Explore everyday life in Japan
Growing up in Upstate New York, I don’t think that I ever came across a persimmon. Even after spending four years working in quality kitchens across the state, and five years working in a very respectable French-style patisserie, I don’t think that I ever saw, held, or ate a persimmon. Until I came to Japan, persimmon was just a word that had floated into my vocabulary at some unmemorable point and was nothing but a fruit whose existence I was vaguely aware of.
Since coming to Japan, though, kaki, as they are called in Japanese, have come to be a much loved fruit of mine that I eat almost daily from the end of September until the middle of December. In addition, persimmons have become a definitive symbol of fall for me. Just as the smell of wood smoke billowing from chimneys used to call to my senses and signal the change of seasons to me, the sight of trees laden with bright orange persimmons hanging over the privacy walls that surround many houses in Japan, the sight of market and supermarket baskets brimming with the squarish orange fruit, and the sight of peeled persimmons hanging by strings to dry under the eaves of houses and the overhangs of apartment balconies have now become a symbol for me of one of my favorite times of year.
Persimmons, which were brought from China to Japan, have been cultivated in Japan for over a thousand years. During that time, they have developed a reputation for being a food that cures hangovers. So if you find yourself in Japan during the fall, in addition to drinking ukon (turmeric) tonics before a night full of nomihodais (all you can drink alchohol deals), you might want to consider buying persimmons and eating them for breakfast the next morning.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting daily updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.