Christmas gifts Japan: ideas for those who love the Rising Sun
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Japan themed Christmas gifts
For the home
Dolls
Daruma dolls and kokeshi i dolls are among the most classic objects you will find in the home of a Japanese lover. Daruma are votive figurines without legs or arms, representing Bodhidharma the founder and first patriarch of Zen. The kokeshi, on the other hand, are traditional wooden dolls considered a good omen against bad luck and considered a collector's item to give to special people. The nice thing is that there are so many types and colors that you will hardly find yourself giving a duplicate.
Daruma Kokeshi
Kit Bonsai
Let's start with a assumption: making bonsai is an art. It is not quick to create one, it is not easy to keep it as it should be. But, first of all, before buying very expensive and bulky equipment, you need to understand if you have a green thumb and if you are inclined to such a hobby.
Here is a good compromise: a kit for the beginner bonsaist . You could consider it an experiment for you or for those around you: if the plant survives the first awkward care, it could be the beginning of something.
Kit for bonsai
For the kitchen and for the taste
Containers for food
The bento: the Japanese lunch box. Small and delicious, like all other things that come from the Land of the Rising Sun, bento can come in different shapes, sizes and colors. Surely you will have seen them in some manga or anime, they are a show and the food inside is artfully arranged. This is a useful gift for those who usually dine out and want to do it in style.The first bento is cylindrical, depicting a kokeshi or perhaps a geisha, complete with a headdress bowl. The second is a minimal lunch box, with a classic rectangular shape made of black and bamboo colored plastic. Apparently this model is ecological, dishwasher safe and microwave safe.
Bento Geisha Black and Bamboo Bento
Rice and Sushi
If you are thinking of a gift for your wife or your girlfriend, even these objects need a premise: not all women like to receive kitchen tools as a gift. Not on Christmas, not on Valentine's Day, never. But we are not all the same, and after all these are particular objects with a very specific purpose: Japanese cooking. So, after making sure you don't end up with a rice cooker as a hat, or if you're looking for a gift for friends, girlfriends, brothers, sisters who have expressed a wish to have a sushi kit, here are two items that could make a J happy. -chef.
The rice cooker is not just for sushi, in reality Japanese cuisine includes rice in many dishes and, although some say that this tool is not essential, it certainly helps. Even karē raisu, curry rice (which we will see soon on Manga Izakaya) would certainly be better with ad hoc cooked rice. The sushi kit, on the other hand, is almost indispensable for pressing, wrapping and cutting sushi pieces properly.
Pot Rice cooker Kit for sushi
Tea and cups
A delicate thought for a delicate palate. Organic and Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder with adorable bamboo gift box. Very nice to combine with a natural bamboo cup and not chemically treated, to recreate the atmosphere of the tea ceremony.
Matcha tea Bamboo cup
Japanese snacks
This may not really be considered a "traditional gift", but Japanese snacks are unique in the world and very different from ours in flavors and ingredients, so it could be an interesting and original gift for gluttonous otaku. 52 different and colorful and unusual snacks.
Japanese Snack Set
Books
The Genji Monogatari, "The Tale of Genji", is an 11th century novel written by Murasaki Shikibu, lady of court lived in the Heian period, and considered one of the masterpieces of Japanese literature. Critics call it the "first modern novel" or the "first psychological novel". Available in kindle format, soft cover and deluxe hardcover format with illustrations. Almost 1500 pages of pleasure.Note Del Guanciale is a work of Sei Shōnagon, Japanese writer and poetess, companion of Empress Teishi from 993 to 1001. This book is considered one of the classics with Genji Monogatari of Japanese literature of the Heian period, but it is difficult to circumscribe it in a genre: depending on the case, it can be considered a diary, a collection, or a set of thoughts, quotes, scattered notes and free prose.
Short stories of Rain and Moon is a collection of nine ghost stories written by Ueda Akinari (1734-1809). The author uses Chinese ideas and images of Japanese folklore, novel and theater. The peculiarity of this classic is that Ueda Akinari resorts to the supernatural in an aesthetic function, manages to compose the story so that fear is mitigated by poetry, and that makes horror accompanied by the emotion of beauty.
Genji Monogatari Note Del Guanciale Tales of rain and moon
DVD
Still on the subject of classics, there are box sets for real fans of traditional Japanese cinema: The Trilogy of Love and the collection of masterpieces by Takeshi Kitano. The first contains three films: A simple life, Poetry, awarded as best screenplay at Cannes in 2010, and Departures, awarded with the Oscar as best foreign film in 2008. The second instead contains Violent Cop, Sonatine and Boiling Point, the centerpiece of the work of the Japanese director, screenwriter, editor and multifaceted actor.Takeshi Kitano Collection
