It’s crazy how much Japan and Britain are mirror images of each other.
Archipelago countries dominated by a single large island at opposite ends if the same continent
Settler colonized the second largest island in the archipelago
Genocidal imperialists who love killing
Creaky-ass stupid monarchy
Top-down transition from late feudal systems to bourgeois liberalism in the 1800s
At times global industrial powers but now degraded through decades of neoliberalism and submission to the US
Current ethnic group settled the main island under murky circumstances in the first millennium CE (very unclear how much the natives were integrated or eradicated, timelines, etc)
Extremely decrepit right-wing social democracies
Politically obsessed with farmers despite not being remotely food self-sufficient
Extremely disproportionately centralized around the massive capital city in the southeast of the main island, which is not just dominant to the home country but a globally leading financial center
Historical tradition obsessed with feudal class of heavily armored, violent, horseback warrior thugs/landowners (knights/samurai) who transitioned to fancy lads and project backwards a cultural refinement of honor and courage (chivalry/bushido)
The only real differences are that 1) the English eradicated their own ecology more than any country has ever done and Japan has maintained it shockingly well given population density and level of development and 2) the British Empire lasted so much longer and was so much better established than the Japanese that the metropole absorbed tons of colonized peoples, while Japan remains a de facto ethnostate with extremely low non-native population.
all British export media is like “wouldn’t you love to be slapped by the prince one day” while all Japanese export media is “you can control an entire universe and sexually dominate every being in existence”
not just borrowing China but homegrown culinary innovations are also extremely good; this is because Japan didn’t become a colonizer until the modern era, whereas England’s ancient status as the oldest-extant colonizer means their food culture has atrophied beyond all hope of recovery
Unagi Don is delicious and also hilariously expensive. Eel is very good when prepared by being barbequed.
Katsudon and Oyakodon are both interesting as they’re also very tasty due to the inclusion of dashi when setting the eggs.
They’ve done some culinary crimes to spaghetti that I support.
Japanese Curry is actually kind of its own thing, being more of a stew with a finishing roux. It is basically taken straight from India though I think(?) its become its own thing now.
Did they invent natto? That’s not a good thing necessarily but they might’ve done it.
i thought japanese curry was one of those “white people foods” from the meiji era that japanese people thought was the reason white people were big and tall and successful. so because the brits looked at the rich and extremely varied culinary traditions of india and said “it’s all bits of veg in yellow gravy innit” and then made a dish called curry consisting of bits of veg in yellow gravy, the japanese saw the british sailors eat that and made their own version
Ramen is Chinese, the Japanese term comes from “la mien” in Chinese or pulled noodles. Alcoholic fermentation of rice spread to Japan from China, and sushi is likely of southeast Asian origin, with the first written record of sushi-like food from 4th century BCE in China, all of this according to Wikipedia. English Wikipedia does credit mochi being japanese, I’d be surprised if this is actually the case, I found a SCMP headline claiming mochi were introduced from China in 300BCE, pointing to Taiwan’s “moâ chi” and Hong Kong’s “log máih chih” type of rice snacks.
Most foods we attribute to Japanese culture are Chinese in origin.
yeah, indigenous people in taiwan have been making mochi since before the japanese occupation (but I don’t know if they were called moachi before that), maybe it spread to japan through the ryukus, or was invented independently. pounding rice and other starches in a big mortar with a big long stick is a thing all arouns southern and western china and southeast asia and africa
Those foods are to Japan as hamburgers and pizza are to america: foreign dishes adopted & altered to an extent that many people think of them as the cuisine of the adopter
food is not delivered metaphysically whole and unaltered then persists unchanged throughout time; all traditions are rooted elsewhere to some extent, and their adaptation to local conditions is what creates a genuine local identity
It’s crazy how much Japan and Britain are mirror images of each other.
Archipelago countries dominated by a single large island at opposite ends if the same continent
Settler colonized the second largest island in the archipelago
Genocidal imperialists who love killing
Creaky-ass stupid monarchy
Top-down transition from late feudal systems to bourgeois liberalism in the 1800s
At times global industrial powers but now degraded through decades of neoliberalism and submission to the US
Current ethnic group settled the main island under murky circumstances in the first millennium CE (very unclear how much the natives were integrated or eradicated, timelines, etc)
Extremely decrepit right-wing social democracies
Politically obsessed with farmers despite not being remotely food self-sufficient
Extremely disproportionately centralized around the massive capital city in the southeast of the main island, which is not just dominant to the home country but a globally leading financial center
Historical tradition obsessed with feudal class of heavily armored, violent, horseback warrior thugs/landowners (knights/samurai) who transitioned to fancy lads and project backwards a cultural refinement of honor and courage (chivalry/bushido)
The only real differences are that 1) the English eradicated their own ecology more than any country has ever done and Japan has maintained it shockingly well given population density and level of development and 2) the British Empire lasted so much longer and was so much better established than the Japanese that the metropole absorbed tons of colonized peoples, while Japan remains a de facto ethnostate with extremely low non-native population.
all British export media is like “wouldn’t you love to be slapped by the prince one day” while all Japanese export media is “you can control an entire universe and sexually dominate every being in existence”
13. can’t handle spicy food at all
Holy shit my sides lmao
yeah i’ve got multiple dozen apologies for pointing out how everything bad is about the Netherlands.
I can’t believe you’d do our Chinese boys so dirty.
both produce very good scotch too
Japan is lucky enough to be next to China, so by absorbing their culinary traditions they actually have edible food, unlike the Anglos
not just borrowing China but homegrown culinary innovations are also extremely good; this is because Japan didn’t become a colonizer until the modern era, whereas England’s ancient status as the oldest-extant colonizer means their food culture has atrophied beyond all hope of recovery
Genuinely: what are some homegrown culinary innovations?
MEAT mentions
Unagi Don is delicious and also hilariously expensive. Eel is very good when prepared by being barbequed.
Katsudon and Oyakodon are both interesting as they’re also very tasty due to the inclusion of dashi when setting the eggs.
They’ve done some culinary crimes to spaghetti that I support.
Japanese Curry is actually kind of its own thing, being more of a stew with a finishing roux. It is basically taken straight from India though I think(?) its become its own thing now.
Did they invent natto? That’s not a good thing necessarily but they might’ve done it.
i thought japanese curry was one of those “white people foods” from the meiji era that japanese people thought was the reason white people were big and tall and successful. so because the brits looked at the rich and extremely varied culinary traditions of india and said “it’s all bits of veg in yellow gravy innit” and then made a dish called curry consisting of bits of veg in yellow gravy, the japanese saw the british sailors eat that and made their own version
yea ur right I thought they got it from india for some reason
Sushi! Ramen! Mochi! Sake!
Ramen is Chinese, the Japanese term comes from “la mien” in Chinese or pulled noodles. Alcoholic fermentation of rice spread to Japan from China, and sushi is likely of southeast Asian origin, with the first written record of sushi-like food from 4th century BCE in China, all of this according to Wikipedia. English Wikipedia does credit mochi being japanese, I’d be surprised if this is actually the case, I found a SCMP headline claiming mochi were introduced from China in 300BCE, pointing to Taiwan’s “moâ chi” and Hong Kong’s “log máih chih” type of rice snacks.
Most foods we attribute to Japanese culture are Chinese in origin.
at least English Water Pie is authentically anglosaxie!
is that even a grainy complement lol
yeah, indigenous people in taiwan have been making mochi since before the japanese occupation (but I don’t know if they were called moachi before that), maybe it spread to japan through the ryukus, or was invented independently. pounding rice and other starches in a big mortar with a big long stick is a thing all arouns southern and western china and southeast asia and africa
3/4 have their origins outside of Japan lmfao
That may be true but I don’t believe it
Those foods are to Japan as hamburgers and pizza are to america: foreign dishes adopted & altered to an extent that many people think of them as the cuisine of the adopter
that’s dialectics baby
food is not delivered metaphysically whole and unaltered then persists unchanged throughout time; all traditions are rooted elsewhere to some extent, and their adaptation to local conditions is what creates a genuine local identity
Well, imagine saying “no, actually pierogi are of German origin, and corn tortillas are of USAmerican origin too!”
is that true?
Ramen is written in katakana because it is Chinese in origin and foreign to Japan.
You’re forgetting the major difference, which is that Japan makes food that actually tastes like something.
Japanese food is the British food of Asia
THANK YOU, Japanese food is ass compared to everything else in the region
Still leagues above whatever slop those soggy bastards on TERF Island are trying to pass off as “food” ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I do say, this ‘ton katsu’ is rather ‘oishii’