In Japan we go through fads of food, books, toys, fashion, etc. Some of fads stay for a while, and some of them disappear after a few months. Here are some examples.
Tom Yum Instant Noodle by Nissin Food became so popular in April 2014. Demands were so high that supplier couldn’t catch up. People were willing to pay 4 times as much.
Another one was Beef Sukinabe by Yoshinoya Fast Food Chain Restaurant. This sale started in December 2013 and they sold 14,000,000 orders before they temporarily stopped the sale in May 2014.
As far as fashion, gingham check designed clothes were one of fads in 2014.
March 3rd is Hina-matsuri (English translation “Dolls’ Festival, Girls’ Day, or Dolls’ Day.”) It is not an official holiday, but a traditional event held every year to celebrate the health of a young girl in the family and to wish a happy marriage for her in the future. In ancient times, a doll was dropped into a river on this day to symbolically dispose of a young girl’s illness or bad luck. Later, this doll became a symbol of the young girl herself, and now a female doll is displayed with a male doll (her future husband), amid servants, flowers, food, and drinks. These dolls are not toys, but beautiful and often expensive images dressed in elaborate costumes like those worn at the imperial court long ago.
Plum wine is well-known in the U.S. as a popular drink in Japan and China. If you can find fresh plums, plum wine is easy to make. Just mix white liquor, fresh plums, and crystal sugar. Seal the bottle tightly and wait for six months to a year.
Plum blossoms bloom in Japan from February through April. The Blossoms are white, pink, and red. Plums as fruits are also common in Japan; but we typically consume them as pickled plums, plum wine, or plum juice, rather than eating them straight. The city of Mito is known for its plums and holds a plum blossom festival every year from the end of February (this year’s festival just started!) until the end of March.
Back in 2012, the city of Fukushima, located on Japan’s eastern coast, created an imaginary district called “Kawaii” (which means “cute”), and invited people from all over Japan to become honorary residents there. Since the Kawaii district is imaginary, becoming a citizen there won’t officially prove your identity or get you a driver’s license; but it has been a good promotion for the Fukuoka’s food, fashion, and special events with a theme of cuteness. As of February, 2015 over 40,000 people had applied to become residents of Kawaii. [Click here to read more about Kawaii Fashion & Lifestyle.]
But if you want to join them you’d better hurry. The special promotion is scheduled to end in March, 2015.
Mariko Shinoda from idol group AKB48 was the first “mayor” of Kawaii district in 2012.
This kind of “kawaii” (please read more under the Kawaii Fashion & Lifestyle post) nabe ryōri, is called “Deco Nabe” coming from decoration of nabe ryōri. I wonder if those cute guys start melting as they are getting cooked…
A popular meal especially during winter in Japan is “Nabe” or “Nabe Ryōri.” To make this hot pot dish, we usually place a small portable stove on the dinner table, and boil meat, fish, vegetables, and noodles all together in a pot of broth. We serve the food as soon as it is cooked, and the family all eat it together. There are many different kinds of Nabe depending on the type of broth and the varieties of meat, fish, vegetable and noodle that are used.
A traditional Japanese roof uses roof tiles that made out of clay. Those are interlocking high-quality tiles and are used for castles, temples, regular houses, etc. Depending on the coating and baking methods, tiles have different colors, but gray/silver ones are most common.
For “ikebana” arrangements, we use a round brass (there are plastic ones also) plate studded with sharp needles called a “kenzan” to hold each flower/plant stem in place. A weak stem may be propped against, or tied to, a stronger one, be wrapped with a leaf, or even placed entirely inside a wider stem.
Centuries ago (in the Kamakura-Edo period), Ninja served feudal lords or Daimyō as secret agents. Unlike samurai warriors who were bound to fight fairly by a strict code of ethics, Ninja were trained to act as spies, commit sabotage, and carry out assassinations. They had to go through hard training since they were little, and they were eligible to climb on walls, to become stealth mode and hide their existence, to keep balance and walk on a rope, to notice a tiny sound that normal people cannot hear, etc.
Tom Yum Instant Noodle by Nissin Food became so popular in April 2014. Demands were so high that supplier couldn’t catch up. People were willing to pay 4 times as much.
Tom Yum Instant Noodle by Nissin Food became so popular in April 2014. Demands were so high that supplier couldn’t catch up. People were willing to pay 4 times as much.
Another one was Beef Sukinabe by Yoshinoya Fast Food Chain Restaurant. This sale started in December 2013 and they sold 14,000,000 orders before they temporarily stopped the sale in May 2014.
As far as fashion, gingham check designed clothes were one of fads in 2014.
