On the Sugar Road from Nagasaki to Saga - Journeys in Japan

foreign [Applause] Khan and right now I am located in Nagasaki prefecture this beach is a little bit unusual it has colorful grains mixed with sand my journey this time the focus on one thing that is as smooth and silky as a Sam that has changed the Japanese food culture [Applause] [Music] and what could that be sugar embraced in Japan from the 16th century to confect irresistible sweets [Music] Elisa Ahmed Han is from Pakistan he follows the sugar culture that dusts the Nagasaki kaido Road [Music] conditional skills passed down for centuries ah it's so severe [Music] there's nothing inside [Music] on Journeys in Japan We Tour nagasaki's sweet Legacy [Music] thank you Nagasaki prefecture is some 950 kilometers Southwest of Tokyo in Kyushu the Nagasaki kaido extends about 220 kilometers to kokura a port town across from Japan's main island [Music] Nagasaki flourished as a maritime hub for international trade from the Middle Ages a distinctive culture developed in the city with Mainland Asian and European influences [Music] dejima was the only official trading base in Japan when the country was sealed off from the world for about 200 years starting in the early 17th century [Music] is from this port that Sugar took hold in Japan [Music] it's so weird wow look at that um that's a lot of sugar [Music] no questions [Music] oh I can taste it I can feel it it's so sweet let's just go inside [Music] Castello was introduced to Nagasaki around the 16th century by Portuguese traders and missionaries who used the cakes to attract followers thank you it's a deceptively simple Affair of wheat flour eggs and sugar this marriage of the sweetness of the sugar and the richness of egg created a completely new taste sensation for the Japanese palette wow it seems like the ingredients are very simple but the the procedure is a little too hard for me to understand so I want to see how it goes [Music] mizuame starch syrup is the surprise ingredient thank you the syrup made with rice and barley gives the dough its satisfying moist texture it's one of the ways the original recipe from Portugal was enhanced [Music] [Applause] um [Music] wow foreign [Music] s for about two hours [Music] foreign [Music] wow [Music] the aroma is so sweet and gives you a very very Pleasant feeling my hands are shivering because it's so soft look at this it's so soft and warm right now [Music] it's sweet but not very sweet and the soft it's way too soft and moist and the sweetness is just so balanced um by the early 18th century ships from Europe and China were bringing in over 2 000 tons of sugar annually to Japan via Nagasaki sport the white gold brought huge prosperity to the city [Music] what a beautiful old painting it is [Music] folding screen painting depicts Nagasaki in the late 17th century the coveted sugar unloaded at Digimon circulated around Nagasaki via various routes [Music] community [Music] [Music] um foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] were given Gifts of sugar for their services oh I found it it says Nagasaki kaido starts from here actually we don't know the exact starting point but it is say that it was somewhere around this area foreign s developed along the Nagasaki kaido the Lisa heads for isahaya about 20 kilometers away [Music] I heard that Nagasaki Highway has a number of slurps like the one I'm climbing right now it's so severe yeah I can hardly breathe [Music] people in Old Days used to walk about 220 kilometers in about seven days it's unbelievable [Music] vast Fields fan out in issahaya which sits on reclaimed land it's a leading region for wheat and rice cultivation foreign [Music] [Music] as far as my eye can see I see beautiful fields of it this is so wise and breathtaking it is said that this was land was originally the sea it was then reclaimed and turned into a Farmland the Reeds will soon be harvested and turned into Oishi rice [Music] Koshi is made with the area's abundant rice and the sugar that made its way here along the Nagasaki kaido this confectionary maker which has been a business for 230 years produces okoshi in the time-honored fashion foreign [Music] rice before roasting not like rice it's very [Music] um crispy but it has a very plain taste ful good morning 200. [Music] wow the attachments are so cool the okochi surface with its piping brown sugar and starch syrup is about 80 degrees Celsius what's up [Laughter] it is not extremely sweet it has a very delicate sweetness I love the textures the crispiness the crunchiness Elisa is continuing on to shiotatsu town via urashino in Saga [Music] all right udeshino is an old Hot Spring Resort [Music] what's that it's a food path I hope I can try [Music] oh it's so warm and so nice so relaxing oh let's get inside oh it's a little hard for me I'd say Downstream from urashino is shiotatsu a place with a specially deep ties to sugar wow what a beautiful Japanese traditional buildings they are I did not know something like this old still exist so stunning wow foreign [Music] I know um [Music] Superman this confectionery maker had been in business until 10 years ago foreign [Music] foreign [Music] that is prepared with rice flour and sugar [Music] it's typically served with tea or as an offering to family altars [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Laughter] foreign it makes me nervous okay oh my heart is beating so fast I cannot tell you okay let me try oh Joseph okay there's so much [Music] [Laughter] so it's so much fun look at this in it [Music] [Music] [Music] it's right it's very tough it is [Music] there's nothing inside [Music] no more than I could do I know [Music] yeah [Music] when the flour dough which is filled with a paste of brown sugar is baked the paste evaporates and Hollows out originating from China it's called ikoko literally meaning a fragrant bite it's coated everywhere so you can test from like have a bite from every side and you will taste the same flavors so this [Music] um this is my last bite and I'm going to enjoy it to my fullest there we go [Music] the history of sugar is said to have begun from India and then it was introduced to Muslim and Christian countries it eventually came to Japan a country of Shintoism and Buddhism I encountered three kinds of sweet on my trip along the Nagasaki Highway and I enjoyed them all alter they use a lot of sugar I was surprised by The Gentle sweetness it was a very valuable experience to see the attention to detail and skills of the confectioners I'm looking forward to see what kind of sweets I'll encounter in future also I'm sad to say goodbye but I hope we will meet again the next time Allah Hafiz [Music] it takes about two hours from Tokyo's haneda airport to Nagasaki from there take the shinkansen to urashino and isahaya don't miss the stunning beach near Nagasaki airport with its recycled glass mixed in its sand [Music]

Channel: NHK WORLD-JAPAN

Views: 57,129

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Id: pUCDtVdcu3E

Length: 28min 6sec (1686 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 04 2023