September Food in Japan

September is the beginning of Autumn in Japan, but I was expecting the climate to be hot as I had been told from my family and friends that it was still hot and humid around the end of August.  However, it seems that air temperature dropped very quickly: the climate was like Autumn by the time we arrived Japan.  My dad told me that it was raining everyday until the end of August, then became very hot and humid, but the air started to cool down after few days.  So basically they had summer for just one week :p  

Luckily lots of Autumn food ware already in the shops while we were there.  Nashi pears, grapes, sweet potatoes, maron (chest nuts)…  Lots of Japanese snacks and sweets had their “Autumn flavor” such as sweet potato danish and maron ice cream.  Convenience stores were selling oden already too.

I saw few shops in Kyoto and Shiga that sells white-Taiyaki.  (fish shaped cake with fillings)  Usually taiyaki is just normal pancake-like color, but someone decided to make it in white color for some reason and it became popular.  I’m sure the taste will be same as normal taiyaki though… 

And, after a boom of super sized food (eg: GIGA Pudding , Quarter-pounder Burger etc  ) in Japan, there seemed to be an another new boom this time : petit food (small size food).  In department stores, supermarkets and on tv, I saw shops selling petit taiyaki, petit donuts, and petit gyu-don (beef bowl).  Japanese people sure like new stuff.. :p

Anyway,

At home I could enjoy some Autumn food: grilled samma (saury), kuri-gohan (steamed rice with chestnuts) etc.   So delicious … !  Outside, the wind was slightly cool and we could hear Autumn insects singing at the garden at night.  Relaxing in the living room with my family, listening to the sound of Autumn and eating nashi pears .. it was exactly how I wanted to spend a time in Japan! 🙂