DANI (MITES) -after a long vacation ダニ

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.


Today's topic is mites. Did you enjoy this summer? After a long vacation, something may cause you in trouble, itching !!! It may be mites. You could be experiencing the blues after traveling. Let me share with you how to deal with these irritating issues.

　　　　
Environment

There are lots of mites in our home, for example, they live in the carpet, bed mat, sofa, bedding, tatami and stuffed animals. What’s kind of environment do mites like? The best condition for mites is as follows. Temperature 20-30 ℃, humidity 70-90 %, dandruff, dirt, dust, and mold. The season is from June to September. From October to December, there are many dead mites in our homes, live mites are hiding as well. You have to be careful, because mites could be one cause of allergy.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Vacumming

The best way to manage mites is to vacuum your home frequently. They like to eat dandruff, and live in dirt and dust, so vacuuming bedding is good recommendation as well. Do careful cleaning, more then usual cleaning, once a week.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
What’s you should do.

Keep your rooms dry. Dry bedding under sun, vacuum rooms, floors and sleeping and sitting surfaces well and let fresh air in the house as often as possible.

Medicine for mites

You may find many over-the counter remedies in pharmacies, but I guess it’s difficult for you to understand what they are for since the boxes are typically in Japanese. We have many kits to kill mites as well. There are several types, like as spray, smoke, foam and pack. You have to vacuum afterward. Just ask them about it and they wil find the most appropriate remedy for your particular situation.

After bites

Apply medicine for itching. We have antihistamine with or without steroids.

Keep your home clean and you will enjoy relaxation time more

　　　

SANMA.......Pacific saury 秋刀魚

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.

Today's topic is SANMA.

You can find many sauries in supermarkets. This is the season for them. We write 秋刀魚　in Japanese, it means autumn sword fish. It looks like sword and it’s cheap and healthy. How much do you know about Sanma?

How can you find good saury?

They have a beautiful color and lustrous skin with clear color round eyes and a fatty body. The mouth and joint of tail are yellow.

Grilled saury with radish (Yakizakana)

One famous recipe is grilled saury. Grated Japanese radish is sereved with saury. Fresh Japanese radish contains an enzyme, Diastase. This helps to digest foods, especially starchy foods like bread and rice. It’s easily affected by heat and fresh grated radish is nutritionally nice style. It’s good for indigestion, heartburn, and constipation. So fresh radish and oily saury is a healthy and tasty combination.

Nutrition

DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA(Eicosapentaenoic acid) are polyunsaturated fatty acids , known as omega-3 fatty acid. Thay are found in fish oil, young yellowtail, saury, tuna, sardine, etc. They have been shown to be of benefit in many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, high cholesterol, cancer, allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.

Famous Rakugo ( traditionaly comic storytelling) about saury

‘Meguro no Sanma’ is a famous Rakugo in Japan. The story is as follows.
A long time ago, there was one lord and visited to Meguro and he asked to have saury, which was a typical food for the low class people. They had to give him just a grilled cheap saury, but he loved it very much. When he came back to his hometown and visited to his relative house, he requested a saury menu for dinner. His vassals thought an oily fish was not good for his health and asked a chef to cook it with a special method to remove the fat, but actually the lord didn’t like it and said ‘No,no !! I don't like this. I wanted to have one which I had in Meguro. The saury in Meguro is the best in the world !!’ We have Saury Festival in September in Meguro and you can try a saury for free, but the town is very smoky on that day because of grilling lots of sauries. It's a exciting day!!!

Hope you have learned more about SANMA…Please try delicious SANMA soon!!!

KA -mosquito 蚊

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.

Today's topic is mosquitos.

This is a season for mosquito. We have so many customers who got mosquito bites.
Do you want to learn somethings about mosquito repellants ?

Mosquito repellant

Scientists say that mosquitos detect temperature, carbon dioxide and oders that come from our bodies. There are so many mosquito repellants for skin and outside areas in pharmacies. For skin, we have cream, spray and wipe types. We have new type like ring and patch as well for skin. The outside type repellant, we have sheets, liquid type and the cordless repellants are popular nowadays.

Old style outside mosquito repellant … Katorisenko

Chemical mosquito repellant is famous, but natural-ingredient types are also available. Katorisenko (green coil type) used be popular in Japan. It’s made from Jochugiku (Pyrethrum) and the smell is very unique. There are many Katorisenko containers and ‘pig’ style is very famous. You may find pictures of it in books. We have some new coil types with various colors and aroma, but they still look like the old style Katorisenko.

New natural type repellant

If you prefer natural type, we have some new style like patch and ring. It includes Lemon eucalyptus or Eucalyptus.

After bites

It’s impossible to avoid every mosquito. If you get some bites, don’t scratch and put on some medicine to reduce or eliminate for itching. There are some types, calamine lotion and antihistamine with and without steroids, etc.

Please enjoy your outdoor activities with mosquito repellant !! 　 　　

TOFU 豆腐

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.

Today's topic is TOFU. Do you like it? How much do you know TOFU? It's a very healthy food. Let me tell you about it.

Do you like TOFU?

As you know, we Japanese like TOFU and enjoy eating it from breakfast to dinner…..like a Miso soup, Hiyayakko, Sukiyaki, etc. A long time ago, TOFU sellers used to sell TOFU on carts with trumpets in town. It’s very famous as a healthy food, called ‘field meat’, has high protein and low calories. We count them ‘1 chou’ ‘2 chou’……But how much do you know Japanese TOFU?

How is it made? Which type do you like?

It’s made from soybeans, nigari and soft water. Soaked into water, then crushed and boiled, and then separated into soymilk and okara. There are two types of TOFU, Momen (hard) and Kinugoshi (soft). To make to Momen TOFU…we firm soymilk with nigari (coagulant), then move it into molds with cloth, then press it to remove water. It’s hard, less watery than Kinugoshi TOFU, and has high protein, calcium. It’s good for fried, stewed and deep-fried dishes. But to Make Kinugoshi TOFU…we just firm soymilk with nigari in molds. It’s smooth, watery, has fewer calories, and high in Vitamin B. It’s good for Hiyayakko (raw).

Soymilk and Okara.

Soymilk is famous as a drink, but there have been many new recipes with soymilk recently. Its nutritional value does not change with heat. You may use it for gratin, stewed recipes, etc. Soymilk is high minerals, cholesterol-free, high in Vitamin,B, E and fiber, etc. Okara is the other substance made from boiling soybeans. It includes a lot of protein, calcium, carbohydrates and fiber, etc. You may see cookies and cakes made of Okara. It’s the main ingredient of Unohana, fried with many vegetables, famous in Japan as healthy food.

Healthy topics

TOFU includes good balanced of protein, lipids and carbohydrates. The amino acid content is the same as meat and fish. It has lecithin that good for cholesterol and isoflavone that works like Estrogen, important hormone for women. If you eat a half chou of Tofu, you can get enough isoflavone for one day.

Famous TOFU recipe- especially for summer…Goya-Champru

Goya is green, and has a very rough skin and looks like a cucumber. Goya-Champru is famous recipe from the Okinawa area. You may see this dish at many restaurants and supermarkets. It taste is very good and gives us plenty of energy in the summer. You can find Goya-Champru sauce at supermarkets and it’s easy to use.

What’s ‘Yose DOFU(tofu)’?

You can find ‘Yose-DOFU’ in Japanese bars or restaurants. Normal TOFU, after coagulation, it cut into pieces and soak into water. Yose-DOFU is scooped up while warm into a container and not soaked in water. Because of this difference, the taste is better than normal TOFU.

Hope you have learned more about Japanese TOFU…Please try delicious TOFU soon!!!

( reference data :.Japanese TOFU association, Japanese Soymilk association)