Salts and spices

It may seem surprising, but Japan loves spices. A thousand powerfully aromatic plants grow naturally on the archipelago: chili, green sansho pepper, hemp, and all kinds of citrus, including the famous yuzu. In Kyoto, mixing these spices has been an art for centuries. 

Salt is another matter: Japan has no salt mines. Seawater is the only immediately available source of salt, but the climatic conditions make salt pans ineffective. The Japanese have devised clever methods: drying seaweed in the sun, boiling seawater in bamboo tubes, erecting glass evaporators... All produce aromatic and unique salts.