On January 1 ration booklets were issued for salt, without which the delicately seasoned Japanese cuisine was disappointingly bland. Women would find it more difficult to conserve without pickles, essential to the Japanese diet. In February, ration tickets were distributed for miso (soybean paste) and soy sauce, as well as clothing. The tickets guaranteed only a portion of what was necessary to maintain basic food needs, a measurement that vacillated according to government inventory.
