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Saturday 20 May 2017

Street food, a reflection of street culture

Photo Crdit: Pajunen

Written by Yu Han and Shawn

During our first week in Japan, we visited various places such as Kamakura and Harajuku that have quite different atmosphere and street cultures. While enjoying fascinating scenery and delightful shops, we also tried plenty of scrumptious Japanese street food. For example, the crepes shops on the Takeshita street left a profound impression on us because these crepe shops were so cute and there were even more than five shops on a such short street!
The Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
On the other hand, the Komachi shopping street in Kamakura had contrasting atmosphere to the Takeshita street as most shops on the street sold goods that are related to the traditional Japanese culture such as Wagashi (和菓子), the traditional Japanese confections, and Kimonos. On the way to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (鶴岡八幡宮), we saw a few temporary shops that provides some old-school snacks like fruit candies and Ramune (ラムネ), which is a kind of soft drink with a marble sealed in its bottle.
A pop-up shop that sells apple candy
With the atmosphere of these streets, a question comes to our mind: Why the shops on these streets sell such different street food?


After our short discussion with the Kamakura tour group, we did come up with a possible answer. Harajuku, as the street that gathers the young generation who is looking into the fashion trends and icons, the commodities they sell would undoubtedly focus more on western food and colorful things. While we were on the Takeshita street, we always saw many youth with colorful and exaggerated costumes. Therefore no doubt that the shops there sell commodities that are in similar genre. Crepes are an iconic street food in Harajuku. The crepes present the street culture in Harajuku, which is westernized youth pop culture. Compared to Harajuku, Kamakura is more on the traditional side. As soon as we stepped into the Komachi shopping street, we immediately realized the differences between the two shopping streets. As we mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Komachi shopping street had a lot of tradition Japanese goods and food. Every person who visits here will be surrounded by the traditional atmosphere. Also, many ladies on the street were in kimonos for worshiping or participating in some events. This also creates very special atmosphere for Kamakura.
A couple in kimonos

Back to the street food, Kamakura has abundance of traditional Wagashi stores, and we tried some of them while we were visiting the Komachi shopping street. We had traditional food like: Dango (団子), Manjū (饅頭), and old-school western food such as croquette(コロッケ) and softcream (ice-cream).
  
The food was not just scrumptious, but also represented a decent tradition of the age-old Japan. The possible reason for why they sell traditional food in Komachi might be the culture in this area. Since this area is surrounded by temples and shrines, it is reasonable to explain why they have many traditional commodities and foods.
A traditional Japanese wedding ceremony

Unlike the Komachi shopping street that represents the traditional and old-school elements in Kamakura, the Takeshita street places more emphasis on the youth culture. This is why we think the street cultures in Japan are so interesting to observe, as Japan can always combine a new culture into their origin culture but still keep the traditional side of her.