Traditional Snacks
The snacks popular in Japan can be broadly categorized into traditional and westernized, both of which play an important role in Japanese culture, history, and society. Japanese traditional snacks bear high cultural significance due to their presence in various cultural practices, festivals, and ceremonies. For instance, the purpose of creating wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets, was to consume them during the traditional tea ceremony (Kato & Yajima, 2022).
The main components employed to create various wagashi are sugar, rice, wheat, and red beans (Kato & Yajima, 2022). White sugar is generally absent from the ingredient list due to the difficulties of obtaining it in Japan in the past. It is thus claimed that the usage of a particularly refined sugar known as “wasabi” contributed to the improved flavor of wagashi as it offered a distinctive taste and precise sweetness (Kato & Yajima, 2022). Apart from that, the selection of wagashi ingredients may differ depending on the season, aiming to embody the latter while expressing the beauty of nature through traditional Japanese themes. In other words, wagashi incorporates certain artistic elements that contribute to its cultural value.
Westernized Snacks
In turn, westernized snacks and food culture played a significant role in Japan’s history. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan aimed to distance itself from Asia and adopt Western customs and practices, including eating traditions (Nakamura, 2022). During the early 1900s, a combination of Western ingredients and cooking methods began to be integrated into Japanese cuisine, creating Japanese-Western fusion dishes, for instance, onigiri with meat (Nakamura, 2022). At that time, classes on Western cuisine were introduced simultaneously by culinary schools and women’s colleges (Nakamura, 2022). In addition, fusion cuisine appealed to young men with military backgrounds and college students familiar with Western dishes (Nakamura, 2022). As a result, fusion cuisine evolved into a mix of Western and Japanese culinary traditions known today.
Snacks in General
Finally, snacks in both categories contribute to Japanese society as a whole from an economic perspective. Over the course of the last decade, the production of candy and snack foods within the nation amounted to approximately two million metric tons (Sugimoto et al., 2023). In terms of global rankings, the Japanese snack food market was placed third (Sugimoto et al., 2023). In this context, Japan offers a wide array of snacks with sweet and savory options, making them a notable export option (Bokksu, n.d.).
Savory and Sweet Snacks
Savory treats in Japan are predominantly represented by puffed or deep-fried snacks and onigiri (JNTO, n.d.; McNamee, 2022). The most popular are wheat flour crackers (called senbei) and rice crackers (JNTO, n.d.). Sweet snacks include a variety of sugary treats, such as traditional sweets and Western-style confectioneries, candy, and chewing gum. The confectionery industry in Japan mainly relies on wagashi and chocolate as essential products (Sugimoto et al., 2023). The rise in Western snack consumption has expanded Japan’s snack food industry, allowing for the constant growth and introduction of new products.
References
Bokksu. (n.d.). About us: The story of Bokksu. Web.
JNTO. (n.d.). Food & drink in Japan. Japan National Tourism Organization. Web.
Kato, E., & Yajima, A. (2022). Body-mind discipline for life: The non-conformity of contemporary Japanese tea ceremony practitioners. Asian Journal of Social Science, 50(3), 206-213. Web.
McNamee, G. L. (2022). Onigiri. Britannica. Web.
Nakamura, T. (2022). History of nutritional improvement in Japan. In Japan Nutrition (pp. 29-60). Springer Singapore.
Sugimoto, M., Yuan, X., Uechi, K., & Sasaki, S. (2023). The nutritional profile of commercial complementary foods in Japan: Comparison between low-and high-price products. British Journal of Nutrition, 1-14. Web.
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