Tamaki SAITO（西東たまき）

Every culture has its own set of superstitions. Some are good teaching and some are lacking sensible foundation. But any of them are simply fun and interesting.   In English-spoken world, people give a response ‘bless you!’ whenever they hear someone sneeze. While in many other countries the words for health instead will be thrown, but not in Japan. When someone sneeze, that’s the sign that someone is talking about you － nicely or badly is unknown.   It may be noticeable how entirely Japanese eat up the dish on the plate. That’s how they are taught. Or if you ...

Now that the environmental issues are one of the major topics to be discussed and handled globally. Each of us is encouraged to think what we can do to save the Mother Earth and take it into action － no time for cooling your heels. So here is the reason why ‘Furoshiki’ has been given a re-evaluation and a movement to bring it back to life in this modern time is being evolved.   What is Furoshiki? ‘Furoshiki’ is nothing but a simple square fabric made of silk or cotton traditionally; used for wrapping purpose. You can now find in ...

Sembei, or Osembei with the prefix ‘O’ for politeness, is a snack as popular as everyone would like to pick one or two packets whenever they go shopping. It's also a typical accompaniment for tea. Its major ingredients are basically non-glutinous rice and seasonings only – they are basically grilled so oil-free. But it has uncountable variation in shape, size, flavor and texture.   Arare It usually comes in handy size of round or square shape but also comes in tiny pieces called ‘Arare’ or goes as large as human face just to surprise. It can taste savory or sweet. ...

Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries of the world, though the date has some variety. The 2nd Sunday of May is the day in Japan as per majority of other countries. Banners and advertisement indicating ‘Thank you Mom!’ will occupy everywhere, with the picture of red, not in any other colour, carnation flowers which is the symbol for Mother’s Day. The first thing people would like to do on the day for their mother shall be offering her a gift The most popular gift is flowers, which convey the gratitude for mothers most straightforwardly; typically a bunch of carnations ...

Japanese tea is not just for a drink. How does it sound to you the combination of tea and plain rice? Whether you have heard of it or not, ‘Ochazuke’ is an established menu for a light meals. Pour a generous cup of hot tea － or chilled if you prefer － over the plain rice in the bowl is the body of the ochazuke. ‘Ocha’ is tea in Japanese and ‘zuke’ means ‘soaked’. Different from porridge, it is only pouring; no need of cooking. It’s a good reuse of leftover rice and its simplicity in preparation is ideal when ...

You probably know very well what is Sushi and how they are like. And probably think that’s all about Sushi. But Sushi ain't just what you might know! Yes, the Sushi you know; those dainties formed with fingers are undoubtedly the most official and authentic. Interestingly, they are hardly made at home despite its seemingly simple method to follow. Instead, there are varieties of Sushi of homemade style; some of them are hardly seen even in the major Sushi restaurants.   Chirashi-zushi Most popular sushi made at home shall be ’Chirashi-zushi’. ’Chirashi’ in Japanese means ’scatter’. Sushi rice mixed with ...

People are enthusiastic to learn new things to upgrade themselves. Kouminkan – community centre – is where to go. Community centre is a public facility provided and supported by the local government. Their main purpose is to offer residents the spaces for their multiple activities, which could be group meeting, event or anything that the space could serve for. Some facilities could be just simple with a few of meeting rooms while others could have multiple functions; meeting rooms, hall which is suitable for larger events and some indoor sports, Tatami Japanese room, besides some are combined with library and ...

Lunch time is the time most awaited by pupils at school. Usually, lunch is provided at school during the whole compulsory education and everyone eat the same menu of the day. There’s no difference whether affordable or not about what they eat. Amount of the portion is only adjustable according to the appetite. Do you rather feel uneasy for kids being fed same food regardless of the preference? But experiences of sharing the same food will make them talk sweetly or bitterly whenever they meet again.   Being considered that lunch is one of the major meals of the day ...

Japanese shares Chinese letters (Kanji) in writing. But unlike Chinese, we use them mixing with two sets of our own alphabet. One is called ‘Hiragana’ the other is called ‘Katakana’. Each set has 48 letters out of which two are obsolete. Both of them are phonetic letters. So they can express almost any kind of sound, which is especially convenient to describe foreign words. However, the context of usage makes a distinction between those two. Hiragana is basically used for writing words and expressions of Japanese origin, while Katakana is used for expressing those of foreign origins. Since words and ...

Japanese traditional houses normally have sliding doors for the entrance and rooms. But in modern housing, swing doors are dominant and the sliding doors are only to be seen for Japanese style rooms which most of the modern house still contains one or two within. In western countries, the doors open inwardly. On the contrary, they open outwardly in Japan. The reason could be that since Japanese has a custom of taking the shoes off when stepped inside the entrance door, a certain space to take off the shoes and keep them must be secured there. Besides, the movement of ...