お土産 /omiyage

Today one of my students in English Conversation told me that his 80-year-old mother is going to her annual elementary school reunion, and he’s happy because he finally gets some time alone with his wife.

However this is an aside; today’s real topic is about the object in this picture:

The page before this one in the catalog explains: Choosing omiyage is so difficult and takes time out of sightseeing! It makes the luggage so heavy, when it was already heavy to begin with! You are so tired and beaten down when you return home! Just leisurely choose omiyage from this catalog, go on your trip, and we’ll deliver it to your door when you return home to Japan!

What on earth is omiyage [お土産]? It is an unfortunate drawback of my job that if I return “home” to America, or go on any major trip for that matter, it is anticipated that I will bring back small individually wrapped gifts of food that are a special product of that area of the country for my coworkers to enjoy. I’m sure this practice has it’s roots in some cute traditional custom or something.

In the US, small and individually wrapped can mean Hersey’s Kisses, but Japan takes this to an entirely different level with companies devoted to producing boxes of individually wrapped prefectural speciality treats, cookies, bean cakes, dumplings, etc. in quantities of 12-20, perfectly prepared for an easy drop on your coworkers desk the next morning. You can pick these up these at huge お土産 stores or from countless shelves in every train station and rest stop in the country.

But as you can imagine, carrying お土産 back from a far off place like America can be difficult, particularly when America has no inkling of this custom, and thus Japan has invented a service which sends “American goods” to your doorstep in Japan without any effort other than signing the slip and paying the bill upon delivery. This picture is a page from the catalog.

Among the delectable “authentic goods” are American Harmony Macadamia Nut Chocolates, American Harmony Cookies, Mint Chocolate Dollar Bills (get it??), American Host Macadamia Nuts, and New York City Taxi-shaped Cookies. This list only includes 2 of the massive amount of items which feature macadamia nuts. (?!)

On planning my trip back to the US a couple weeks ago, I actually considered doing this for about 10 seconds until I imagined the embarrassment involved if I was found out. Instead I brought everyone salt water taffy, but they do not appear to be a favorite as few people go back for seconds and comment mainly on the strange color (chemical pink or orange) or that it’s texture is very gum-like. Looks like I should have gone with the macadamia nuts!