Soft like a Baby!!!

Have you ever seen the white block made of soybean floating in the water? It’s called TOFU. It’s a healthy food and very popular especially to women because of the chemical included in the soybean called isoflavon Resembling to estrogen, it increases women hormones, prevent from breast cancer, and whitens the skin.
When I came in Japan at the age of seven, I went to the supermarket with my mother and we saw the package and bought it, thinking that it was a sort of mozzarella cheese. So, we went home and put it on the bread but it was not possible to swallow it…then a Japanese neighbor told us that it was Tofu and it was a traditional Japanese food that everybody eats and go to buy every morning.
Existing since the early Edo period, tofu was only eaten on special occasions such as ceremonies, festivals or on New Year’s Day.
Nowadays, seeing a Tofu shop is not as common as it was before. Because of the industrialization, machines make tofu and it has become easier to buy it anywhere at anytime but still, people say that buying tofu at the tofu shop is better and has a better taste.
A Tofu Shokunin(artisan) should get up around 4:00 in the morning to boil the beans, make it hard in blocks and put in a cold water. While making it, a lot of concentration is demanded and the tofu should be treated like a baby. So it needs a lot of patience, softness and attention. There are two most important ingredients for the cooking: WATER, which has a big influence on the taste. It should be soft water and not minerals nor solid water. Then, the soul of the shokunin influences very much the taste and the softness.
I went once in a Tofu shop during winter and asked a question to the owner about the coldness of the water and if he was already used to it….and he laughed at me saying that it has been 30 years he was doing this operation every morning.
However, I do like tofu and I prefer buying it at a tofu shop because it’s fresher and I can feel the soul in it.

Beauty of the Japanes Nature!

In his writing, Donald Richie refers the Japanese garden to Disneyland because of its shape that seems to be unreal and unnatural. “Almost 1000 years ago Japanese vision and technique had made the first Space Mountain!” “No other country has brought the principle of the microcosm to such profuse perfection”.

Japan is a country where nature has a great role in reflecting the spirit and the mentality of the Japanese society. Looking at a picture of a typical garden, the idea of harmony is strengthened with the organized, structured and balanced shape. The trees are trimmed everyday to keep the length of the leafs equal. The regularity shapes the Japanese heart and state of mind that is not only artistic but the fragility and sensitivity is represented through nature. I could not understand that when I just came to Japan because compared to Slovakia or Senegal, the nature was very “raw”. I thought that the Japanese nature was too much touched by humans’ hands and the image that everything was surreal and fake was input in my head until I started to understand the Japanese society and its functioning.

The concept of the Japanese garden has a deep meaning while knowing that every element has an important role to accomplish. The placement and the shape of the green that give a relaxing perfume; the collaboration and the gradation of the colors that create a warm atmosphere that emphasize the familiarity between themselves; the combination of the different plants; the presence of the water that refers purity; the stones that show the strength, patience and perseverance…Coming from the idea of animism, every natural or material object possesses souls, so the representation of the nature is very important to produce harmony.
Observing Japan’s nature from an outsider may look strange but once inside, I think it is easier to understand the spirit it infers.
Walking on the street in Japan is interesting because it is possible to see several types of people focusing on the nature but with different approaches. Some will take care of their garden cutting bad leafs from the plants or others will cut trees in a nice and artistic shape that is called Bonsai or do some ikebana… Japan is a country that love spending time being surrounded by the nature and the green. The nation’s character can be seen through this nature that seems like Disneyland: they are perfectionist, sensitive and worker.
Compared to the western garden or nature, the nature does not appear raw but is representative in the sense that, by looking at a Japanese garden, it is possible to characterize Japanese mentality and spirit.