[Lee Jong-gil's Film Reading] The Value of Sweat and Sincerity in 1978 Bread

Documentary Film 'Pelican Bakery'

Tokyo's 'Pelican Bakery,' operating for four generations since its opening in 1942... Highlighting the effort to consistently maintain its taste rather than just passing down know-how

Calmly capturing the kneading and baking process... Advocating the belief that bread, which flowed in from the West, can also become a tradition

Asakusa is a place that retains traditional colors in modernized Tokyo. The most famous tourist spot is Sensoji, the oldest and largest temple in Tokyo. It is said to have been built to enshrine the Kannon statue caught in the net of two fisherman brothers in the Sumida River. As the number of worshippers steadily increased, Asakusa, which was nothing more than a small fishing village, developed into the cultural center of Edo.

The city is lined with long-established eateries. Representative examples include Owariya, a soba specialty shop opened in 1870, and Daikokuya, a tendon (rice bowl topped with tempura) specialty store founded in 1887. Iman Honten, which serves sukiyaki (Japanese hot pot), has been passed down for five generations since it started supplying canned meat during the First Sino-Japanese War.

Documentary director Uchida Juntaro shines a light on shops like those in Asakusa that retain traditional colors in rapidly changing times. However, the place his camera focuses on is a bakery. The film's title is also 'Pelican Bakery.' It opened in 1942 and has been run by four generations. Bakeries represent Western food culture. It may seem odd since it appears distant from Japanese-style eating habits. But looking at the changes in eating habits after the Meiji Restoration, the concept of Japanese-style eating habits becomes meaningless.

Bread is estimated to have been introduced to Japan in 1543. Tarozaemon Egawa began mass production in 1842, considering it a convenient preserved and portable military ration. The Meiji government once provided bread as military rations to solve beriberi, which soldiers suffered from eating only rice. The first place bread was distributed to the general public was the foreign settlement in Yokohama. Heikichi Uchimi opened the first Japanese bakery in 1860.

By the 1940s, when Pelican Bakery opened, bread was commonly used as a staple food in Japan. This was because Japan lost World War II and imported large quantities of American wheat flour. At that time, Japan's land was devastated and labor force diminished due to prolonged war. The climate was also unfavorable, causing severe food shortages. The United States, struggling with overproduction of wheat flour, launched massive exports.

The flour-based food culture quickly took root. Japanese people generally have little resistance to ingredients or foods introduced from abroad. Rather, they do not insist on original recipes and change cooking methods or ways of seasoning to suit their own tastes. Tonkatsu and curry are representative examples.

Food culture columnist Uotsuka Jinnosuke wrote in his book 'Behind the Scenes of Japanese Cuisine,' "Eating bread is not Western-style eating habits, but spreading butter on bread and melting butter to make an omelet is Western-style eating habits," and described as follows.

"After the Meiji Restoration, Japanese people accepted many Western foods. By investigating old cookbooks, it was found that Japanese people relatively accepted foreign ingredients, cooking methods, and various dishes without much resistance. (...) Only dishes made from foods used since ancient times can be called Japanese cuisine. Among the dishes Japanese people have eaten, those that can be called purely traditional foods are very few. If you think about it, rice is also a foreign food."

A similar stance is revealed in the introduction of 'Pelican Bakery.' After listing the old-fashioned scenery of Asakusa, it shows a white man playing the shamisen (a traditional Japanese string instrument). Praising Japan for skillfully transforming Western culture into their own, he says.

"Bread has a Western image like Canada or the United States. But bread like Pelican Bakery's doesn't exist. It's soft. You feel good from the moment you take it out of the packaging. It's the pride of this neighborhood that impresses you until the moment you eat it."

Director Uchida does not convey the know-how of making delicious bread. He focuses on the efforts of bakers who have worked steadily for 78 years to maintain the unique taste. He shows the process of kneading and baking flour for a long time, almost tediously. There is no dramatic element on the workers' faces. It simply captures their efforts to produce the best taste calmly.

In fact, this is a rare sight. Bakeries basically produce products based on the principle of small profits but quick turnover. They tend to choose manufacturing methods that are easy to make and have a low failure rate. Therefore, concerns arise that taste may be neglected.

Pelican Bakery limited its products to bread loaves and rolls to focus on taste. They adjust ingredient ratios according to the season and weather, dedicating themselves to bringing out the subtle saltiness, the natural sweetness of the bread, the chewy elasticity, and the freshly baked crispy texture. Professor Shinji Nakajima of Tokyo Confectionery School says that bread made this way is an asset to the baking industry.

"If you ask people 'What is bread?' most would say it's something to eat. That's not wrong. But if you ask bakers, many would answer that it is a living thing. Because yeast is used, it changes several times during making. It's as if the baker's mood is reflected. So when a baker with sound thoughts makes bread, flavors and tastes beyond the shape are realized. The reason Pelican Bakery's bread is delicious and makes you want to eat it repeatedly is that the baker properly understands the dough as a living thing and treats it with love and sincerity to make delicious bread."

Nagi Hiroyuki, who has worked at Pelican Bakery for over 40 years, defines bakers as "people who study for life." He researches and kneads dough every day to gain trust from customers. He faithfully practices the philosophy of the previous owner, Watanabe Kazuo, who emphasized the importance of "making bread that sells."

"I thought I was working for myself, but after several decades, I realized I was doing it for the customers. In the end, looking back, that was for myself. That's how I think now. If you do it for the customers, it eventually comes back to you in a good way. It leads to trust."

Watanabe Riku, who started inheriting the family business in 2015, shares the same view. Although he could expand the store size, he still focuses on supplying. He strengthens relationships with regular customers and seeks ways to contribute to the local community. As a baking apprentice middle school girl said, he is in the process of learning communication between people. He tries to inherit the thoughts and philosophy of the previous generation as they are.

Director Uchida seems to see sufficient potential. Near the end of the film, he inserts scenes of Sensoji. He believes that even bread that flowed in from the West can become a tradition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.