The Lobster Dance

The combination of people at my office going on a lot of trips and our reception of lots of visitors means there’s always a lot of omiyage (お土産) being passed out at work. Omiyage generally means a gift of individually wrapped local foods brought back from a trip. For instance, if I miss work to go on a trip, I am expected to bring back a box of goodies for my coworkers–peanut cookies from Chiba, matcha-flavored sweets from Kyoto, senbei with Hikone Castle imprinted on them from Shiga, etc.

I’ve been trying to document the omiyage I’ve received at the office, because some of them have been interesting, surprising, or even famous.

Exhibit A: Fugu Pie　（ふぐパイ）

Pai (pie) here refers to a kind of sweet that is sort of like a rolled, layered, and cut pastry crust. I think most office workers have had a Genji Pie (源氏パイ) from the office snack box; fugu pie is basically a Genji Pie with ground up blowfish (fugu) powder in it. Sadly, it did not make me feel tingly, and the flavor was about the same as a Genji Pie. This omiyage was from Mie prefecture, famous for fugu.

Exhibit B: Cochin Pie (コーチンパイ）

Cochin (kouchin) pie (コーチンパイ) is, like fugu pie, a pastry-crust-like sweet. Cochin is an heirloom chicken breed from Nagoya, which is where this omiyage came from. Unlike the fugu pie, this pie had a flavor and tasted savory, kind of like chicken stock.

Exhibit C: Hantsuki (半月)

I don’t remember where this was from, but the Hantsuki (Half Moon), a wafer with a little creme filling, was a seasonal omiyage for moon-viewing season in fall; the wrapper features the rabbit who pounds mochi on the moon, Japan’s version of the man in the moon.

Exhibit D: Shiroi Koibito (白い恋人)

Shiroi Koibito (White Lover) is a type of wafer cookie made in Hokkaido. It’s meant to invoke the white winter landscape of the north country and is one of Hokkaido’s most famous omiyage. I still haven’t been to Hokkaido, but thanks to someone who dropped by the office, I finally got to try Shiroi Koibito–one chocolate, one white chocolate. Verdict? Delicious!

Exhibit E: Fortune Cookie (フォーチュンクッキー)

This one showed up on my desk all the way from Hyogo-ken. My coworkers were shocked when I told them that fortune cookies were something Chinese restaurants in the US created for American customers. (Actually, the history is disputed; you can read about the conflicting sides here.) I also showed them this online fortune cookie site to show them what English fortunes are like. Regrettably, I don’t have a picture of the fortune, but it had a Chinese vocab word (watermelon, I think), a lucky number, and a lucky color. Shiroi Koibito may have won for taste, but Fortune Cookie won for the American factor.

I wonder what’s going to turn up on my desk this season?