★ ★ ★ ★　　Japanese Sweets In Kyoto　　★ ★ ★ ★　

　　December: Higashi
　　 When looking at higashi sweets for the first time, you might wonder if they are a kind of toy or ornament because of their bright colors, detailed shapes, and exquisite craftsmanship.
　　Higashi are considered to be amongst the highest ranks of wagashi. Higashi are a class of wagashi that are harder and have a drier consistency than the namagashi (生菓子) "unbaked" sweets (such as mochi and manju) that we have presented in our magazine over the past year .
　　Higashi are more than just candy, they are works of art produced by master craftsmen to impress our senses of sight and taste. The colorful, charming shapes of the higashi convey the feeling of each season of the year. Higashi are made in the shape of pink plums in spring, cool-looking blue swirls in the summer, brown mushrooms in fall, and white rabbits in winter. They are classified into 4 groups:
　　1) 有平糖 (Ariheito or Aruheito)
　　Ariheito (derived from the Portuguese word for sugar alfeloa) began to appear around in the middle of Edo Era. They are hard, colorful candies made from sugar, water and glutinous starch syrup.
　　2) 生砂糖 (Kizato)
　　Kizato are made from a mixture of sugar and flour called kanbaiko(寒梅子) that is kneaded, colored, and molded into hard, flat sweets. Larger versions are often made to decorate show windows of shops, while smaller ones are served alongside namagashi.
　　3) 煎餅 (Senbei)
　　These are soft senbei crackers that were invented during the Nara Era. In that era they were made from kneaded flour and baked or fried in cooking oil. In modern times, they are made from glutinous rice flour and baked without the use of oil.
　　4) 打物 or 押物 (Uchimono or Oshimono)
　　You may already be familiar with graceful and delicate 落雁 (rakugan), one of the most typical kinds of uchimono. A flour called kanbaiko or みじん粉 (mijinko)is mixed with sugar, then hardened in a wooden mold. It is said that large, colorful rakugan , shaped into 鶴亀 (a crane and a tortoise) , 鯛 (a sea bream) and so forth were presented as gifts during the end of Edo Era to commemorate special occasions.
　　 Higashi are usually served with green tea (either powdered maccha or leaf tea). Why not enjoy them with your own favorite tea? You may happen to discover a delicious new combination. If you go on trips abroad, these beautiful sweets will make an excellent souvenir from Japan. They are lightweight, small, and keep a long time (over a month). You can purchase a fancy box of assorted higashi for around \1000 at Japanese sweets shops, department stores or super markets.
-Yachiyo Matsuda

　　　★ ★ ★ ★　　Kyoto Interview Series / Alex Kerr Interview, Part One　　★ ★ ★ ★　

　　
　　Alex Kerr was born in 1952 in the state of Maryland in the USA. He first came to Japan with his family at the age of twelve in 1964, and lived on the naval base in Yokohama for two years thereafter. Mr. Kerr graduated from Yale University with a BA in Japanese Studies in 1974. Over the course of his university studies, he spent a year at Tokyo's Keio University as a Rotary International Scholar. He then went on receive an MA in Chinese Studies from Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. Mr. Kerr currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand, but has also lived in Japan for over twenty years in Kameoka (Kyoto) and Iya (Tokushima). Mr. Kerr might be described as a "Renaissance Man": he has worked as a translator, an interpreter, a writer, and an art consultant. He is the founding president and a coordinator for cultural events for "Chiiori Co.Ltd." a fine arts company based in Japan and Thailand. He has translated books and served as an interpreter for Buddhist and Shinto organizations, as well as exhibiting his calligraphy works, making multiple appearances in the Japanese, Thai and American media, and serving as the Japan-based representative for Trammell Crow Company.
　　Mr. Kerr is well known for his writings in both Japanese and English. His books include "LOST JAPAN", ("Utsukushiki Nihon no Zanzo", written in Japanese, and the first foreign recipient of the Shincho Literature Prize), and "DOGS AND DEMONS"("Inu to Oni" in Japanese).

　　Q:　 You are involved with numerous professional activities such as writing, translating, consulting and so forth. Which of these activities do you enjoy the most?
　　A:　 I enjoy them all, but I especially love translating and interpreting. To me, interpretation is the act of learning from someone and passing that knowledge onto other people. It's a great challenge to attempt to truly understand the intent of the speaker, and then to express his or her essential ideas in another language. Do interpreting and you really learn! I also enjoy writing and I'm devoted to creating something meaningful with my words.

　　Q:　 In Lost Japan, you wrote that you lived in Tokyo for two years a boy, and studied Chinese characters in your elementary school in Washington D.C. Are these the main reasons that you developed an interest in Asian culture and philosophy?
　　A: 　My grandparents lived in Asia and collected Chinese and Japanese art, so that influenced me, along with learning Japanese in school. The two years I spent in Tokyo with my family perhaps sparked the greatest interest for me.

　　Q:　You graduated from Yale University with a degree in Japanese and then went on to get your Masters in Chinese Studies at Oxford University. Following graduation, you came to the Kyoto area to help David Kidd after he asked for your assistance with Omoto-Kyo, his school of Japanese cultural arts. Before these opportunities presented themselves, what were you thinking about doing with your future?
　　A: 　Well, every time I decided what I wanted to do, life sent me in another direction. When I returned to the US after the two years I spent in Tokyo, I knew that I wanted to study Japanese Culture. After graduating from Yale University, I intended to return to Japan, but received the Oxford scholarship and went to England to study China instead. A friend of mine said that I had to go to China to better understand Japan, because the two cultures were inter-related. I planned to go to China following my studies at Oxford, but wound up going to Japan to assist with David's work in Kyoto. Truthfully, I was no longer interested in Japan at that point. But once I got there and rediscovered the Japanese traditional arts, I found myself drawn into a fantastic universe. My only dream from my boyhood that I have truly realized was my desire to become a writer.

　　Q: 　After working with David Kidd at Omoto-kyo, you went on to work for the Trammell Crow Company, a large real-estate development firm. You knew the son of the company president from your days at Yale. Between your work at Omoto-Kyo and the Trammell Crow Company, your life course seems to have been decided by meeting these influential people. Do you think these meetings happened by pure chance, or do you think you've had a deciding role in sculpting the direction of your life?
　　A: 　It's a question anyone would ask. It's very mysterious. If you love something very much it leads you to your desired direction. Those meetings might be considered coincidental, but in truth, they were not. If you really love something deeply, it is inevitable that you will meet people who share your interests. It's important to have passion in your career.

　　Q: 　As humans, we try to enrich ourselves by improving the depth of our knowledge. But you can't learn from books alone. Without "real world" skills, it's difficult to manage one's life and communicate with others. You seem to have lived your life with this idea in mind. Are you satisfied with the way your life has gone? What do you expect of yourself in the future?
　　A: 　You've made a good point. It's important to keep a balance- you cannot survive with knowledge alone, and to take action without wisdom lacks substance. I gained a certain amount of knowledge and experience by working for the Trammel Crow Company. I learned a lot about how to do business, and deal with other people.
　　However, as for the direction of my life, I don't feel satisfied yet. There are still so many things I wish to achieve. I have a dream that I wish to accomplish over the next ten years. The Omoto School was unique place where people could learn the Japanese arts. The essence of the school was that we had developed a way to teach traditional Japanese art to modern people. Unfortunately, the Omoto School closed in 1997. I think this is a pity, and I would like to start the school again in a new incarnation in Thailand for Thai arts. I'm also currently planning another writing project.

　　Q: 　In Lost Japan, you said that traditional Japanese art, which embodies philosophical thought, is one of the most important elements of Japan's cultural heritage. Would you please talk about traditional Japanese art a little more?
　　A: 　In China, philosophers' teachings are recorded in books, but in Japan, mostly, they are not. You have to learn the philosophy by experiencing an artistic or religious activity first hand. For example, walking down the long narrow path from the gate to the front door of a tea house you are traveling away from the outside world to the pure inner universe of the tea room. In the tea room, you experience different feelings from just being there, you learn about the situation from your surroundings. This is what makes Japanese art so fascinating.

　　Q: 　Compared to other nationalities, Japanese people are hard workers. They sacrifice time they could spend on themselves or their families to work overtime at their jobs. Younger generations are learning to enjoy their lives more, but they still live differently from people in other countries. Even today, Japanese children are forced to make decisions that will determine the course of their lives from an early age. Our society does not give us, as individuals, the time we need to carefully plan our futures. Would you please talk a little more about it?
　　A: 　The concept of sacrifice has created many problems in the Japanese educational system in Japan, in terms of human relations. Many problems are caused by the busy world we live in, not only in Japan but in other countries as well. It's important to set aside some time to get away and relax. The tea room( 茶室 :cha-shitsu), is similar to a thatched cottage (庵 :iori), a simple wooden house in the mountains where literary men would go to withdraw from everyday life. The world of tea ceremony is a space based on the literati's studio, or what is called Shoin-zukuri design ( 書院造 : a style of Japanese residential architecture. Shoin means "library" or "study" and was originally the name given to the abbot's quarters at a Zen temple; the style came to be widely used both in temple living quarters and guest halls and in the mansions of the military elite during Azuchi-Momoyama(1568-1600) and Edo (1600-1869) period). For example, I hung this hossu ( 払子 ) calligraphy brush in the wall alcove to convey a certain meaning. A hossu was basically a fly-whisk used in the past. It was hung in the room to symbolize brushing away the dust of earthly cares. This had a deeper meaning as well, implying that the room was a space for "pure conversation," free from gossip, money problems and business worries. The tea room is an ideal and pure space where people can get away from busy daily life. Of course, there are other ways of relaxing as well, such as hiking, cycling, playing tennis or other relaxing activities.
-Interview by A. Tara
　　The second half of this interview will appear in the January 2004 edition of Life In Kyoto.

　　　★ ★ ★ ★　　Kanji of the Year, 2003　　★ ★ ★ ★ 　

　　"帰" (kaeri, homecoming), was the Kanji (漢字, Chinese character) which the Japanese people felt best represented 2002 when they looked back at the end of the year.

　　"Kanji of the Year" is one of the unique events held in connection with "Kanji Day" (漢字の日), December 12th of each year, hosted by The Japan Kanji Proficiency Testing Foundation 財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会. This event is held to encourage to people to rediscover the importance of kanji by casting their vote as to which kanji they think best reflects the feeling of the past year. The Foundation invites the public to vote on kanji from the end of October to the beginning of December of each year. The Chinese character that receives the largest number of votes will be designated as "Kanji of the Year".
　　 Kanji are ideographic symbols (表意文字), which means each kanji has a specific meaning as well as a sound, unlike a phonetic character. The winning kanji is announced on 適anji Day・and painted on a large white calligraphy board by the chief of Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺) on its Oku-no-In stage(奥の院舞台). People will then recognize that character as "Kanji of The Year" (世相漢字).
　　The character of the year 2002 "帰" means "return home" or "come back." Voters chose this character for many reasons. In 2002, the Japanese economy returned to the pre-bubble era level. The revival boom brought oldies back from the past as big hits. Tama-chan, the seal found in Tama river, gained popularity and people hoped for his safe return to his ocean home. The Soccer World Cup caused salarymen to go home directly after work to watch the games. But most significantly, the five Japanese abductees in North Korea returned home for the first time in 24 years.
　　Over all, 2002 was a year that reminded people of the importance of returning to the starting point and reflecting upon their original intentions.
　　Other than "帰", characters such as "北(North)" "拉(abduct)" and "愛(love)" gathered many votes. For reference sake, the winning character in 2001 was "戦(war)" which received the most votes following the events of September 11th. In 2000 "金(gold)" was the winning kanji, which was seemingly influenced by the Olympic games where Japanese athletes earned many gold medals, and by the historic summit of two leaders both named Kim(金) in a divided Korea. You can see the winning kanji from other years on the event website URL: http://www.kanken.or.jp/.
　　The number of votes have been growing every year since the competition started in 1995. There were over 60,000 votes in 2002. The votes have already been closed for this year, but you can make a guess which character you think will win. This might be a good chance for you to look back and think what this year meant to you. Now choose one and write it down for yourself. The winning Kanji will be announced at Kiyomizudera on December 12th.
-N. Kawaguchi
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