Japanese food ~17~ taiyaki

I introduce the Japanese sweet on this column.
It is called "taiyaki"
"tai" means "a sea bream". "yaki" means "baked"
Here is a photo. I usually don't eat this taiyaki. But I bought this yesterday because I wanted to
introduce on this blog. ^ ^

  The taste is sesame. I have never had this sesame tasted taiyaki.Nomally,taiyaki is a fish-shaped pancake stuffed with "bean jam" called "anko".
I guess the sesame tasted taiyaki is new product.

  Traditionally, a sea bream is high rank fish. It is very precious fish.
If we celebrate something such as wedding in Japanese style, we eat
a sea bream.
 We say MEDETAI when people are happy.
People eat "TAI" because they are MEDE"TAI".
  There is a saying. It means like  "throw a sprat to catch a mackerel" in English.
(It means use a small investment as bait to gain a huge profit)
In Japanese, we say throw a shrimp to catch "a sea bream".

Gochisousamadeshita.

 

 

Japanese food ~16~ Nihon syu (sake)

I had a Nihon syu at night.
Nihon syu is Japanese alchohol. The alcohlic content is 15~16%.
The name is Akagiyama.(=Mt. Akagi  "yama" means mountain.)
I have introduced the "Akagi natural park" on this blog before.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1615883098712371315#editor/target=post;postID=3740361778452091142
Mt. Akagi is one of famous mountain in our hometown, Gunma prefecture.

  Can you see 赤城山 on the label?(Japanese is sometimes written vertically.)
赤城山 means Akagi yama.(Mt. Akagi)
  When you drink Nihon syu, you put on the bottle called "tokkuri" like this one.(right)

 The small sake cup(left) is called "Ocyoko".
Japanese people like to drink sake with Ocyoko little by little.
Heated Nihon syu is called "Atsukan". Cold Nihon syu is called "Hiya(or Ohiya)"
Can you drink Japanese drink in your country?

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Japanese habit/custom ~12~ when you give a speech

  We sometimes have to give a speech in our daily life.
Japanese people are shy. So, I guess there are a lot of people
who don't like to give a speech in front of many people.
  There is a way to ease the tension.
  At first, you write kanji of 人 on the palm by finger.
（人 means "person " or "people" in Japanese）
 And you drink it.( you pretend to drink(or eat???) the word 人)
 And then your tension must be eased at the moment....

 I have heard this way when I was kid. I think some of children around me
used to do this when they had a tense.

  There is one more way.
  Japanese people give advice, you just imagine you were at pumpkin farm and
imagine audience pumpkin.

 I don't know these way are effective.^ ^ ;
I just introduced our habit.

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Japanese habit/custom ~11~ a sneeze

 Are there any meaning when you do a sneeze in your culture?
In Japanese culture, if you do a  sneeze, people say someone is talking
about you at that moment.
  There is more story. I have heard about this from my parents when I was kid.

 Sneeze once= people are talking about you
 Sneeze twice= people hate you at that moment
 Sneeze three times= Someone love you
 Sneeze four times= You catch a cold at night
( I don't know this superstition is common in Japan.)

 On the comic book or anime, have you seen the scene
when character of comic do a sneeze and the other  character are talking about him?
  I have sometimes seen such scene on the comic book.
  It is a Japanese humor.

  If you read a Japanese comic or watch an anime, you may find such scene.


Yesterday was my birthday. ^ ^ 
I think the style of celebration is normal. You may get together with your family or
friends and eat cake...and so on. Someone may give a present to you.

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Japanese habit/custom ~10~ Greeting on the street

  Do you exchange greetings with unknown people on the street in your culture?
I mean, do you say "hello" when you pass each other on the street?
In Japan, people usually don't do that. We don't have such custom.
But in my hometown, school children are trained to say "hello" to the
people in the community area.
  If your culture do that, you would find Japanese people don't do that
like your culture.
  I have heard that people in Holland are so friendly and people often do that
on the street. I like this custom. So I want to go to Holland once in the future.

  If you do that in Japan, people might see you strange people.
People who is said "hello" would think "Who is that? do I know him???".
He or she would be embarrassed so much. ^ ^ :

 It is kind of difficult to know the distance between people.
 I tell you the Japanese word.
too friendly = narenareshii
too unfriendly = yosoyososhii
 But Japanese people are distressed by the distance between people.

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The price in Japan ~2~ shampoo

 Today's morning, the temperature is 14.7 degree.
It becomes harder for me to get up early in the morning.^ ^ ;

  I introduce the price of shampoo in Japan.
When I went to Germany last year, I found the price of shampoo
was more reasonable than Japan.
  I think the price shampoo is from around 700 yen to more 3000 yen in Japan.
(6.59~28.23 Euro   8.49~36.38 US dollar) The most cheapest shampoo
may be around 400 yen.
 Probably, I could buy about 3 Euro in Germany.

 But I really don't know the quality. The shampoo of 3000 yen does not
always suit on you.

Japanese food ~15~ mozuku

Today's okazu was mozuku at dinner.
"Okazu" means "side dishes".
The typical Japanese dish is consisted of Gohan(=rice) and Okazu(=side dish)
Here is the mozuku.

  Mozuku is a kind of seaweed. I think there are many kinds of seaweed in Japanese food
such as wakame, konbu, nori and so on.
  Can you guess what the yellow stuff above???
 That is the a chrysanthemum.
Usually, a chrysanthemum taste bitter. So I really don't like that.
But the chrysanthemum I had today did not taste anything.
 Maybe a chrysanthemum is just for enjoying the color.
 Mozuku is in the vinegar. So this dish tastes sour.

Do you want to try it?

I don't know if you can eat this mozuku at Japanese restaurant in your country.

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