Regions' cuisine
Kansai
The Kansai region of Japan, also known as the Kinki region, lies in the Southern-Central region of Japan's main island, Honshu. The region includes Nara, Wakayama, Mie, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyo-go, and Shiga prefectures.
The Kiyomizutera temple in Kyoto. Kyoto prefecture
The Kiyomizutera temple is one of the most famous and visited places in Kyoto. The open terrace of Kiyomizutera looks like a stage in No theatre. The temple is situated in a picturesque mountain place, the terrace provides a beautiful view of Kyoto. There are also three water springs here, a legend says that three devout wishes of a man who drinks some water from them would come true.
Ama (pearls gatherer). Ise city, Mie prefecture
 The pearls in Japan were found since the VI century A.D. Nowadays more than 200 tons of pearls are found in Japan every year. This difficult job is performed exceptionally by women. They dive at a depth of some meters in special suits and masks and gather pearls into a special container. Anyway, Ise is firstly known as the centre of Shinto religion that exists for two thousand years. A complex of Ise zingu temples (Emperor's temple) is the most important religious centre of the country, the storage of Shinto treasures and the object for mass pilgrimage.
Local dishes:
The Kansai region, which has been the historical and cultural centre of Japan for a long time, has also been the leader in cuisine. Miso and shoyu (soy sauce) were invented here. In the age of Edo this place was called "the kitchen of Japan", here the products from all Japan were gathered and from here the receipts of various dishes spread all over the country. In recent years it is often spoken that "in Osaka a lot of money is spend on food", meaning that even nowadays in Kansai region people aspire to culinary innovations. For instance udonsuki (nabe with noodles), sabazushi (sushi with scomber), senmai-zuke (pickled radish) and other dishes have been invented here recently.
Seasonal products, that carry the features of one or another land where they grow are brought from the Japan sea, Setonaika (the Innland sea), the lake of Bivako, and from mountains.
The Kyoto centre is situated far from the sea and, as in ancient time the transport was not developed and it took too much time to deliver seafood, it was impossible to eat raw fish. It was like that until the dish called "sabazushi" was invented. Raw saba was pickled with vinegar and wrapped into bamboo bark. If the product was kept for one day, it became tastier. Nowadays this dish is a holiday one and many families cook it themselves.
In Kyoto original vegetables "kyo-yasai" (vegetables from Kyouto) that have a cordon bleu taste are grown. Senmai-zuke is made from shogoin-kabu radish, which is twice bigger than a usual one. It is also cooked only after pickling. It has a lenten, but nice taste.
The feature of Kansai kitchen as compared to Kanto is that a soft-salted soy sauce is preferred here, whereas in Kanto - a salted one. As far as miso is concerned, white miso is eaten in Kansai and the red one in Kanto. The same is with the broth that is cooked in different ways: from sea ware or from dried aku (striped tuna). Different regions of Kansai in their turn have their own culinary features.
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