Date: 05/20/2015
Fieldwork:
Since we didn't really have a direction/didn't know what we were supposed to be doing, we thought that we would try and expand on our previous research and using the guide to 町田名産品, we tried visited a couple more 和菓子屋さん to see what we could find out.
We had to walk out of the typical 町田 area that most of us are used to - no monument, no department stores, no 松屋・ファミマート・コンビニ, it was like we were walking around in 田舎...
At one point we felt like we'd been walking so far that we were doubting our navigation skills because there was literally nothing in sight...until we finally found it!
There, we got to interview the owner of the shop/the maker of the 和菓子 at 若葉堂 who apparently used to hold workshops at 桜美林大学. He told us that the shop had been open for 50 years, and that he came to 町田 50 years ago and has 65 years of 和菓子-making experience, having apprenticed making 天皇の料理 before that.
He had 町田名産品 at his shop too, but the only 和菓子 he would tell us about in more detail seemed to be 上生菓子.
He told us that 上生菓子 originated from China 1200 years ago, and that now they have a history of more than 400 years in Japan, being closely associated with 茶道 and 千利休, the Master of Tea Ceremonies. He makes them and they are frozen and sold off to foreign countries like London (where they're sold for an equivalent of 1000円 each), China, Indonesia, South Arabia, etc. He also mentioned that in hotter countries, they often add/pour sugar on top to make it sweeter since the area is too hot and they need the extra sugar.
I tried asking him about the 名産品 since they were displayed so prettily/unique to his shop, but somehow he started talking about the 上生菓子 again...
There were also some pretty typical 和菓子 and snacks, and he gave us 柏餅 as service!
Afterwards we went to a different 和菓子屋さん called 玉川虎屋.
However, they seemed too busy so we didn't interview them.
They had a lot of new/modern-style looking 和菓子 that I'd never seen before at any other 和菓子屋さん that we'd been to yet, which I thought was interesting. Most of the people working there also seemed to be younger, and when we asked how long the shop had been open, the girl at the counter didn't even know and had to go ask the people in the back...That was funny.
Reflection:
I thought it was interesting to see how at the first shop, there weren't really any customers, the shop looked old and aged, and the chef talked to us personally and told us all about 小豆 and about traditional 和菓子, whereas in the second shop, they seemed busy and didn't seem to know much about the shop. The shop also advertised new-looking products that made you curious about what it was.
This kind of inspired me to look into how Japanese value "tradition." Because to foreigners, I feel like Japan has a image of traditions/culture being a very strong part of everyday life. To many foreigners, Japan may very well be the equivalent of anime, sushi, kimonos, and samurai. Thinking about that, I started to want to find out how Japanese people actually feel about tradition. Do they consider it an important part of everyday life, or is it just another part of life? Is tradition really as important to Japanese people as we (as foreigners) tend to think it is, or is tradition in Japan just the same as it is in any other country?