日本食；伝統的日本料理「和食」、正月料理、家庭料理、飲み物、酒、朝食、昼食、外食、寿司、麵、鍋料理。

Japanese food was the fifth time for UNESCO to give a country’s food its cultural heritage status in 2013.

French, Mediterranean, Mexican, and Turkish food are already on the list.

Traditional Japanese food is called “Washoku”.

It is very famous for its variety.

It ranges from sushi (row fish on rice) to ramen noodles, tempura and Sukiyaki.

Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs said it wants to put all of its food on the list not just one or two famous dishes.

The agency said Japanese food is special because of its artistic presentation.

It also uses unique ingredients.

Many dishes are important because they celebrate the four seasons.

January、　the New Year。  the  New Year Week.

New Year’s Day。 the first day of the year。

the first three days of the New Year。

We make Osechi  until the end of the year.

Many kind of vegetables and seafood stewed in a soy-flavored broth, which is eaten on new year’s day.

Recently it is hard to make Osechi at ordinary home.

We pound boiled rice in a mortar to make rice cakes  until the end of the year.

Speaking of mochi, there are Round-mochi and Cut-mochi.

Rice cake is baked before eating.

When you bake it, the hard rice cake becomes soft.

Zoni is soup with rice cakes that can be eaten  on New Year’s Day.

Shiruko is a sweet adzuki(red-been) soup with pieces of rice cake.

Osechi-ryori, Mochi, Zoni, Shiruko, they are meal that represent New Year’s cooking.

Toso-sake will remove evil spirits and extend the life.

We have been drinking it since the Heian period as a New Year’s celebration.

In the snowy Hida region, there is almost no flower arrangement for the New Year.

So, they have been making flowers with rice cakes.

Flowers are made of red and white colored rice cakes.

The rice cakes are wrapped around the branch of plum or willow.

They have been decorating Hanamochi at home. After the New Year they can grill it and eat it.

Kagami-mochi is a large, round rice cake offered to the gods(at New Year’s).

The decorated Kagami-mochi is hard,

On January eleventh Kagami-mochi is divided, mixed with Zenzai and eaten.

Zenzai is a sweet adzuki(red-been) soup with pieces of rice cake.

We have a custom to eat rice porridge with red beans on January 15th.

It is a custom to get rid of evil spirits throughtout the year.

When assessing the quality of a boul of rice, look for sheen the appearance of grains, sweetness of taste, and fragrance.

The staple food of Japanese is boiled rice.

There are also rice porridge and Ochazuke.

They are just right after drinking or when you have a poor appetite because of illness.

Ochazuke is boiled rice with tea poured over it.

There are many kind of Ochazuke in Japanes home cooking.

Side dishes are mostly seafood and vegetables.

In my house, we eat a lot of different types of fish and sea food.

Miso is a fermented soybean paste.

The main ingredient is soy beans, but sometimes rice or barley are used.

Miso soup is a mixture of soup stock and miso.

The dish with dashi is one of the characteristics of Japanese cuisine.

Dashi is made by making a lot of ingredients.

For example; dried bonito shavings, dried tangle, dried small sardines, dried shiitake mushroom and others.

We put various ingredients in Miso soup.

For example； long onion ,egg plant, tofu, deep fried tofu, leafy green vegetable, beaten egg, sea weed ,spinach, cabbage, nameko mushrooms and others。

Nikujaga(＝ Meet and potato stew) is a typical home cooking that uses meet.

Potetoes,beef,and onions are simmered in salt-sweet soup.

We eat fish and seafood but we don’t eat much meat.

Even a typical meat dish(meat & potato) is like this at our home. (Please refer to the picture.)

We don’t use many spices or herbs in our cooking.

We eat a lot of rice and some types of pasta, but not very many potatoes.

For example； Chinese cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, radish, carrot and others.

Japanese tea is called Ocha in Japajese. Ocha and water are usually serned for free in restaurants.

There are green tea,  powered green tea and roasted green tea and others.

Green tea is the most popular drink in my country.

Matcha is drunk as a traditional tea ceremony.

Houji-cha is roasted (low-grade) green tea

It is a tea made by boilling roasted barley.

Older people don’t drink much coffee in my country, but it is becoming popular with young people.

We also drink some alcohol which is made from rice, it’s called Sake.

A sweet alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.

It use to be a summer drink.

Shochu made from sweet potatoes also popular, it’s a clear distilled liquor.

In the summer , it is hot so we drink a lot of beer.

A typical breakfast is rice, miso soup, egg, nattou (fermented soybeans) and fish.

For example (fish) ; dried fish, grilled fish and fish boiled in broth and others.

Speaking of breakfast, some young people have toast or cereal and coffee or vegetable juice.

Some people refrain from eating breakfast for there health.

I think not eating is actually bad for their health.

Sandwiches are now more common for lunch and for bleak fast, we often have an egg and some bread or even some soup.

It’s convenient for people who don’t have a cafeteria nearby.

Some people eat lunch made at home for health reasons.

What would you like for your box lunch?

Many kinds of lunch boxes are sold.

Onigiri is delivered to the store every morning.

They are always fresh and there are many kinds.

For example; salmon, plum, sea tangle, cod roe , mixed rice, rice with red beans,  dried bonito shavings, tuna & mayonnaise and others.

Speaking of major convenience store are Seven eleven, Family Mart, Lawson and others.

They sell rich in variety of sandwiches with good taste.

As for sandwiches, they pursue development of new good taste.

It seems that fruit sandwiches have a good reputation recently.

For example; strawberry, kiwi fruit, mandarin orange, sweet summer orange, mixed fruit.

Conventional sandwich also have a good reputation.

For example; ham, egg, fried pork cutlet, azuki bean.

Quite a lot of Japanese buy there lunch such as bento, rice balls, and other prepared foods at convinience stores,

In some ways, it is the Japanese version of a delicatessen.

There are many restaurants in the urban area for office workers.

Japanese food is basically Ichijyu(one soup)-sansai(three side dishes).

For example ; sashimi=fresh slices of raw fish,  ginger-flavored slices of fried pork , tempura ,  onigiri and others.

For example; curry, spaghetti, broiled eel, sea food bowl, raw tuna bowl, chicken and egg bowl, salmon roe and others.

sushi; vinegared rice topped with raw fish, or rolled in seaweed with various ingredients.

Sushi is abundant in variety, price and quality. It is very popular because you can eat it easily in a short time.

For example; Sushi set, Sushi roll, pouch of fried bean  stuffed sushi rice, mixed ingredients and sushi rice.

A traditional sushi restaurant is counter style.

There are various from casual shops to high-class shops.

Customers choose the sushi from a revolving conveyor belt.

It’s reasonable price, especially popular among families.

Home-delivery sushi is also popular in recent years.

We have eel after sweeten soy sauce boiled it.

For example;  eel on a bowl, eel in  box, mix the cut eel with rice, wrap chopped sea eel with seaweed.

For making the soup for ramen, it takes over eight hours in many ramen shops.

That’s why it’s really tasty.

There are many kind of Ramens, each region has its own characteristics.

For example; pork bones, soy sauce, salty butter, sea food, chicken bones.

Champon is stewed with meat and vegetables, It’s one of the noodles dish for Nagasaki.

It is chic to make slurping sounds while sucking down Japanese buckwheet noodles.

how to eat=after being dipped in a cold sauce.

For example; cold soba on the bamboo colander, tempura is served separately.

Tenpura is a dish that, like Christianity, was originally introdused to Japan around the 16th centry by Portuguese missionaryies.  

how to eat=put eat Soba in a bowl.

For example; raw egg, deep-fried scraps.

We have a custom of year-crossing soba noodles in japan.

how to eat= Udon eaten with a bowl.

For example; tempura, raw egg, deep-fried sliced tofu, deep-fried scraps.

how to eat= Kisimen eaten in the same way as Udon.

For example; grated yam, deep-fried shrimp, beaten egg and others.

Soumen is popular as a summer food.

As a side job of farmers, they start to make them in winter.

It is matured by the end of the rainy season.

one-pot dish made at the table by cooking vegetables and slices of meet in boiling broth and eaten with a soy-based sauce.

You can use fish or Udon and raw egg instead of sliced meat.

Nabe that you eat alone is also popular.

For example; shabushabu, sukiyaki, shirataki, see food, soft-shelled turtle, globefish.

Speaking of Japanese foods, there are many kinds of dishes and so many ingredients.

The reason why we are blessed with ingredients is because we are surrounded by the sea.

I think the four distinct seasons in Japan have an effect on cooking.

I think one more important thing is there are many cooks who protect traditional Japanese food and practice cooking method seasoning.

They basically has  attitude to serve delicious food to others.

In order to do so, they spare no effort and time, I respect and appreciate the national character.