We recently bought dot matrix printer, of all things, which is needed to automate shipping of EMS orders (the forms from the post office are six sheets thick and need to be printed using a special kind of printer). Hearing the unique screeching sound of the print head moving over the paper as it printed really made me natsukashii (nots-ka-shee), a word translatable as “dude, that makes me so nostalgic that I must look like one of those manga characters with a giant tear rolling out of my eye.” Remembering the word natsukashii made me even more nostalgic, since it was one of the first words of Japanese I learned, back in the good old days of 80s anime. The Japanese are big fans of the word natsukashii and of the bittersweet emotions that come from hearing a beloved old song, looking at an old photograph or walking through an old Japanese house, and appreciation of nostalgia is one of the defining aspects of the Japanese people. Maybe that’s why dagashi — traditional candy from the Showa Period — is still so popular decades later.
Dagashi, the traditional candy from the childhood days of…everyone in Japan.
