by Kieran Meeke
THE greatest lesson I learn in Tokyo about Japanese food is from a former glass-blower, now spending her days making candy treats. Maiko Kato works at Takahiro Yoshihara’s Amezaiku shop in Tokyo’s Sendagi district, which is filled with narrow alleys and traditional shops. Amezaiku is the art of making delicious creations from rice-candy, in the shape of animals or flowers on a stick.
“It is hard to get used to handling the heat,” says Kato-san. “You have to work the candy in hot air to make it softer and easier to shape. You only have three minutes before it hardens.”
She makes a flying horse for me, shaping a hot ball of candy with her hands and sharp scissors to make ears, then a muzzle, legs, tail and wings, adding eyes with dots of food coloring.
The memory is better than the thing itself
“When I was a child in elementary school, I heated candy and made my own,” she says. “I did glass art when I graduated. It is a similar process, very fragile. Glass art keeps forever and that reflected my mind at that time. I prefer candy art now because I do not need to keep that moment. Enjoy it now. When someone eats it, the memory keeps forever.
“When something disappears, we appreciate the loss. The memory is better than the thing itself. Travel is a better gift than toys for children.
“We say ‘Ichi-go, ichi-e’ — one chance, one moment. Appreciate the moment.”
Her words echo with me for the rest of the day. I realize that the one thing uniting everyone I have met in Tokyo’s food trade, from fishmonger and knife-maker to sushi chef and candy-maker, is complete dedication to the moment. That may be the real secret of Japanese food.
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