Japan at Home

Nine Japanese whisky bottles side by side, the line each producer prints about where its whisky comes from, what the 2021 labeling standard requires and what it does not, what the top price actually moved on — and which bottle to buy first.

A kotatsu is four parts sold under one word — frame, heater unit, quilt, top board — and only one of them carries a rating plate. What that plate says, what a Japanese maker says about using it overseas, what the running-cost line on a product page actually measures, and who should leave the whole set on the shelf.

Five Japanese tea names, and none of them is a rank — each one specifies something that was done to the leaf. What each specifies, what a Japanese packet is and is not required to print, the water temperature that decides bitterness, and which tin to buy first.

The word on a Japanese sake bottle is a production specification — how far the rice was milled, whether distilled alcohol is permitted, and a condition attached to the flavor. Here is what the National Tax Agency's standard actually requires, and what Japan's own shelf looks like.

The thing sold in English as a Japanese futon is one item out of a stack that Japan's own labeling rules name separately. What the word covers, what a Japanese label has to declare and what it does not, and the conditions in your home that decide the purchase.

Three things get sold as the answer — the grade on the bag, the 特A mark, and the cooker tier. Japan's own record says the first measures no taste at all, the second is not about the product it is printed on, and the third is defined by nobody.

Most of what you are told to check in matcha can only be checked after you have paid and opened the tin. Japan defines 抹茶 by how it is made, and a Japanese packet has to print four things you can read first — including where the leaf came from.