Food culture of Kansai and Kanto- what’s the difference and why?

Introduction
Sources

Aspects of food culture

Food seems to be an easy notion. We all need the energy, and the belly usually reminds us of it.
Apples, fish and rice are all able to fill up. Yet, it’s not quite that simple. Food is both chopping,
chewing and identity. When you pick the apple, you prepare a food event, which usually includes
rules, social belonging and seasonal awareness. Still it’s not so complicated that it prevents you from
appreciating the taste and freshness of apple. Then you are confronted with the last term: food culture.
There is no official definition of food culture. Both historians, sociologists, anthropologists
and professional food writers from different corners of the world are allowed to give their version.
Some emphasize the foodstuff, some the rituals and some food as symbols. The status connected to
some kinds of food could be focused, or food as a means of asserting identity or group membership.
Others find the essence in the taste or even the speed of food.

Four dimensions of sea bream

My agenda is to describe and discuss the food culture of respectively a nation and of two regions
within the same nation. I will not declare a strict definition of food culture, but I want to emphasize
four dimension or levels that in my view are meaningful within this context. The first deals with the
actual foodstuff available in a certain area. Originally this is about what the nature of the region can
offer, but usually traded goods will play a more important part in the course of history. The second
level is a rather broad shelf including processed food, seasonings, cooking styles and techniques
executed before serving. The third dimension deals with the food event – the actions and arrangements
around the food. Table manners, meal times and yearly traditions belong here. The fourth level is
reserved ideas and sensations of food – both individual and group wise. Taste preferences, food
memories, symbolic aspects and meanings about food belong here. So does words about food culture,
but it’s necessary to make a distinction between what the insider and the outsider of the group have in
mind.
I’ll give a very short and simple example of the three dimensions. Tai (sea bream) is a fish that
throughout history has been a common fish in Japanese waters. The chance of hooking it has to do
with level one. Different cutting and preparing techniques of the fish belong to the second level. The
tradition to serve the fish at celebrations belongs to the third. Then the idea of the fish as something
bringing luck and individual memories of other tai meals belong to the fourth. It’s not easy to make
the distinctions between the levels clear cut, but I find them fruitful for my purpose.

The formation of Japanese food culture

Wet farming, dripping fish
Japan can be described as a basically mountainous island group in the northern part of the monsoon
belt, embraced by benevolent ocean currents. These natural conditions give us a starting point when
we begin to search how Japanese food culture was formed.

“Until very recently, ecology and human physiology used to be the most important factors
determining the formation of diet. Ecological circumstances such as climate and geographical
location (e.g. access to the sea) primarily determined the availability of food in every part of the
world, so that the diet usually was composed of products available in the immediate
vicinity.”(Katarzyna Cwiertka, Asian Food The Global and the Local, page 2)

In the case of Japan the hilly landscape limits the farming, but not necessarily the fruit trees. The
monsoon climate is not the right thing for breeding cattle or sheep, but ideal when the time comes for
the rice plant to enter Japanese history. When rice entered history the wild game was driven from the
plains, an according to Naomichi Ishige the former hunting people of Japan got used to a diet without
eating meat. (Ishige, 60) This made the seafood even more important, as the rice plant of course
couldn’t invade the sea. The fact that no place in Japan is more than 150 km from the bountiful sea,
makes the foundation for the important role fish and even sea weed plays in Japanese diet. As the last
of the major nature given points, I’ll mention the four clearly distinguishable seasons that make out the
Japanese year.

The Chinese gift

Yet, if we should value the consequences of Japans geographical location, it’s impossible to
overestimate the short distance to China. The contact with China and Korea gave the Japanese the
techniques of paddy farming, the model of an empire and even utensils like chopsticks. Undoubtedly
nothing compares to the introduction of rice in the early part of the Yayoi period (beginning about 400
BCE) (Ishige, 22, Kalland, 38). Even the scholars still discuss how the rice farming actually spread,
this must be reckoned as the most important event in Japanese history. And throughout the most of the
same history, the rice has had the dominant role in the diet.

Calculations based on national statistics of Japan in 1873 – when there had as yet been virtually none
of the Western influence on dietary patterns that accompanied modernization – show that rice was the
dominant source of both calories and protein. (Ishige 20)

According to Naomichi Ishige, rice was the chief feature of Japanese diet from the introduction and up
to the 1960s. The way the formal word for cooked rice, gohan, also is used as the word for meals in
general underlines this. And addressing the rice as gohan and serving the Shinto gods rice cakes and
sake is a sign of the holiness of the Japanese paddy grain.

Closing the kitchen door

To some extent, but more indirectly, Chinese influence also strengthened the position of fish in the
Japanese kitchen. From 675 Buddhism influenced different decrees and taboos on eating mammal
meat. Both the use of chopsticks, the tea and foods like soy sauce, miso paste, noodles and even the
first varieties of tofu and sushi can be traced back to the mainland. But we all know that Japanese are
able to add their own touch and to cut off the foreign influence for long periods. The nation building
and the centralisation in the 8th century had China as a model, but after 894 the contacts were almost
cut off for centuries. (Kalland, 72) The Japanese court was the main scene for creating a new, unique
aesthetics that has influenced all aspects of the culture and the Japanese self-image since then. Also
the Chinese tea drinking was transformed to a distinctive Japanese tea ceremony, which later became a
model for refined dining.
The pattern of “opening door-closing door” was to some degree repeated after the first
encounter with the West in the latter half of the 16th century. The adaptation of new weapons has for
some reason been paid more attention than new, westerly techniques of frying fish. No matter what,
the borders were closed after a few decades. Most of the Europeans were killed or shut out, while the
words tempura, pan and tabako were allowed to stay – and the Dejima port in Nagasaki made it
possible to sprinkle some spoons of exotic sugar upon those who could pay.

Maturing the kitchen

In most of the Edo period – or more precise between 1639 and the shogunate collapse in 1868 – Japan
was almost entirely sealed off from the outside world. Naomichi Ishige has named this period “The
maturing of traditional Japanese cuisine”. His point is that there were no real newcomers during this
time span, but that the elements already introduced were consolidated, refined and systematized:
“This period saw the formulation of what the Japanese today regard as their “traditional” culinary
values, cooking and eating habits.” (Ishige, 105)
These elements include the soybean products soy sauce, miso and tofu, the dashi stock, the frying
techniques of tempura and teriyaki and even the emergence of the restaurant. The first Japanese
noodles and the first kamaboko fish paste emerged before Edo, and the sushi development was also set
in motion before the shogunate. But it was in Edo time these food varieties really became popular.
Soy sauce, shoyu, its slightly more solid soy brother miso and the Japanese soup stock, dashi, are three
of the most important. They all have relevance for the second part of the essay. Mixing soybeans with
salt and a fermenting agent called koji makes both soy sauce and miso paste. Most of the miso is used
in Japanese miso soup, which became a meal for commoners during Edo period. Soy sauce became
popular in the second half of the seventeenth century, but not all over Japan in the first run.” It was as
a factory-made product that soy sauce became popular, initially coming into use at daily meals among
the townspeople whose lives depended on the commodity economy.” (Ishige, 115). Kansai was the first
scene of the mass produced soy sauce, but the Edoites were soon to follow. So did the use of thinly
sliced raw fish; sashimi. Soy sauce is regarded as a seasoning that brings out the natural flavour in
different food, and is jointly responsible for the Japanese focus on simpleness and the individual
flavour of the ingredients.

The fifth taste

But we’ll never manage to finish the miso soup without dashi. The dashi ingredients may vary, but
dried and smoked bonito tuna and konbu, kelp, are the most usual. Also the manufacturing of the
bonito for the stock was improved in the early Edo period. The shipping of kelp from Hokkaido started
earlier, but in the middle of Edo development of navigation routes enabled shipping to Osaka and
further on. It has to be mentioned that both stock from konbu-weed and from bonito-fish are able to
trigger the delicious sensation of umami. Umami does actually mean delicious, but it has recently also
been recognized as the fifth taste besides salty, sour, sweet and bitter. If the glutamic acid from the
kelp and the inosinic acid of the tuna are combined, the sensation might even be enhanced.
(www.umamiinfo.com) The sense and consciousness of umami has to be counted as one of the features
of the Japanese food culture.

Samuraiisation
Edo period brought more than refined soup and restricted imports. Peace through control was one
mark – especially when we compare with the turmoil in the preceding period. A strong class division
was one of the control mechanisms. The former warriors, the samurais, were the only ones allowed to
wear weapons and were top ranked among the four classes. Already during the centuries before the
Tokugawa Shogunate, samurai lords had imitated and to some extent developed the cuisine and table
manners of the nobility. (Ishige, 75) The Edo period samurais did have privileges, but they didn’t
necessarily have money/rice, and some of them still set their mind on living up to the frugal bushido
ideals. The wealthy merchants that occurred in the second half of the 17th century had other agendas,
as observed by the contemporary observer Nishikawa Joke (1648-1724)

Now that the townspeople have piled up a lot of money, they proudly attempt to raise their status by
aping the manners of the aristocracy and the samurai. When the rest of the people, whether educated
or not, look at these newly refined city folk, they are consumed with envy and push themselves in order
to imitate.
(From Cronin bukuro, quoted in Ikegami, 150)

Maybe the imitators were more concerned with poetry and koto-harp than food, but food was a part of
the picture. So was the fact that both the powerful and the imitators were outnumbered by those who
had to stick to turnips, potato leaves, bean leaves and a few grains of rice. (Matsunosuke, 160) In the
years that have run since then, the upward mobility, which Ashkenazi and Jacob names
samuraiisation, has to a great extent come to include the majority of the Japanese citizens. “The entire
society emulates the behaviour of the elites, and specially, of former, no longer extant
elites.”(Ashkenazi and Jacob 2000, 35)
If we return to Edo times, a strong urbanization was another keyword. And within the new
urbanities we saw the emergence of new public eating-houses. The style and the number cannot
compare with Japan of today, having one of the highest densities of restaurants in the world. (Ishige,
214) If you enter one of these, you can expect typical Japanese individual service and often the guest
will have the feeling of being treated like a feudal lord. The basic pattern of this servant-customer
relation was shaped within the Tokugawa civility (Ikegami, 350).
Worcester sauce and war
But we all know what was to come next (after 1854). US Commander M. Perry brought his
battleships, and his Western followers brought battleships, Worcester sauce, whiskey, ice cream and
accompanying Starbucks coffee for those who would wait. The industrial revolution gave Japan
refrigerators, electric rice cookers, instant noodles and even automatic, rotating sushi-belts
minimalizing the servant-customer relationship. The 20th Century offered new wars and earthquakes,
new economic wonders and globalisation. Any kind of attempt to press this development into a
chapter or two or even an essay would be an act of violence. To give an example, japanologist,
Katarzyna J. Cwiertka has researched food consumption and food innovation in the 1937-45 war
period. She concludes that the national diet of present Japan to a large extent reflects a kitchen of war!
And of course the food culture will always be on the move. An overview of the Japanese attitude
towards food made by Dentsu Eye Inc. in November 2003 pays attention to the “Post baby boomers”
who have lived with fast foods from their childhood. The survey indicates that this “easy cooking”
generation doesn’t mind to lay the development of food culture in the hands of the instant food
industry. (A Taste of Japan)

Four dimensions of Japanese food culture

Is the last tendency very different from what we experience in Norway? Maybe not, but when you
travel to Japan, you will for certain experience something different. Based on the preceding
examination of Japanese food history and on my own taste of Japan I will point out a few
characteristics of Japanese food culture. All the four dimensions will be taken into consideration.
The location, geography and climate of Japan are premises for the dominant role of rice and
fish and the use of seaweed in Japanese food culture throughout history. Also certain fruits and
vegetables are favoured by the natural conditions. Nature is also in charge of the seasons.
Through impulses from outside and domestic innovation thousands of ways to handle the raw
materials have been developed. In general there is a Japanese sensitivity to the individual foods, as
upheld by Alan Davidson: “Japanese prize the particular properties of each ingredients and emphasize
the equal importance of their individual flavours and textures.” (Davidson, 414). Sashimi (sliced raw
fish) represents the peak of this. Still some of the strongest markers of Japanese food culture are
processed.
This accounts for the range of soy products, including shoyu, miso, tofu and natto. Miso is also an
important ingredient in the popular miso soup, and soups play a very important part in Japanese diet.
Soups are often made on dashi stocks, most often based on konbu kelp and/or tuna derived katsuo-
bushi. Also the noodles are stayers in the Japanese diet (and soups) – either based on wheat (udon) or
buckwheat (soba). If we add the sushi varieties, we have the most relevant second level examples for
this study.
I will open the third dimension with the words of Ishige: “For the Japanese, a meal consists
of two categories of food, the staple (usually rice, i.e. gohan) and the other dishes (okazu) of fish meat
or vegetables.” (Ishige, 175) This seems to be true, but Japan never seems to be so simple. The
dimension embraces location, meal times, serving, combination of dishes, presentation, and social
sides of the food event. A large part of Japanese food is eaten in public with a focus on individual and
most polite serving. The Japanese lunch box( bento) gives an alternative when it’s hard for the
consumer to find time to enter this relationship. But even before attacking the bento box, sitting alone
in the train, Japanese people can be heard whispering itadakimas to bless the meal.
The fourth dimension deals with both taste and ideas. First I will mention the preference of
lightness or assari, a notion and an ideal that conveys both “light”, savoury”, “simple” and “non-
fatty”. Then we are not finished with the seasons yet. The seasonality permeates all the aspects of the
food culture, but the sense of seasons and the expectance of seasonality belong to the fourth level.
Seasonality is also one of the elements that tie Japanese food to Japanese aesthetics in general. Words
like suggestion, irregularity, simplicity, perishability, smallness, use of empty space and
rearrangement of nature are all notions used to characterise the aesthetic taste of Nippon. There is
some truth in all of them, and they can also all be found in the aesthetics of food and presentation.
Framing Japanese food culture in one word is impossible. If I should use two, I would choose
lightness and seasonality. The richness and complexity of the kitchen on the Japanese isles have made
me end up with several more. In my view this four-step description apply for all Japan, including
Kansai and Kanto. But there certainly are distinctions.

West is West
“Like many countries, Japan is bipolar. (...) In Japan the poles are the Tokyo area(known as Kanto)
in the east and the four cities of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto-Nara in the west.”
Alex Kerr, Lost Japan (216)

It would be tempting to add a quote of Kipling: “East is East and West is West, and never the twain
shall meet”. No doubt Kansai represents the West; Kansai actually means western checkpoint. This
point tended to move eastwards during history, but today people think of the Hakone checkpoint.
(Wikipedia) Speaking of modern Japan we have to keep in mind the presence of the Chuba region
between Kansai and Kanto. Officially the word Kansai is synonymous with the Kinki region, which
today is legally defined as the two cities of Osaka and Kyoto and the five prefectures of Hyogo, Mie,
Nara, Shiga and Wakayama. All together this is 11 percent of the Japanese land area, 19,1 percent of
the population and 19,5 percent of the Gross National Product. The economy could be compared to the
national economies of Australia or Holland.
Kansai could also be called the cradle of Japan, not the least if we include the Yamato plain
around Nara. The mild climate, arable land and the good connection westwards through the Seto
Inland Sea were prerequisites of the Kansai civilization. In 710 Nara became the first permanent
capital of Japan, while Kyoto more or less continuously housed the Emperor from 784 to 1868.
Edos/Tokyos and Kantos position as the centre of power and the economic main engine of Japan has
made the former Kansai feeling of superiority change to partial inferiority. But the Kansai pride has
never vanished, and the last decades we have witnessed Kansai revival and a strong will to challenge
the big brother in the East. The Kansai dialect also represents a counterweight to the Kanto
standardization.
In actual usage Kansai often applies to the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area. (Palter, Slotsve, 11) These
urbanities will also be in focus here, and actually most attention is paid to Kyoto and Osaka. Yet also
these cities relate to their more or less rural surroundings.
Kyoto still holds the position as the cultural capital of Japan – as well as having the most
refined cuisine; kyo ryori. The town of Osaka has in fact been named the kitchen of Japan, but this is
mainly because of its role as a commercial hub during the Edo period. Also the kelp and other goods
from Hokkaido was brought to Osaka before eventually passed on to Edo. And of course the most
wealthy merchants could afford more than noodle soup : “Osaka’s cuisine is noted for its brash
showiness. A conspicious wealth of luxurious and rare items as well as an appreciation for hearty
eating characterize the bourgeois cooking favoured by money businessmen.”(Ashkenazi, Jacob: Food
Culture in Japan,2) On the other hand the most famous representants of Osaka food today are
affordable for the nonwealthy: takoyaki(dumplings with octopus) and okonomoyaki(Japanese
pizza/pancake). Kobe was one of the harbours that was opened for trade with the West in 1854 and is
most renowned for fresh fish and above all its tremendous beef.

Kanto is the big brother in Japan. The situation of Tokyo explains much, but also big, industry cities
like Yokohoma and Kawazaki contributes. In addition to Tokyo, Kanto consists of the prefectures of
Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma. Kanto region accounts for 30, 5 percent of
the population, 8,3 percent of the land and 50 percent of the flat land. The Kanto plain is Japans
largest. Close to it we find mountaineous areas unsuitable for rice or wheat, but suitable for
buckwheat production. Concerning the food consume we will mainly focus on the urban areas.
Kanto actually means “Eastern barrier”, and we are of course talking about the other side of
the checkpoint already mentioned. This checkpoints were parts of the road and control system
established by the early Tokugawa Shogunate. If you followed the road further East, you would
eventually come to Edo – a former sump that had been transformed to the center of the new Shogunate
in 1603. We should mention that the famous Tsukiji fish market was established at the same time.
(Bestor, 102)
 A lot of people – including high ranked daimyos – actually had to follow the road to Edo. The
system of alternate residence forced the daimyo lords to spend much of their time in Edo and to leave
their families behind when returning. This was one of the reasons for Edo growth and for turning the
town into a meeting place of people and impulses from other corners of Japan. A large part of these
people were in fact samurais. “Half of Edo’s population of one million was made up of the samurai
class. This entire class was supported by taxes collected from farmers and therefore, a purely
consumer class.”( Watanabe, 2) Public eating places seemed to be a good idea, and in 1804 there were
6165 restaurants in Edo.(Watanabe,3) This did not include the mobile street vendors that served the
lower classes. The now global nigiri sushi was first sold from these vendors. Also the oden hotpot and
the hanpen fish and yam cake originated in Kanto. Other good ambassadors of Kanto food would be
soba buckwheat noodles, tempura, and we will even include the slightly terrifying natto.

Marriage of taste
Our guide between temples and buddhas in Nara was from Kansai area, while her husband was from
Kanto.
_ We have no doubt had to deal with the differences in food culture. At first it was difficult to meet his
demands, but now it’s easier, and he has gotten used to Kansai taste, she said. Two of the family issues
were saltiness and colour, but to give the whole picture of contrasts and compromises even for this
single family would be beyond the limits of this text. Japanese food culture is complex and concerning
the regions in focus, influence has flown in both directions. It’s also difficult to achieve documentation
that actually proves or counts the differences. I will therefore highlight the most distinctive contrasts,
generally agreed upon by both sides. I’ll make noodles my number one.

Soba and udon

In Japan noodles are made with buckwheat(soba) and wheat(udon). Actually the first Japanese noodles
seem to have been a predecessor of the so called somen – very thin wheat noodles, adopted from
China and eaten from the eight century.(Ishige 77) As opposed to somen, udon can be made in
ordinary kitchen, and became popular from the fifteenth century. The buckwheat was originally used
to make gruel, but is recorded used in noodles since 1574. Both the white and smooth udon and the
ash brown and slightly grainy soba are mainly served in soups.
Kanto is soba land, Kansai is the udon region. That’s the simple version, and the noodle
discrepiances also seem to be the easiest to explain in this row. According to Naomichi Ishige the
Kanto plain is surrounded by cool, mountainous areas with soil that is neither suited for rice or wheat,
but well suited for buckwheat.(Ishige 249). On the other hand the mild climate and fertile soil of the
western Osaka and Sanuki plains allow a crop of winter wheat to be grown after the rice.
So the soba/udon choices are actually partially based on natural conditions. But according to
Zenjiro Watanabe, the population mix of Edo town also has played a part during time. “Initially Edo
was inhabited by people from southern Japan, who preferred udon(...). As the number of people from
northern Japan gradually increased, a natural shift to soba as the preference took place.”
(Watanabe,3)A gradually refinement of the soba noodles, adding wheat, made it possible for the
Edoites to regard the dark soba as the most refined of the two.
For those who are hungry for reason, a noodle dish seems like a good choice. Yet individual
preferences, local specialities and time to time moods will in many cases be as important as the region.

Soy sauce
According to Isao Kumakura soy sauce first came into widespread use in the western Japan in the
early seventeenth century. As the popularity spread, huge quantities of shoyu was brought from Kansai
region to the new and growing Edo. Then, from the late eighteenth century the producers got closer to
Edo, and the sauce turned darker, using more wheat in the brew. The light, though quite salty Kansai
product is named usukuchi, while the new more fragrant and more coloured Kanto version is called
koikuchi. The foundation and development of new production in Chiba prefecture did in fact influence
this development. Though I have not managed to find out if the innovative Chiba producers tried to
meet the needs and likes of the Edo people or if the townspeople simply fell in love with the new, dark
and tasty type. There are other ways to explain this success and the shoyu polarisation, but this will be
dealt with later on. Traces of the same pattern can be seen in the word of miso. East side lean towards
the red and salty akamiso, while the white and sweet shiromiso is popular among the westerners.

Dashi stock
We have already mentioned that both kelp and bonito shavings can be used for making dashi soup
stock. But the choice can say something about where you are seated. In Edo time the kelp from the
North arrived in Osaka first. It wasn’t necessarily passed on to Edo. Both Kyoto and Osaka
appreciated the qualities of good, dried kelp. The fish lovers in Edo didn’t seem to care that much.
Around 1670 the process of using bonito shavings for the stock was improved by using mould
cultivation and woodsmoking to enhance the flavour.(Ishige,221) This seemed to go very well with the
palates of the Edo people. Recently Japanese television showed a program focusing on the water
qualities of Kansai and Kanto; concluding that the soft water of Kanto didn’t work well with the
Hokkaido kelp. Maybe they have a point, but to fully understand the dashi stock preferences, we
should turn to the end product: the soup.

Soup
The traditional soup of the West would be recognized by soft, white udon noodles bathing in konbu
stock, flavoured with light colour soy sauce.(Food forum 2)It’s all pretty light. In Kanto the broth is
based on bonito shavings with dark soy sauce and mirin rice wine. And the soup dwellers are greyish-
brownish soba noodles. The tastes of the soups differ. The sights are like day and night.
The visual appearance and the taste are used to explain both the original soup dividing and the
permanence. Some Kansai people would claim that the dark stock is invented to hide both the
appearance and the taste of the ash-coloured worms. Kanto people trapped in a Kansai soup would
long for the flavour and dislike the paleness. In addition he would wonder if he would be allowed to
slurp like they do in Kanto. But maybe they all would agree that the trios of udon-konbu-usukuchi and
of soba-katsuobushi-koikuchi both have a certain internal balance?
According to Zenjiro Watanabe, the noodles made the first step. “Along with the shift in
noodles came a corresponding shift in the soup from the light soy sauce flavor preferred in the Kyoto
and Osaka region to the stronger soy sauce flavour preferred in the Kanto”Watanabe dates this to the
early 17th century. The different dashi ways must have been older than that, but we should keep in
mind that the noodle shift probably was the first that was public. (in the noodle restaurants) The shy
soba could have been the driving force.

Colour

Noodle, shoyu and miso choices are examples of the Kansai light and the darkness of Kanto. This is
accompanied by the fish preferences. According to the official Canadian website Canadexport annual
per-capita consumption of the red fish types tuna and salmon is nearly 50 percent higher in the Kanto
regions versus Kansai. In contrast per capita consumption of sea bream and flounder in the Kansai
region is 90 percent more than what is consumed in Kanto region.
Both Canadian and Norwegian salmon are a part of this picture, but the lead role is played by
the tuna. Tokyo seem to have fallen in love with the red, fat belly of the maguro tuna. But the love
affair is almost as fresh as the fish. According to Theodor Bestor the traders at the Tsukiji fish market
labelled the tuna belly(toro) as fish that even a cat would disdain. This lasted until the 1950s. “Toro
found new popularity for two reasons: the postwar diet accustomed Japanese diet to fattier foods, and
increasingly widespread refrigeration technology kept fatty food fresh longer.” (Bestor, 142) But
when already introduced, it’s not hard to understand why most of the red, fat fish would put into the
Tokyo seafood logistics, the Kanto climate, the dark soy sauce and the rest of the family at the nigiri
sushi tray. On the other hand the snow white sea bream would feel most comfortable in company with
just a few drops of light soy sauce.
The shipping of kelp from Hokkaido started earlier, but in the middle of Edo development of
navigation routes enabled shipping to Osaka, which in the same period achieved a status as the
“kitchen of Japan”. Lot of the goods that reached Osaka harbour were passed on to Edo and the rest of
Japan, but the major part of the kelp had reached their final destination in Kansai area. We will return
to the different dashi preferences of Kansai and Kanto later,

Eel
As we have seen before, Kyoto and its neighbours started with the upper hand. According to Zenjiro
Watanabe the eel caught in the slow-flowing rivers of the Kanto region tended to have a muddy flavor
not found in the fast-flowing rivers of Kansai. “However, by steaming the eel, this bad flavor was
removed. The knowledge of cooking methods held by the people of Edo becomes clear from their
ability to create a delicious dish that overcomes negative factors of their environment.” (Watanabe 3)
Tokyoborn Watanabe doesn’t fully manage to hide his patriotism, but so far his eel story hasn’t turned
to the popular samurai explanation. Still the eel has to be cut.” Steaming the eel also called for
changes in the skewering method. While the Kansai process called for a
single spit through the stomach of the eel, the Edo method required opening the eel by slicing the
entire length along the back and skewering it with four spits.” To fulfill, the eel is dipped in a sauce
made of shoyu and mirin and broiled over a charcoal fire. This way to make so called kabayaki
became according to Ishige and Watanabe popular in the beginning of the 19th century and has been so
since. And in the west? In addition to saving the steam, they split the eel along the belly. This could
provoke the thought of harakiri suicide– a thought the samurais of Edo might have preferred to avoid.

Dealing with food, when to stop is always the question. There are of course other east-west markers.
The complexity of preparing sukiyaki will change if you move the pan in the east-west direction. But
actually it could differ also if you move across the street, and explaining the sukiyaki varieties would
take more time than making them. We have also mentioned special treats like takoyaki and
okonomoyaki in the west and the challenging natto in the east. The first two represent the pulse of
Osaka, the second the rougher palate of Kanto, but I’ll not try to theorize these specialities.
The most famous of all Japanese food – nigiri sushi – was perfected by Edo hands. But most
of the preceding development took place in Kansai. The fish types used in both sushi and sashimi are
mainly from the sea, and it’s logical that landlocked Kyoto couldn’t be the forerunner in the last
phases of this seafood evolution. There are actually reasons to believe that the Kyotoists didn’t feel the
need to be in front in the decisive period, and this will be dealt with in the last part of this explanation
quest.

Changing times
The invention of Edo meant stability and change; change of capital and changes towards industrialism
and capitalism. Trade developed – and the cities. Nothing has ever changed like Edo did: from a castle
and a bay to the greatest city in the world. But Edo period did also give Osaka the opportunity to
utilize its splendid location " located at the primary nodal point conjoining the rivers and coastal
shipping routes that had constituted the arteries of commerce in the economically advanced Kinai
region from the medieval period," (Mcclain and Osamu 56) Sails were set, channels were grown,
people moved. Why shouldn’t the food change?
Did we forget Kyoto? Kyoto did also grow and has ever since been one of the important cities
of Japan. Within the exquisite Kyoto artisanry there was certainly no signs of stagnation in the 17th
and 18 th centuries. Yet the Kyoto people didn’t necessarily like all the changes. And they were
guardians of the highly elaborated and ceremonial kaiseki ryori cuisine. Also this moved forward, but
with slow, gentle steps, and Kyoto didn’t need new slurping food trends to brag with.
Edo was in the opposite position, as expressed by Isao Kumakura:

“ Kamigata (Kansai) was more advanced technologically, economically and culturally than Edo, and
so fine-quality goods were said to “come down” (kudaru) from Kamigata to Edo. The most
representative examples of these were sake and soy sauce. “Things that did not come down”
(kudaranai mono) were considered poor quality; hence the term kudaranai, meaning uninteresting, or
poor in quality, entered the Japanese language.”(Kumakura,1)

No wonder why the people in the Shoguns town would try to produce something of their own and
show it! Edo town was a melting pot, and this triggered new ways. On the other hand townsmen born
in Edo – the Edokko – felt a need to flag their own heritage. In “Edo Culture
Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868” Nishiyama Matsunosuke explains how “the
children of Edo” both marked their own native identity towards the outsiders and how they
demonstrated resistance towards the highly esteemed culture of the west.
Osaka was, as mentioned, also an arena for change and for developing their own contribution
to Japanese fine eating: kappou kansai. But according to Naomichi Ishige the Kyoto and Osaka
tradition moved closer to each other long since Edo time. "Kansai Ryori," "Kamigata Kappou" and
"Kyo Ryori" may be the combination of Kyoto cooking and Osaka cooking after the Meiji period.”
(Ishige Interview,3) There seems to be times for division and times for fusion.

Making a difference
“By the way, regarding to your question there is not much big difference on the food culture
between Kanto and Kansai. People say that there is big difference such as seasoning etc.
but I have many Kanisai friends and I go to restaurant with them, I cook for them but
I do not big difference. you know people tend to say that they are different from others especially
for the region habit, customs but actually not. (this is just my opinion!!)”

This little quote is from an email I received from Tokyo resident Junko Kubota, who the last five years
have been marketing Norwegian fish all over Japan. She obviously has been experiencing a lot of
meals with a wide variety of company and locations. Her opinion represents a sharp contrast to the
preceding elaboration. It seems that we need another explanation.
My request to Miss Kubota was actually one of my attempts to find facts or figures to clarify
and document the Kansai-Kanto difference. I didn’t succeed. My presentation represents what
different scholars, cooks and citizens say and mean and write is the difference. To me this is most
interesting, but I cannot fulfil the serving with fresh statistics. What I can do, is trying to give a
reasonable explanation of the gap between Kubota and my other sources.
A first step – and many would say an easy solution – would be to divide the humanity into two
groups: those who would like it to be a difference and those who don’t. Thedore Bestor seems to have
found good representatives of the first at Tsukiji market:

Local pride and identity are clearly at stake in culinary matters. At least in conversations with
foreigners, some Tokyoites tell of hometown specialties that allegedly people from no other part of the
country can eat. They appear to take quiet satisfaction in the belief that others do not like—or cannot
stomach—their own local favorites. Food preferences are part of the well-established folk wisdom of
kenminsei, stereotyped personalities that characterize people from different prefectures (e.g., people
from Kyoto are snobs, people from Tokyo spend money hand over fist, and people from Osaka like to
eat larger servings and prefer sweeter flavors). (Bestor 139)

Identity is created through difference. Observing, naming and judging the behaviours of others are
ways to find where you belong. This also accounts for group identity. If there is a slight regional
difference in food culture, this may be used to build or strengthen this identity. And if you already
experience that you belong to a group, you might want to diminish the difference within it. In my view
there are such slight differences between the food cultures of both Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Could it
be that the notion of Kansai culture is invented to mark the difference between Tokyo and the other
two – and to join forces against the Kanto hegemony? There is an element of truth here. Without
mighty Kanto in the east, the talk of Kansai would calm, and more attention would have been drawn
to for instance the contrasts between Kyoto and Osaka. In Asian food Katarzyna Cwiertka quotes Ian
Cook and Philip Crang expressing that food nowadays: “do not simply come from places, originally
growing out of them, but also make places as symbolic constructs, being deployed in the discursive
construction of various imaginative geographies” These are thoughts that at least should be taken into
consideration in this survey. But the idea of Japanese food culture may also be called a construct, and I
think we should avoid falling in the other ditch claiming that all of Japan taste the same.

Moving between the regions of Kanto and Kansai you will sooner or later experience a different – at
least if you try to behave correctly in the escalator. (In Kanto you should stand to the right, in Kansai
you should walk) Also the food histories of east and west are different. Climate and geography has
given the buckwheat a chance in Tokyo area. Osaka and Kyoto are closer to the kelp. The inhabitants
got used to what they could get – and good combinations were developed. These combinations doesn’t
explain the origin of the contrasts, but prolonged the durability.
Today distance doesn’t matter, and food habits seem to spread and mingle. A dashi stock of
today would usually contain both kelp and bonito. The contrasts are there, but not as plain as in the
escalator. Before finishing this article, I received an email from the historian and japanologist Eric
J.Rath at the University of Kansas: “From my perspective, it is the discourse on regional foods
that makes them different, although this discourse has to be referring to visual cues in the
foods served such as supposedly local vegetables or local methods of preparation, which may
not be local after all.” he answered. The difference between the taste of Kansai and of Kanto
is more than a fantasy. But the experience of regional food is not only about raw material,
preparation, serving and sensation. It’s also about telling a story.

Reginal food is also food story of course about eating, but also about telling a story.

Andre grøfta and focus on the all-embracing ajapnen

But could it be in the interest of Osaka and Kyoto to build or maintain a regional Kansai identity and
to mark the difference towards Kanto? In my view the existence and mission of Kansai is to be the
counterweight to Kanto. To me the Kansai has been helpful to start seein Japan the diversity of Japan
Kansai Window is promoting a region stretching from

And more attention would have been drawn to the contrasts between Kyotoe and Osaka.

Maybe ther kansai are the ones to feel inferios now

(runder av dette avsnittet med litt om øvrig rivalisering mellom Kanto og Kansai. Så gjør jeg et
desperat forsøk på å samle trådene. Jeg vil stå ved at det er visse forskjeller, men at disse fryses,
forstørres, forminskes, fordreies noe. I sum kan noe av forskjellen forklares ut i fra natur, klima, mens
mye blir kulturskapt)

I had a chance to look over your comments about Kansai vs. Kanto foods. My knowledge of
such matters is as a historian not as a professional chef, but I believe that katsuo and konbu
are the basic soup stock ingredients throughout Japan. What varies is the amount of these
ingredients used: more katsuo is typically used in Kanto and less in Kyoto, as I understand it.

Speaking of Kyoto, there is a great distinction between Kyoto and Osaka foods. Kyoto, since
it was far from the coast, traditionally did not make much use of seafood unless it was
preserved in salt and/or dried. Consequently, the Kyoto diet focused more on river fish and
vegetables than Osaka which could use more seafood. The chefs I have spoken with from
Kyoto never speak in terms of Kansai cuisine, they always speak about Kyoto cuisine. I think
that they view their cuisine as superior in the Kansai region (if not in the whole of Japan) and
they wish to make that known.

If you are looking for explanations for these differences, you might examine works by Julia
Csergo on regional foods in France and Arjun Appadurai on cookbooks in India. Their
writings cover cuisines in France and in India respectively but they discuss the appearance of
regional differences in cuisines and the contributions of these to the formation of national
cuisines. Their point is that both regional and national cuisines are modern. My own
research on Japanese cuisine agrees with them on this point. For instance, both the words
for Kyoto cuisine (kyo ryori) and Japanese cuisine (washoku) date from the late nineteenth
century and are responses to changing Japanese perceptions of Japan's place in the world as
well as to modernization. The premodern equivalent for regional cuisine and modern cuisine
are less well defined since both the modern region and the nation are modern concepts.
Kyoto, for instance, was encompassed in Yamashiro province, a different geographical entity
from the modern Kyoto prefecture.

I suspect that explanations about the water and the like are modern myths. No one cooking in
Kyoto uses well water today, as one chef pointed out to me. Likewise today anyone in Japan
can get their hands on any ingredient they choose, and few vegetables are still grown in
places like Kyoto city. From my persepctive, it is the discourse on regional foods that makes
them different, although this discourse has to be refering to visual cues in the foods served
such as supposedly local vegetables or local methods of preparation, which may not be local
after all. Kyoto has many "local" vegetables, but none are native to Kyoto and today most
are grown from hybrid (F1) seeds purchased from seed companies outside of Kyoto city,
which itself is much larger than its traditional boundaries.

Thus, while these local and regional foodways are very much a part of dining in Japan today,
as cuisines their history is rather recent in my view. Chefs create a history for them through
references to the past, but on investigation, these historical threads are hard to track down
and most are histocially dubious.

Sincerely,

Eric C. Rath
Associate Professor
Department of History
University of Kansas

An era of tension in the hierarchical structure, the eighteenth century also witnessed the advent of regional rivalry between the Kansai ( Kyoto/
Osaka) area, with its traditional cultural and linguistic domination, and the newly risen political capital of Edo. The last third of the century saw Edo
publishers (most of which were original ly founded as branch offices of Kansai companies) begin to print works in the local dialect, an act that
decisively altered the cultural balance of power. Edo would not pre-dominate culturally or linguistically until the end of the nineteenth century when
it became modern Tokyo, but from the 1760s it began to exert cultural influence nationally that was commensurate with its political power.

It is natural that some negative attitude against Tokyo centrism should develop in Kansai, which in turn is reflected by the strength of opposition
parties in Kyoto and Osaka.
Q. Have you ever noticed that on an escalator in the Kanto and Tokai all
people are standing immobile on the left side, while in the Kansai it is on the
right side. Why is that ?
A. According to one apocryphal theory, the answer lies in the different histories of
the two areas. During the Edo period, Kanto (Tokyo area) had more samurai
whereas Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) had more merchants. When they went up and
down stairs, samurai wanted to be on the left side so that they could draw their
swords more easily. Merchants wanted to protect their wallets from thieves, so they
stayed on the right. The more widely accepted origin, however, is that the custom of
standing on the right started during the World Exposition in Osaka in 1970. At that
time, the Hankyu Railway made announcements asking passengers to stand on the
right when they used escalators. The idea was to make it easy for the large number
of foreign visitors who came to the Expo. The practice is said to be a holdover from
those days.