to say I savored it slowly, eating one piece (one twizzle?) per day, but that would be a lie: the entire package was gone within a few days. Shameful, yes, but it cured me of my cravings and I think I can last until my next visit home.

Here in Japan, such spontaneous presents are relatively rare. This is a gift-giving society, but the exchange of presents is usually done according to very specific rules and for very specific reasons. The present above was a return present, given to me by a student after I had given her a souvenir from somewhere. This gift kind of breaks the rules in that it was probably more valuable than the gift I'd given her (return presents are supposed to be about half the value of the original presents, although I think it can be more or less depending on the exact occasion).

This gift was a good example of the elaborate packaging used in Japan. I usually find all it rather wasteful, but I can't help but admire the beauty of this particular package.

Individually wrapped snacks also used to strike me as wasteful, until I discovered why it's done: Japan is very humid for much of the year, and any kind of packaged food goes soft and moldy if not eaten right away or wrapped individually.

These confections turned out to be choco-arare, or chocolate covered arare (puffed rice snacks, which are usually savory rather than sweet), in regular chocolate, matcha chocolate, white chocolate and strawberry chocolate. Choco-arare seem to be rather trendy now, but I'm afraid I wasn't crazy about these. If they were just spheres of chocolate lined with puffed rice I'd like them, but the deep-fried, sweet-soy sauce flavoured rice balls inside were too much. A shame, because I'm a big fan of sweet and salty combinations and I really wanted to like these (the way I like chocolate-covered pretzels or salted caramels).

Another sort of gift-giving is the exchange of souvenirs, which is done here a little differently than the way it is in the west. Back home a souvenir tends to be a meaningful memento of one's travels, bought either for oneself or one's close friends and family, while in Japan, omiyage (souvenirs) are only bought for others. Not that Japanese people don't shop for themselves while on vacation, it's just that those purchases are not called souvenirs.

Omiyage are almost always edible, and bought for nearly everyone: family, friends, coworkers, classmates, fellow club members, and anyone else who has been inconvenienced by (or even aware of) a traveller's absence. In the case of coworkers and classmates, individual souvenirs are not necessary, and most people buy a box of something to dole out.

The treats above were brought home from one of my group classes, where things have gotten a little bit out of control. From bottome left: sakura sembei (rice crackers flavoured with dried shrimp and preserved cherry leaves), mini sweet potato cakes (they had come wrapped in the green paper in the picture above), sakura daifuku (mochi stuffed with sakura flavoured sweet bean paste), and biwa (loquat) cake. The school owner already provides snacks and tea, and at least one student will bring something for each class. More often than not all four of them come armed with omiyage, and usually there are so many things to eat that we all end up bringing excess treats home, like the loot above.

Recently many of these omiyage are not actually from a trip (unless a trip to the nearest department store counts), and sometimes they're "recycled" omiyage from a student's family member or coworker (which is always fully disclosed and isn't considered bad manners). Of the snacks above only the sweet potato cakes and biwa cake were souviners, from Kawagoe and Chiba, respectively. Which were both day trips, just an hour or so from Tokyo. It must be a bit expensive for the students (I usually don't participate, bringing omiyage only if I've taken a real trip) but they all seem to look forward to exchanging and eating the snacks so it seems to be harmless fun. I  think a lot of offices and other work environments have a similarly constant flow of omiyage, but perhaps not to this extent.

One of my private students is a retired kindergarten teacher who travels the world, and she never fails to bring me back something. She came back from a recent trip to India with a package of Darjeeling tea and a silk scarf for me. Her generosity astounds me, as does her thoughtfulness: she really knows my taste, and this scarf is totally me.

She also knows that I am a novice tea drinker looking to expand my horizons a little, and I can't wait to try this stuff. I just have to finish up the tin of Earl Grey I'm slowly going through. And now that I think about it, after eight or so years of serving her Earl Grey (she's a tea lover herself) maybe this is a hint that she'd like a change too.

Hand-made gifts seem to be quite rare, and the two above are among the very few I've received. The are straps (meant to be hung from a cell phone or to decorate a bag or wallet) made of scrap cloth and acorn caps, and they were given to me by my landlady. We have a kind of non-stop present exchange going on that goes in cycles, usually starting out with an omiyage from somewhere and continuing with "payback" gifts back and forth, to the point that I no longer what the original omiyage that started this current cycle was. The gifts are usually not fancy: I've received a bouquet of wildflowers and home-made marmalade, and have given homemade jam and cookies and excess fruit from a box full I had received from someone else. This kind of present exchange can be a real burden to some, especially better-connected Japanese people who have a long list of people to give to. But I don't mind this set-up at all, as my landlady is the only person with whom I'm caught in an endless gift exchange with. In fact it's a great way to share when I have lots of stuff, and if it keeps our relationship healthy (especially important since she lives right next door to me), then it's a good thing.

I think this sort of casual back-and-forth of presents is much more common in rural areas or more established suburban neighborhoods (where people actually know and talk to their neighbors), with excess bounty from the garden or farm plot (or from gift boxes of apples or clementines like the one I mentioned above) frequently shared.

These grapes are going back in time a while. We received them early last autumn, and although I was a little too busy to blog about them I did keep the pictures. They are from Senbikiya, a luxury fruit store that's a favourite for expensive fruit gifts. Senbikiya is the kind of place that sells those two hundred dollar melons you've probably heard about, and although these grapes are not quite in that class of luxury they cost more than I'd ever consider spending on myself. Hideaki estimates that they were about 7000 yen (about $70 US).

They were delicious, of course--at that price they'd have to be. But I think most westerners, myself included, would prefer cheap Thompsons and concords from back home: although these were incredibly sweet and juicy, one of them had seeds and both had a very bitter, tough skin that needed to be peeled. And they couldn't be peeled by just popping them into your mouth like a concord, they had to be hand-peeled, a painstaking process that kind of took the fun out of eating them.

But they were beautiful and delicious and I'm glad we were lucky enough to try them.

It seems like people just can't stop giving us fish roe, and to that I say: bring it on. This is ikura no shoyuzuke (salmon roe cured in sauce) from Hokkaido, which is known for its seafood, including salmon. It was a special treat because we usually don't get to eat ikura except for the brief period in autumn when whole sacs of fresh roe are available and we can cure our own.

This ikura was made, along with thinly sliced shiso (perilla) into ikuradon (salmon roe atop rice). Ikuradon is at once a very simple food and the height of luxury, and we relished every bite of hours.

I don't think most of the people who were nice enough to give this gifts read this blog, but even so I'd like to say thank you. May your kindness be rewarded!

Comments

[astrorainfall]

Great post - I really enjoyed reading about your gift-giving/receiving experience in Japan. Now I feel so rude for not giving back some of my students the gifts they gave me after a trip. Once I got a whole box of Krispy Kreme donuts just because a student's mother queued up for two hours at the Shinjuku branch. I wish I gave her something back!!!

[Sarah]

At the museum where I work we often get gifts from visitors, researchers, or travelling co-workers. Because the treats will be shared out between everybody it is normally your basic variation of senbei or wagashi or cookie. But once we had somebody bring in a huge box full of cucumbers... They were good, although not nearly as yummy as your ikura or pricey grapes!

[Hermes]

Gift is the only way we can have the cake and eat it too. Because even when we give it away, its pleasure remains with us. The satisfaction we draw by giving a gift gives us a feeling of being full, rather having eaten it. This is a subject not that well written about.

Even children who don't have anything give gifts when they are very young; a leaf, a flower, a piece of paper or even a bit of straw.The best ever gift me and my wife got was from our son when he was only four years old, on our marriage anniversary- two carrom board coins!

Hermes

[Lynne]

Wow, interesting...it never occur to me that a return gift is proper! I thought, if anything, it's out of good gesture and thoughtfulness. If anything, yes you would remember the generous person when you find something you think will be nice or appreciated by the individual.

I would like to add you on my facebook! I also post pictures of flowers and food, would like to very much share that w/ you!

my search email is: serene818@yahoo.com

hope to hear from you soon!

[Amy]

Astrorainfall, don't feel bad. I think certain groups of people are exempt, like teachers (who would go broke trying to return all the gifts they receive from students) and foreigners, who aren't expected to know the rules. As for the donuts, your box was likely one of several the mom bought, so don't feel bad.

Sarah, you work in a Japanese museum? That must be fun. I think a box of cucumbers is a great gift. It reminds me of a camping trip I took in western Tokyo several years ago--it was late in the season so we were the only campers, and in the morning the campground owner came by with a little basket of her homegrown vegetables. It was the first time I'd eaten cucumbers and tomatoes as-is, just munching them like they were apples or something. It was all good, but the cucumber was the best cucumber I've ever had.

Hermes, that's sweet. In Japan there are of course gifts given from the heart like you describe, but in the case of obligatory gifts I'm afraid most people get little pleasure out of giving them.

Lynne, I've sometimes made myself feel bad by giving someone a gift and then receiving a return gift upon our next meeting. As if I forced them into the inconvenience of buying a return gift. It does take some of the fun out of giving, but in another way the return gift is itself an expression of thoughtfulness.

[Moshi Mooch]

Hi Amy,

Can I add you on my Facebook? Can I email you my email add?

[sheri]

Beautiful scarf!
I am an avid tea drinker and I would say that Earl Grey is one of my favourites but it's all a matter of taste! ;)

[zee]

Wow, that's a really beautiful scarf !

I like Earl Grey, but I also like to taste many different kinds of tea such as Oolong, Green tea, etc. Here, we have several kinds of local tea, some with smoky tone and other is just smooth and comforting.

I agree with you Amy. I also wouldn't like to give a present to someone only to know that it will be a burden for that person to return my present. But you sure is lucky to receive such a good quality of presents.

[Odaiba]

Have you tried stores as Kaldi or other import shops to find your US candy?

I am always in awe to find my american favorites like Snickers with Almond and such in those type of places.

[Gearedtocook]

I stumbled on this post while looking up gift-giving ideas! I'm about to head to Tokyo and Kyoto, where I'm renting a house for a week. Do you think it will be awkward for the landlady if I bring her a gift? Something small -- a collection of jams/preservers.