Japan: A traditional culture like no other

With its borders finally reopened, Japan is welcoming visitors once more. The glittering skyline of Tokyo may immediately spring to mind, but it’s the ancient monuments, enduring traditions and distinct customs that make it such a charming country to visit. That doesn’t mean it is all stuck in the past, with innovative sustainability practices in place to ensure these traditions last long into the future.

In 2023, take the time to see Japan from a different perspective, reconnect with its history, and celebrate a new era of endless discovery. Here’s how…

Tradition in food: fermentation

The history

Fermentation, or hakko, was a vital component of ancient Japanese life; used to brew sake rice wine, better known locally as nihonshu, or to preserve crops for sustenance during Japan’s harsh winters and humid summers. Centered around the fungus koji, hakko was an ancient form of innovation borne out of resource scarcity and technological limitations.

Over millennia – perhaps even as far back as the Jomon period (14,000 – 1,00 BCE) – generations of Japanese farmers developed the fermentation techniques handed down by their forbears. And the significance of this is everywhere you look: fermented foods – including miso, soy sauce, mirin, and dashi (fish stock) – are the foundational pillars upholding nearly all traditional Japanese cuisine.

But it’s not just base ingredients; fermented dishes are staples in the Japanese diet, too. Natto, fermented soybeans, are a common breakfast snack. A bowl of miso soup accompanies nearly every meal. Tsukemono (pickled vegetables) are frequently served as an otoshi, or amuse bouche, in izakaya (gastropubs). And katsuobushi, fermented bonito, is an ever-present garnish.

Experience it for yourself

If you want to understand how the fermentation process works, it’s best to see it in action. And as you travel outward from Tokyo and across the Japanese hinterlands, you’ll find fermentation experts aplenty.

To watch koji work its Christ-like magic, turning rice into wine, head to Niigata Prefecture, one of Japan’s premier nihonshu regions with around 90 individual breweries. In Matsumoto, a lively city resting at the foot of the Northern Alps, guests can tour the Ishii Miso Brewery, where soybeans are fermented for three years in huge cedar vats.

Book a homestay in Nara, just south of Kyoto, where your hosts will extoll the virtues of koji and serve meals of fermented meibutsu, or “regional specialties”, and sake. Or if you’re exploring Japan’s ancient capital, make a detour to the Umekoji Fermentation Factory, just a 15-minute stroll from Kyoto Station.

Get a taste

Fermented Japanese foods like miso and soy sauce have proliferated across the world. But here are a few alternative recommendations to sample during your travels in Japan...

Katsuobushi

Dried, smoked and fermented bonito, katsuobushi looks more like a block of firewood than a saltwater fish. The block is shaved using a kezuriki (bladed wooden box) creating flakes used as garnish on tofu and savoury okonomiyaki pancakes, or as a base ingredient for broths. The smoky, umami flavour pairs with its melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Umeboshi

Umeboshi is a kind of tsukemono, made from preserved and salted ume, translating to plums which are actually more like apricots. Umeboshi is a common filling in onigiri (rice balls) or in vegetarian makizushi (sushi rolls), which combine pitted ume with perilla leaves. Be sure to try umechazuke, umeboshi and steamed rice swimming in green tea.

Nihonshu

Japanese rice wine was the dram of the Shinto gods – barrels of the floral liquor stand sentinel outside shrine entrances, left as votive offerings to the deities within. Served in steaming ceramic flasks in winter or chilled in summer, there’s no better way to wash down fermented cuisine than with a glass of Japan’s national alcoholic beverage.

Looking to the future

Advances in science have proved to us the benefits of eating fermented foods, including supercharging our gut biome and boosting our metabolism and immune system. But the benefits of the fermentation process are more than deitary. As environmental sustainability comes closer into centre focus, fermentation is offering solutions to industrial problems.

Amid the plunging gorges and dense woodland covering Tokushima Prefecture, fermented plants, including indigo, are being used to create chemical-free dyes for clothes and fabrics. In Niigata Prefecture, on the wind-whipped northwestern coastline, microorganisms are supplanting chemical fertilizers for soil preparation. Hakko also encourages a circular agricultural economy as many Japanese fermented foods – including tsukemono and miso paste – can be made easily at a non-mass-produced scale.

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Tradition in carpentry

The history

Historically, the importance of wood in Japan cannot be overstated. Japan’s castles were constructed from wood, it’s temples and shrines hewn from it, its domiciles heated by it.

As the use of wood expanded, so did the artistry and engineering techniques applied to it. Miyadaiku, carpenters who built and repaired shrines and temples, were a respected cohort. Not only did they build monuments in imposing tiers, with sweeping roofs and exteriors festooned with spiritual iconography, but they often constructed them without nails; instead using a series of interlocking beams to uphold the structures.

Woodworking craftsmanship bled into everyday utensils as well, from chopsticks and receptacles to tables and ornaments. Shokunin, or “artisans”, working with wood and lacquer would turn prosaic objects into pieces of art that populated the residences of Japan’s upper classes. It was this japonaiserie that, in part, galvanized the West’s fascination with Japan at the turn of the 20^th century.

Experience it for yourself

Many of the woodworking methods developed in centuries past are still taught and employed in Japan today. There are towns scattered across the country where visitors can experience this craft at its most enduring.

In Inami, Toyama Prefecture, 200 woodwork specialists live in the town of only 8,000 total residents. Along flagstone walking street Yokamachi-dori, you’ll see artisans rendering creatures from folklore in planks of wood, and lacquer artists deftly applying finishing touches to hand-carved soup bowls and jewelry boxes.

In Hakone, near Tokyo, marquetry is the craft of choice: local artisans have a storied history in crafting yosegi zaiku, traditional Japanese puzzle boxes. In the mountain town of Nikko, you’ll find the resplendent Toshogu Shrine, the resting place of Japan’s most legendary samurai, Ieyasu Tokugawa, built by the greatest carpenters of 17^th century Japan. Whilst here, look out for utensils crafted using the Nikko-bori technique, indicated by curved etchings fashioned with a bladed hikkai tool.

Take a look

Here are just some of the places to go to admire the incredible woodwork on display in Japan...

Ise Jingu

One of the most important shrines in Japan, 2,000-year-old Ise Jingu shrine is the nation’s spiritual home and holds one of the fabled pieces of imperial regalia, the Yata-no-Kagami mirror, which represents wisdom and enshrines the sun goddess, Amaterasu. Ise Jingu is rebuilt every 20 years – a symbol of rebirth – with the dismantled wood used to build a torii gate at the shrine’s entrance.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine

Almost 130,000 craftsmen were involved in the construction of the Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture, built in memory of Tokugawa Leyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Little surprise then, that the carvings here are so intricate and mesmerising. Look out for carvings of a sleeping cat, three monkeys and an oddly-shaped elephant as well as dozens of structures found throughout the complex.

Kumano Kodo

The Kumano Kodo is one of only two pilgrimage World Heritage sites globally. Ancient trails carve through mountains and forests on the Kii Peninsula to connect the Kumano Sanzan, three sacred Shinto shrines. Built primarily using local cypress wood, the sacred shrines collectively tell the origin story of Japan.

Looking to the future

Japan is widely regarded as a country of the future, renowned for its Blade Runner cityscapes and cutting-edge consumer technology. But equal amounts effort are invested in preserving its past; this is why Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples nestle within groves in even the busiest of urban areas.

Nobuya Miyata has built a reputation on preserving Japanese heritage and traditions. When the Tokyo-based woodworker isn’t repairing mikoshi (portable shrines) or building kamidama, small altars for homes and shops, he promotes traditional festivals and Shinto culture. Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s most famous architects, applies a similarly preservationist attitude to his work. Kuma designed the Japan National Stadium, host of Tokyo 2020, which used wood from all 47 of Japan’s Prefectures, and the Yushara Community Library constructed from scented cedar beams.

Kamikatsu, Japan’s first “zero-waste” town, is another champion of repurposed wood: Hotel Why, shaped like a question mark, and the adjacent Zero-Waste Center stand as cases in point.

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