I didn't like Christmas.
When I was a child, my mother ran an English conversation school, and it was customary for the school to have a Christmas party every year around this time, and I also enjoyed Christmas parties held by local children's groups.
The turning point came when he was working in the radio industry.
Every year from around November, radio stations frequently play Christmas songs. Especially since I was involved in a music program, they played them frequently. Mariah Carey. Wham!. Tatsuro Yamashita.
When I first started working as an AD, I just thought, "Oh, it's the Christmas season, so they put it on to liven things up," but when it happens every year, it can be quite tough.
Christmas songs are so boring.
But requests come in all the time, and there are many opportunities to play songs based on the content of the talk. So the director has no choice but to select the songs.
Well, I've measured the time dozens of times, so in the end, I remember the intro times: Mariah's 5 seconds, Wham's 17 seconds, Tatsuro's 32 seconds. Ah, I'm full. I don't want any more. I wish Christmas would end soon, I want to play another song, I've been thinking that for a long time.
During the Christmas season, we hold events in outdoor areas, such as squares. We invite musicians to sing Christmas songs. The couples who gather there are enchanted by the music.
While we watched this, we on site continued working, freezing.
"Christmas!"
As expected, I caught a cold and had a runny nose throughout the New Year. How sad.
Generally speaking, Christmas is the Mass of Christ, right? It's an event where Christians spend time together as a family at home, right? How can you go on a date in the Far East and misinterpret it? If your family is Buddhist, what's the point of going on a date in April to celebrate Buddha's birthday, "Kanbutsu-e"? I don't like Christmas.
Well, when I was in my twenties, I pretty much had a bad thing to say about Christmas.
However, now that I'm in my 40s, I would like to say this to my younger self.
"Hey you. In the future, you will be selling the famous wine used in Christian masses."
It's the height of self-contradiction.
It is no exaggeration to say that wine is a culture that spread throughout the world along with the spread of Christianity.
Wine, which is necessary for mass, is a symbol of Western culture with Christianity at its core. So is Christmas. If you hate Christmas so much, I can't help but feel that it's okay to tell you to just drink the sacred wine, as a person in their 20s.
Well, at that time I didn't really understand culture (and I still don't understand it that deeply), so I didn't understand the obvious fact that "After the war, Japan rapidly expanded its economy by mixing its own culture with Western culture."
The desire of the Japanese people to have new things from overseas is the driving force behind economic growth. This drive has enabled Japan to develop, resulting in the creation of the mixed culture we have today.
If I had known about the original origins of this Japanese culture when I was younger, I feel like I would have been a little more tolerant of the imported event known as Christmas. I feel like I would have been able to understand how Japan achieved post-war reconstruction.
And recently, with that in mind, I've been thinking about one thing.
My favorite food researcher, Yoshiharu Doi,
"In French cuisine, ingredients are mixed and boiled down to create a new value. In contrast, Japanese cuisine cherishes the quality of the original ingredients by quickly mixing them together without processing them as much as possible," he says.
To borrow that phrase, I think it could be said that in Japan, when it comes to Christmas or wine, rather than simmering it with Japanese culture, they accept the good parts of it as they are and "blend" it into their own lives.
When you think about it that way, although at first glance it may seem like the Japanese are only imitating the superficial aspects of the West, in fact they seem to have the ability to leave the underlying principles aside and smoothly integrate the things they have learned from the West into their daily lives.
It's not like "mixing the added colors evenly to create a new color," but rather "leaving the separate colors in a marbled state and being fine with that." I think that's a sign of the deep generosity of the Japanese.
So, if you like wine, regardless of how wine and Japanese culture might blend together, you should just be more relaxed and place a bottle of wine on your regular dinner table.
If you enjoy the marbled texture of the wine and side dishes, then that's fine. That's what I've been thinking lately.
Got it? I'm a 20-something boy with a Christmas grudge.
This week's pairing
This isn't on the Bokumo menu...
The other day, I went to a restaurant and ate some banh mi.
The shop is run by a Vietnamese person, and the customers were all Vietnamese. I was able to enjoy the exotic atmosphere.
The French bread sandwich with sweet and spicy meat and herbs was delicious.
I felt the mix of cultures that is unique to Vietnam, a French colony. This is marble.
I wasn't able to pair it with wine this time, but next time I'll try this wine. I'm sure this will also have a nice marbled look (I like marble and use it a lot).
"Johanneshof Cellars Gewurztraminer 2020"
Christmas sale until 12/25
Finally, an announcement.
Now that Iwasu is an adult who can get on board with Christmas, he is of course also active in campaigns.
New Zealand wine specialty store " Bokumo Wine " is holding a Christmas sale with 15% off all products until December 25th. Sparkling wine, which is already 20% off in the year-end sale being held at the same time, will be 32% off the regular price , so please take this opportunity to purchase some New Zealand wine for the year-end and New Year holidays.
▶ Get up to 32% off New Zealand wines with Bokumo Wine Year-End Sale and BASE Christmas coupons!
