hisashi wrote:…
a memoir of an IJA hired civilian. She volunteered to a call for 'hired civilian in China'. She served from 1943 to the end of war in China Expeditionary Army GHQ in Nanking. She had served in
Shubo for a while during her 3-years service. I think on vessels no civilians served for this purpose.
. . . On IJA/IJN bases I think a merchant was often delegated the operation of
Shubo.
In this way, the
shubo seems closer to the old US Army
post canteen, an idea which began in the 1880s with General Arthur MacArthur (father of Douglas). Up through World War I their quality could vary from place to place, or unit to unit. They might also vary with the officers who managed their funds, some not well. It seems a common problem in the old armies, same as Hisashi told earlier about supply or commissary NCOs in the IJA.
The British had
NAAFI canteens for their forces in World War II Their workers could serve on board warships, unlike the IJN and USN where sailors ran the stores. I haven’t found more about it, but thought that
Kantinas in the German Army might have been similar.
The US forces'' Post Exchange (PX) concept dates froim the 1920s-30s as a more modern, standard business arrangement of base stores and services.
hisashi wrote:In IJA barracks usually 将校集会所 (
shoko shukaisho = officers' mess-room) was built. The following link shows
ex-shoko shukaisho of 40th (Infantry) Regiment in Tottori prefecture. They took lunch there and drunk at night. I have read only one example but in that case a catering firm served lunch every day. I think officers let their men to buy goods at
shubo and consumed them where they liked.
Thanks Hisashi, it seemed more likely to me that officers would have their own place. Since, as in many armies, officers did not mix with the enlisted men off-duty. In English there is not so much about routine prewar garrison life of the Japanese soldier and officer. From the air force I remember that officers were allowed to use the NCOs’ club services, though they rarely actually did so. Of course NCOs could not use the officers’ club.
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hisashi wrote:. . . In WWII alcohol was sold in vessels' shubo but JMSDF aborted this custom.
Maybe the JMSDF followed the US Navy example of no alcohol?
- During naval air or surface battle, one second of difference in a man’s reaction time could mean life or death. So when Britain’s Royal Navy finally ended its rum ration in July 1970, it judged that today’s high-tech ships and weapons should not mix with even a little alcohol.
Many German U-boat captains of WW2 prohibited alcohol on their boats for similar reasons. Some other skippers quietly allowed one bottle of brandy taken aboard, or a case of beer. But, they themselves would strictly ration the precious drink, as for a crewman’s reward or for other uses. Eugene B. Fluckey was famous as WW2’s top-scoring US sub captain, but also for stocking beer for victories on his boat USS Barb.
Was some IJN alcohol allowance kept up aboard the
I-boats? I haven’t seen any mention so far in the literature I can reach.
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hisashi wrote:In WWII period
Calpis was exclusively supplied to the army and navy. In general, pilots enjoyed somewhat better refreshment foods as far as available (航空加給食
koku kakyushoku = additional food for flight crews). Yogurt might be in it.
Condensed milk was also available those day.
The
first Yogurt in Japan (1917)
Sour drinks are said to have another advantage – they lower thirst because they are sour, apart from their nutrition and vitamins.
- - Ancient Roman troops on the march drank posca, water mixed with wine vinegar.
- Some American Revolution troops drank switchel, also containing vinegar. Their doughboy successors in WW1 drank tomato juice.
- And yogurt-like horse milk drinks of the Mongol horse soldiers (distant origin of Calpis) may well have been sour too.
Calpis could have had this same advantage, as would
ramune. Is it likely that most of Imperial Japan’s milk supply went to her armed forces as ration supplements, Calpis, and ice cream? Her dairy industry was smaller than those of her enemies, but so was her milk consumption.
Incidentally, author Cwiertka made passing note of Calpis sherbet which cost 15
sen in Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi department store in 1925. A photo of
soldiers enjoying what looks like a dessert served in glass goblets could also be such a sherbet – not necessarily ice cream, as I first imagined.
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One general author wrote:
It’s reported that during the 1940s ice cream became so thoroughly associated with Americans that Japanese military leaders discouraged their soldiers from eating it.
von Hassell, Agostino, et al. Miiltary High Life: Elegant Food Histories and Recipes (University Press of the South, 2006), page 110.
If so, I would guess that discouraging ice cream was not really successful. But, would a new name have had to replace
aisukaremu for ice cream?
- English-based words and names were replaced in some Japanese use, as we have seen with cigarette brands and baseball terms.
There was a US equivalent from World War I. For a time after 1917, German silver, German clover, and German measles were renamed Liberty silver, Liberty clover, Liberty measles, and Liberty Cabbage. Someone could get jeered at if he asked for sauerkraut at a store, instead of asking for it as Liberty Cabbage. But those things themselves were not discouraged for use .
Partly because it needs freezers, I would expect ice cream was more commonly served in the IJN than in the IJA. As with cane sugar mentioned earlier, wouldn’t milk have become scarcer in Japan, even for the armed forces?
At that, I have an impression that many of our photos and detailed mentions of good Army food date from before the expansion of war into Asia and the Pacific. Are many of these from the China war and homeland Japan?
There is enough mention where the farthest IJA troops in the central or Southwest Pacific islands, or in Burma. They would be glad enough -– or lucky -- just to have rice.
For them, ice cream, Calpis, and
ramune would be forgotten luxuries. Like chocolate in late-war Germany, as cited earlier.
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Many new foods or dishes started out with certain groups, or with richer people who could afford them. This would be true almost anywhere, but seems more so in early Imperial Japan. Earlier we have seen three examples:
- - Western vegetables (seiyo yasai), grown by ex-soldier Kanie Ichitaro to meet rising demand for them in Japan
- Daily serving of white rice in early Imperial times.
- Curry
Maybe the same was true of the first yogurts and ice creams also? Author Katerina Cwiertka was much cited here for this broad point --- that the IJA and IJN led modernization of Japanese foodways by introducing such dishes.
hisashi wrote:. . . Today condensed milk in Japan is mainly for sauce on strawberry, but also topping on
kakigori and recently 'Vietnamese coffee' = coffee seasoned by condensed milk are common.
I am slightly surprised if
Vietnamese iced coffee is recent to Japan. Because today’s Japan is one of the world’s top coffee-drinking nations, and I imagined that new food trends spread quickly there. But just as in the US, might food trends have differed among different regions or classes in Japan?
Kakigori is close to our Philippine
halo-halo. This supports an earlier telling that
halo-halo actually
came from
kakigori before WW2:
Sewer King wrote:Pax Melmacia wrote:. . . the venerable Philippine halo-halo (a concoction of crushed ice topped with . . . fruits, [sweet] beans, and, yes, coconut packed in syrup came from Japanese civilians living in the Philippines before the war. (The name means something like “mish-mash” . . .)
As a Filipino I had never heard that before. It does seem to make some sense for the use of sweet beans. Sweetened ices are found throughout history in many other places such as old Europe, Mughal India, and colonial America . If there is a Japanese equivalent to our
halo-halo -- or its predecessor -- maybe one of our Japanese members can say.
At that, I have only a general idea of Japanese civilians in the prewar Philippine Commonwealth . . . If
halo-halo truly did originate with them, I would expect that they were its vendors as well.
Hisashi, thanks for this missing link about
kakigori. I had forgotten the supposition that it was the origin of our
halo-halo. There are no other connections I can think of between ordinary Filipino and Japanese foods. Except, maybe for modern common use of Vienna sausages told earlier. It Japanese troops in the Philippines ever came across
halo-halo, they might have seen it the same as
kakigori,
- Condensed milk has long been used in military rations. But I expect that it was liked for its rich taste. Especially, alongside typical army rations of salted meat and hardtack. Gail Borden’s invention continues in production since 1857, though his Borden brand name is now called Eagle Brand.
Many American Civil War buffs know the success of Borden’s milk with the US Army and Navy back then. The Army continued it in modern B Rations through WW2 and later, though more as a field kitchen ingredient than issued directly to troops. In World War II the GIs called it “Canned Cow” or “Armored Cow.” British and Australian troops used it in their tea.
But for them, it was already a common civilian item. Was condensed milk used mainly by some Japanese in early days, or was it something used more by the later IJA and IJN than by civilians?
-- Alan