SAKETOBA: Japanese redvines

Hi, it is NISHIO Hirokazu, today I'll write about a Japanese traditional food.


Do you know Red Vines or Twizzlers? I know it is a popular candy in US, however it is not popular in Japan. Most of Japanese don't like its liquorice flavor. They say "It smells strange! It is too chewy! What's this lengthy food! Is it food?"


Today I realized SAKETOBA is such in Japan. It is very chewy. And it is made from salmons! I don't feel it smells strange, but I can imagine a lot of foreign people feel it strange. SAKETOBA is a salmon jerky. SAKE means salmon (you may know SAKE means alcoholic drink. The word has different accent.) and TOBA means swarm in Ainu; an ethnic group indigenous to northern part of Japan (Hokkaido). It is nice tidbits to go with drink.

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Ivanhoe said... "I can tell you about some snack food that feels strange for a foreigner : dried squids ! Chewy and salted, it is not bad, but the first time I was shown it I wondered if I was really supposed to eat it..."

Yes, I love dried squids too!

bug repellent talisman

Hi, it is NISHIO Hirokazu. I'm attending Hackathon with Spa and monjudoh found a talisman of bug repellent at nearby shrine.



Originally the talisman is for farmers, but of course, we also suffer from bugs. It works! :-)

HATSU-MOUDE(the first shrine visit of the year)

Happy New Year! Today most of Japanese go to nearby JIN-JA(shrine, holy place of Japanese Shinto). Most of Japanese is not devout, they don't have deep religious feeling, so this is the first and the last visit of them. It is just an annual event.

SHIN-BUTSU-SHU^GO^ (word for word 'God-Buddha-Fusion') is a character of Japanese religion. Because of our traditional religion (Japanese Shinto) is a polytheism so when Buddhism came in Japan Buddha was considered as 'another god in the neighbor country'. It made Japanese tolerance of other religions. Most of Japanese celebrate Christmas, visit a Shinto shrine on new year day and mourn the deceaded in Buddhism style.

The number of people who visited shrine in the first three day is 98.18 millions (in 2008, according to National Police Agency). The most visited shrine is MEIJI-JINGU^ in Tokyo, 3.17 millions. MEIJI-JINGU^ is the shrine dedicated to the memory of the Meiji Emperor. I and my family always visit ISHI-KIRI-TSURUGI-YA Shrine (means stone-cut-sword-arrow) because it is the nearest. It is dedicated to NIGIHAYAHI god, lived before the first emperor come to here. But I didn't know it till yesterday. It is not important for me.

See also: Shinbutsu shūgō - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Hatsumōde - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

OO-MISOKA: the last day of the year

Today is OO-MISOKA(大晦日): the last day of the year. OO means 'grand, large' and 'MISOKA' means the last day of the month. 'MISOKA' is consisted of 3 sounds 'MI'(three), 'SO'(ten) and 'KA'(day). 'MISOJI'(三十路) means 30 to 40 years old.

Why '30th day' had meant the last day, not 31th day? It is because the lunar calendar used in Japan before AD1873. The 31th day did not exist in those days.

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Today most of Japanese eat a noodle 'TOSHI-KOSHI-SOBA'(beyond the year noodle). The long noodles represent the long life.