In Kaiseki there is always certainly a focus on the visual part,  the connection between where you are how you feel, and what you taste. It brings me to the idea of how Japanese people taste, and I believe Japanese do not taste the same way as westerners do and for a good reason. Japanese do not train to use their noses enough to insight taste.

This could be. a very controversial statement however, overtime I realize that many profound Japanese settings are based around the idea of the subtlety; the visual subtlety neutral sense of smell. Or the idea as we find when we walk into a Seven-Eleven the horrible smell of the Oden, and fried goods. That’s not to Japanese people cannot not smell, because when they walk into seven eleven they smell and identify with circumstantial orders of smell. Consider there are a limited number of commonplace odors and the rest are irreverent.

I would argue that is terrible, because in Japan, there is a lot of Aspergillus which actually exists all over the world, and I am not speaking about the Aspergillus Koji, which is used in the production of sake, as a yeast enhancer. Without going into long story, I discovered it by taking a towel to a Japanese laboratory and sample, testing it to discover that what are the most common odours in fruits, which is difficult for the average person to detect, is exactly aspergillus: https://mesubim.com/2013/04/24/aspergillus-mold/

Think more deeply about it and how it intersects with modern day production of fruits and you realize that Japanese are not taught to smell. In fact, they do not blow their noses and they are left to leave their noses drizzle from a very early age. Blowing your nose, spitting are not appreciated in Japanese culture. Japanese wear face masks more than any other culture and that alone is a proper indication they aren’t focused on what they smell, rather what they shouldn’t smell….germs, etc.

And thankfully Japanese do not wear perfume, even though it’s becoming more popular and thats a problem. That’s a different matter because I detest perfume and it’s obvious that there is no room for perfume in Japanese restaurants or any restaurant for that matter.

On the other hand, I find fascinating is the idea of Japanese people taking a lacquer bowl in the winter nimono, Nimono (煮物) is a simmered dish in Japanese cuisine and knowing they need to catch the first whispers when they open the top.

So one would say Japanese have a very high degree of focus when it comes to smell and they identify a certain range of smell. It is well defined as is everything in Japan. Japanese incense is all about smell, and smell itself represents something beyond the idea of good or bad smell. Incense in Japan is more ceremonial and places where prayer is undertaken are very much connected to the idea of burning incense. The idea of whispers of smoke rising to the heavens, transferring and raising of a symbolical disappearance of substance. In the west, we see the floor as the more significant element in the room and in Japanese traditional architecture the focus is on looking up at the ceiling.

This brings me back to the idea of how Japanese people taste; I realize it a lot of how Japanese people taste is based on a preconceived idea, and all Japanese grow up principally eating three things: rice soup and pickles and thats the story of young Japanese and their Onigiri, a rice flavored and wrapped with seaweed to be eaten with your hand. It is a simple yet complex food, a single bite lets say and the hamburger of Japan but more simple in many ways and the flavors respect the core ingredients…the rice and balance: https://mesubim.com/2016/11/23/onigiri-ume/ and in the link you’ll notice the ume, a flavour of stark sourness something in the west we wouldn’t prioritize.

I feel westerners who come to Japan start to taste by effectively joining on the taste journey. Think of sushi, and the idea of eating shiromi, (white fish) and you’ll discover the taste is minimal, and its only when its combined with sushi rice, wasabi and nikiri it becomes addictive.