There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
Autumn has just come and it’s the best season for sightseeing.
You will probably find a lot of topics about Momiji (maple) watching on TV and in magazines. We Japanese love Momiji-gari very much. What is Momiji-gari ? Let me tell you! 
Momiji = Kouyou 紅葉First let me explain about Kanji characters…紅葉. These characters紅葉 have three readings: ‘Kouyou’,
‘Momiji’ and ‘Kaede’. Kouyou means that the color of deciduous tree leaves turning into red or yellow in autumn. Momiji means Maple. 
And we generally refer to the Aceraceae family of trees(Kaede-ka) trees as Momiji. Kaede = frog palmWe write Kaede (Maple) かえで (かえる&て)＝frog palm, because it looks like a frog’s palm(hand).
Iroha Kaede is one of the popular Kaede trees. A long time ago, hiragana started from I, Ro, Ha....not from A, I, U, like English ABC. 
The edge of Momiji leaf is split into seven sections and they counted I, Ro, Ha….So we call it Iroha Kaede. 
Why do color of maple leaves change ?Trees make sugar (their food) from starch by the process of photosynthesis.
The food gets manufactured in the leaves and then it is distributed throughout the tree via the leaf stems, branches and trunk. When the season becomes colder, trees form a layer between the leaves and branches. 
This layer stops the food from being transferred and the leaves retain the sugar they produce. 
Now about the color change. 
When the temperature goes down in autumn, the chlorophyll (green pigment) break down and the carotenoid (yellow pigment) that usually exists under chlorophyll rises nearer to the leaf’s surface, so some leaves turn yellow. In other leaves, the sugar is converted into anthocyan (red pigment). 
So the color of leaves change from green to yellow and red through natural break-down processes. Overall the leaf’s color is attributed to amount and strength of sunlight during the day , along with temperature and water availability 
. Strong sunlight makes a lot of sugar by photosynthesis. If temperature is high at night, the trees use the sugar and thus there is not a lot left when the time comes to convert the sugar into color-forming substances. So low temperatures are better for the vivid color, because there is more sugar to break down 
. Momiji Gari 紅葉狩りWhat the meaning of Momiji Gari?
‘Gari’ comes from ‘Kari’ or hunting. Originally, ‘Kari’ means that hunting animals, but later it was changed to ‘hunting fruits’ and ‘enjoy watching flowers and trees’ as well. So we have ‘Ringo(apple)-gari’
‘Momo(peach)-gari’ too. We have a lots of enjoyment in autumn. 
Let’s go out and enjoy Japanese Momiji-gari ! It’s so beautiful !!
There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
Let me share a few more things about mushroom with you today. 
Types
Many mushrooms also contain guanylic acid. Guanylic acid blended with glutamic acid, makes food taste better. 
This is a reason why Japanese Dashi soup contains mushroom (shiitake) and seaweed (konbu). Seaweed contains glutamic acid. 
Dried mushrooms will give more tasty than fresh one. Studies have shown mushroom are good for high-cholesterol, constipation, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. 
Other studies have reported mushrooms acts as antioxidant and enhance our immune system as well.
If you must cook mushrooms over a lower flame, you had better take them with soup. 
Another famous dish is a Matsutake rice. Both dishes are for enjoying the aroma of mushroom, not the taste. 
There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
We have a traditional autumn custom ‘OTSTUKIMI’ that we prepare round rice cakes and Susuki (Japanese pampas grass) and enjoy moon-watching at night. Let me explain a bit more about this romantic traditional day and night.
Chuushuu no meigetu 中秋の名月
with watching a beautiful moon
It’s said that if you have it, it will keep you healthy for the entire year 
You can find a special menu ‘Tsukimi burger’( burger with sunny-side up) at McDonald’s in Japan in this season. 
(mixed in with some wonderful things and people as well). It’s said we have to be good, especially these days, to go over to better bank of river when we make our transition at our physical death. There are six things, that we must do to be considered ‘good’, for example, giving and enduring.
We say ‘Atsusa samusa mo higan made’ (extremes of temperature last only until the Equinox). This is the time that the season begins to change and autumn is coming soon after Higan. 
There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
Types
‘It make a body cool and she had better not take it’
and ‘It doesn’t include many seeds inside and maybe she will not have any babies, if she take it’
