Fall Milk

Japan has four seasons, as any long-term resident here will invariably be reminded.   It is also common to be asked whether your country also has four seasons.  Respond in the affirmative, and you may be met with shock.  The fact that most non-desert places between the tropics and the Arctic / Antarctic circles have four reasonably distinct seasons can come as a surprise to many Japanese.

In Japan, the four seasons are not only a thing of nature, but a cultural phenomenon.  The emphasis on what is in-season or not-in-season can be extreme. The cherry blossoms, symbol of spring, mean that it is time for Hanami, or cherry blossom viewing picnics, where the grass next to cherry-blossom-lined rivers will be covered with tarps full of of-age people who will be full of beer. Summer is the time to wear "cool biz" to work (short sleeves and no ties), summer festivals of all kinds, and beer gardens. In winter, there are hot foods that you can't get any other time of year and snow festivals. In Kanazawa specifically, winter is also the time to tie up your topiary so that the heavy wet snow doesn't snap branches off  your great-great-grandfather's tree. New Year's calls for a large number of all-you-can-drink end-of-the-year parties.

Now, being fall, people will making trips to see the leaves change color, and "cool biz" is no longer allowed at work, which is OK because the AC and heat get turned off and on according to the calendar instead of the temperature and it can get a bit chilly inside.


Also, in a display of seasonality hitherto unknown to us, you can apparently get special "Fall" milk from Hokkaido.  We had to get some and put it to the test.  Our verdict: tastes like regular Japanese milk.  The color caused us to confuse the container with orange juice, so we recommend sticking with the regular non-seasonal milk of your choice, as we'll be doing.

Guess which is the special one!