kouyou and Genteihin

Black Friday has come and gone with only a couple of shopping related deaths. I suppose it was all worth it if the people that took those two lives got the deals they were searching for. In all likelihood, the items they wanted were limited to only 5 products in stock and they were all gone by the time they raced to the back.

On a lighter note, I went off to the mountains that surround Kyoto for a little R&R. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get R&R in the mountains during kouyou or the period of Autumn leaves. As you can see from the picture, last weekend was pretty much the perfect time go see the leaves. Everyone has been piling into Kyoto for the last month waiting for this moment to come. Every weekend someone says it is the "peak" for travelers, but to those who try to navigate the streets of Kyoto or use its mass transit, it doesn't matter so much whether this week or last week was the peak because you are constantly inconvenienced.

This type of mass frenzy over something is very typical in Japan. I believe there might be a list drawn up and taught to kids when they are young about what they are supposed to do during certain times of the year. Just as certain as Japanese are to have a picnic under the Cherry Blossoms (called hanami) in the Spring, they go out in the Fall to check out the leaves.

These are just two of the many things that Japanese people must "enjoy" during the year. Just as you must go see leaves in the Fall, you must eat apples and chestnuts (chestnut fried rice is a common dish).

And if that is not enough for you, you have to indulge in the genteihin or products limited by space or time. Sorry if that sounds like something from Physics class; it's really not that complex. All it means is that you can only get takoyaki flavored snacks in Osaka (or in Ueno if you forget to buy something on your trip for your officemates) or rum-raisin flavored ice cream in the Fall.

For a country like America that wants everything right now, this sort of masochism is hard to comprehend. I for one am in love with kinako mochi. Kinako is a powder made from soy and mochi is almost of dumpling texture made from pounded rice. It may not sound good, but once you have the limited edition, only sold in the Fall, kinako mochi chocolates, you'll never get enough of them.

How can they only be sold in the Fall? What am I supposed to do in the Spring and Summer when I get a kinako mochi chocolate craving?

I guess I'm just going to have to wait. Like Fall leaves and Cherry Blossoms, I can really appreciate kinako mochi chocolates even more after the wait. Maybe there is a lesson to be had in genteihin and kouyou...as well as Cherry Blossoms and everything else....or maybe it is capitalism working at its best by creating frenzies and then marketing off of them. Kyoto can expect a huge payout from the crowds coming in to "see the leaves" and buy up all the genteihin to take back to their schools, offices, family, and/or friends. Not to mention the meibutsu, which is a related topic, but for another time.