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The Japanese have long embraced different cultures and blended them with their own. As symbolized by the term “和洋折衷” which means Japanese-Western fusion, the Japanese are adept at not simply adopting foreign cultures and technologies as they are, but rearranging them according to a uniquely Japanese perspective.
During the Meiji period (1868-1912), Japan was opened to the outside world, and pseudo-Western architecture — combining Western and Japanese architecture — was born. Food-wise, curry rice and pork cutlets are obvious examples, but even seemingly-Japanese staples such as tampura, ramen, and salmon sushi are foreign imports that took root in Japan. In music and fashion Japan has established its own unique style while incorporating foreign trends.
Even historically, the Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism is a perfect example of fusion, as is Japan’s written characters. This fusion and adaption of various cultures has been a foundation of modern Japanese culture.
And now, the latest trend emerging as a modern fusion of Japanese and world cultures is shisha: Middle Eastern fruit-flavored tobacco smoked through a water pipe. In fact, in Tokyo the number of shisha shops recently surpassed the number of Starbucks!
Shisha is believed to have originated in the Middle East region in the 1500s and 1600s.In Japan it is generally known as “shisha,” but the name varies by country; ‘shisha’ means ‘glass’ in Persian and is the name used in North Africa, while in India and Pakistan it is called “hookah,” which originates from the Arabic word meaning “small box or container.”
It became incredibly popular within the Middle East due to Islam’s strict prohibition on drinking alcohol, with the communal and leisurely smoking of shisha occupying a similar social role as drinking with friends did in the West. In those days ingredients such as rose oil, dried fruits, and pomegranate juice were added to the tobacco to add flavor.
In Japan, it has long had something of an underground existence, enjoyed by a limited number of connoisseurs. The large, glass smoking apparatus, exhaling a large, leisurely puff of smoke, was a somewhat dubious presence that Japanese people, unfamiliar with anything other than paper cigarettes, looked at with suspicion; as if it were something slightly illegal.
But why has it exploded in popularity now?
Japan began sales of the IQOS electrically-heated cigarette in 2014 in a limited number of Japanese cities, and by the end of 2016 it was nationwide and extremely popular.
Advertised as being “90% less harmful than traditional paper cigarettes,” the popularity of the IQOS softened attitudes towards smoking. There was a resurgence in non-traditional smoking products, including the IQOS but also vapes and — as it turned out — shisha.
With the spread of social networking services such as Instagram, visiting fashionable places and stores in search of photos has become a common practice around the world. In this light, the shisha bar — an exotic space where drifting clouds obscure people gathered in close, communal groups — has become popular not only as a socializing destination but also as an ‘instagrammable’ experience.
In recent years, young people have been turning away from alcohol — increased health consciousness is cited as a large reason globally, but specifically in Japan young people have stated a desire to escape the common hierarchical structures and obligations associated with group drinking. As the number of people who don’t drink increases, the demand for places for communication other than pubs and bars grows with them. Coffee shops have traditionally filled this role, but exist at an almost-exclusively daytime venue.
In Japan, COVID forced many restaurants to refrain from business or shorten their hours, meanwhile shisha bars continued to operate in the form of “night café-ization” and succeeded in attracting the restaurant user segment.
A major factor was that because they existed somewhere between a restaurant and a smoking area, they were less susceptible to regulations and were able to continue to operate while taking measures to prevent infection.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, shisha used to be called “water cigarette,” and people who smoked water cigarettes had a somewhat underground image, as if they were in some kind of opium den.
However, with the adoption of the exotic name “shisha,” it began to be positioned more and more as a subculture rather than an underground one, similar to the perception shift when “online dating” became “matching apps,” or “second-hand” became “vintage.”
These are all discrete reasons for shisha’s popularity in Japan in recent years, but its persistence as a communal activity around the world speaks to something deeper. Since ancient times, fire has been sacred to humans and essential to the formation of community. People have exchanged words and strengthened their bonds as they gathered around a campfire.
The act of sharing smoke around a shisha brings this primal experience back to life in the modern age. In the rhythm of inhaling and exhaling the smoke, the mind unwinds and deep conversations are born. Drifting bands of smoke connects people and forms a new community.
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