1.
Honorific speech in Japanese
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The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech that show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to social distance or disparity in rank. It includes both special vocabulary and special grammatical forms, honorific speech is often longer, and sometimes much longer, than more direct speech. 聞かせていただけると嬉しいのですが。 Kikasete-itadakeru to ureshii no desu ga, I would, however, be delighted if I may be permitted to ask. When asking for cooperation, the first is usual and polite, the latter is very formal, ご協力の程お願い申し上げます。 Go-kyōryoku no hodo o-negai mōshiagemasu. We respectfully request the favor of a measure of your cooperation and this latter example includes two honorific prefixes, nominalization of a verb, a respectful form, and two humble forms. Honorifics in Japanese are broadly referred to as keigo, and fall under three categories, sonkeigo, respectful language, kenjōgo, humble language, and teineigo. Linguistically, the two are referent honorifics, used for someone being talked about, and the last is an addressee honorific. Each type of speech has its own vocabulary and verb endings, for example, the standard form of the verb to do is suru. This form is appropriate with family members and close friends, the polite form of suru, the addressee honorific, is shimasu. This form is appropriate in most daily interactions and these respectful and humble words are referent honorifics, and thus can coexist with addressee honorific -masu. Polite language, teineigo, is characterized by the use of the sentence ending desu and the verb ending masu, television presenters invariably use polite language, and it is the form of the language first taught to most non-native learners of Japanese. Polite language can be used to refer to ones own actions or those of other people, respectful language, sonkeigo, is a special form or alternate word used when talking about superiors and customers. It is not used to talk about oneself, for example, when a Japanese hairdresser or dentist requests their client to take a seat, they say o kake ni natte kudasai to mean please sit down. However, they would use the verb rather than o kake ni naru to refer to themselves sitting down. The respectful version of language can only be used to refer to others, in general, respectful language is directed at those in positions of power, for example, a superior at work, or a customer. It also implies that the speaker is acting in a professional capacity and it is characterized by lengthy polite expressions. Common verbs may be replaced by more polite alternative verbs, for example suru by nasaru, some of these transformations are many-to-one, iku, kuru, and iru all become irassharu, and taberu and nomu both become meshiagaru
2.
Tea
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Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world, Tea originated in Southwest China, where it was used as a medicinal drink. It was popularized as a drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century, during the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass the Chinese monopoly. The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs made without the tea plant, such as steeps of rosehip, chamomile and these are sometimes called tisanes or herbal infusions to prevent confusion with tea made from the tea plant. The tea industry often uses the term fruit tea to refer to what are in fact fruit-flavored black teas. The Chinese character for tea is 茶, originally written with a stroke as 荼. The word is pronounced differently in the different varieties of Chinese, such as chá in Mandarin, zo and dzo in Wu Chinese, there were other ancient words for tea, though ming is the only other one still in common use. Most Chinese languages, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, pronounce it along the lines of cha and these two pronunciations have made their separate ways into other languages around the world. Starting in the seventeen century, the Dutch played a dominant role in the early European tea trade via the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch borrowed the word for tea from Min Chinese, either through trade directly from Fujian or Formosa where they had established a port, or from Malay traders in Bantam, Java. The Dutch then introduced to other European languages this Min pronunciation for tea, including English tea, French thé, Spanish té and this pronunciation is also the most common form worldwide. The Portuguese adopted the Cantonese pronunciation chá, and spread it to India, the Korean and Japanese pronunciations of cha were borrowed into Korean and Japanese during earlier periods of Chinese history. A third form, the increasingly widespread chai, came from Persian چای chay, both the châ and chây forms are found in Persian dictionaries. English has all three forms, cha or char, attested from the 16th century, tea, from the 17th, however, the form chai refers specifically to a black tea mixed with honey, spices and milk in contemporary English. Tea plants are native to East Asia, and probably originated around the points of the lands of north Burma. Tea drinking may have begun in the Yunnan region during the Shang Dynasty in China, Chinese legends attribute the invention of tea to Shennong in 2737 BC, although evidence suggests that tea drinking may have been introduced from the southwest of China. The earliest written records of tea come from China, in the Chronicles of Huayang, it was recorded that the Ba people in Sichuan presented tu to the Zhou king
3.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
4.
Green tea
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Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong and black tea. Green tea originated in China, but its production has spread to countries in Asia. Several varieties of green tea exist, which differ substantially because of the variety of C. sinensis used, growing conditions, horticultural methods, production processing, Tea consumption has its legendary origins in China during the reign of Emperor Shennong. A book written by Lu Yu in 600-900 AD, Tea Classic, is considered important in green tea history. Steeping, or brewing, is the process of making tea, higher-quality teas, like gyokuro, use more tea leaves and are steeped multiple times for short durations. Steeping temperatures range from 61°C to 87°C and times from 30 seconds to three minutes, generally, lower-quality green teas are steeped hotter and longer while higher-quality teas are steeped cooler and shorter, but usually for multiple times. Steeping too hot or for too long results in the release of excessive amounts of tannins, leading to a bitter, astringent brew, the brew’s taste is also affected by the steeping technique. Green tea extracts have been used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine for a variety of uses, Green tea leaves are initially processed by soaking in an alcohol solution, which may be further concentrated to various levels, byproducts of the process are also packaged and used. Extracts may be sold in liquid, powder, capsule, or tablet form, Green tea extract supplements are accessible over the counter in various forms. Standardized green tea extract is 90 percent total polyphenols, and 1 capsule equals 5 cups of tea, regular green tea is 99. 9% water, provides 1 Calorie per 100 mL serving, is devoid of significant nutrient content and contains phytochemicals, such as polyphenols and caffeine. Other components include three kinds of flavonoids, known as kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin, although numerous claims have been made for the health benefits of green tea, human clinical research has not provided conclusive evidence of any effects. There is no evidence that green tea helps to prevent or treat cancer in people. A review of existing studies concluded that while suggestive evidence existed, daily consumption of black tea has been associated with a significant reduction in death from all cancers. A2015 meta-analysis of nine prospective cohort studies concluded that an amount of green tea consumption may be associated with a lower risk of liver cancer in Asian women. This association was not seen in Asian men or when one cup of tea was consumed daily. Similarly, another analysis of observational data conducted in 2012 suggested that tea consumption may have a favorable effect on lung cancer risk. The observed effect was strongest in those who consumed more than seven cups of green tea daily, a 2011 meta-analysis of epidemiological studies found limited evidence that green tea consumption may be associated with a moderately reduced risk of liver cancer in Chinese and Japanese people. Limited evidence suggests that tea consumption is not associated with the risk of developing pancreatic cancer or prostate cancer
5.
Dashi
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Dashi is a class of soup and cooking stock used in Japanese cuisine. Dashi forms the base for soup, clear broth, noodle broth. It is also mixed into flour base of some grilled foods like okonomiyaki and takoyaki, the most common form of dashi is a simple broth or fish stock made by heating water containing kombu and kezurikatsuo to near-boiling, then straining the resultant liquid. The element of umami, considered one of the five tastes in Japan, is introduced into dashi from the use of katsuobushi. Katsuobushi is especially high in inosinate, which is identified as one source of umami. Homemade dashi, made from dried kombu and katsuobushi, is popular today. Granulated or liquid instant dashi replaced the homemade product in the half of the 20th century. Compared to the delicate nuanced taste of homemade dashi, instant dashi tends to have a stronger, less subtle flavor, due to the use of chemical flavor enhancers—glutamates and ribonucleotides. Other kinds of stock are made by soaking kelp, niboshi, or shiitake in water for many hours or by heating them in near-boiling water. Kombu dashi stock is made by soaking kelp in water, niboshi dashi stock is made by pinching off the heads and entrails of small dried sardines, to prevent bitterness, and soaking the rest in water. Shiitake dashi stock is made by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water, in 1908, the unusual and strong flavor of kelp dashi was identified by Kikunae Ikeda as umami, the fifth flavor, attributed to human taste receptors responding to glutamic acid
6.
Rice
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Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy
7.
Tsukemono
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They are served with rice as an okazu, with drinks as an otsumami, as an accompaniment to or garnish for meals, and as a course in the kaiseki portion of a Japanese tea ceremony. Tsukemono are also referred to as konomono, oshinko or okōko, the ko or kō portion in these names literally means fragrant, and the term was used as a nyōbō kotoba or womans word for miso in reference to the smell. Over time, this term was applied to pickles, again for the smell. Oshinko more specifically referred to vegetables that had only lightly pickled. The term is now used more broadly to refer to pickles in general. To make tsukemono, one needs a container, salt, a tsukemonoki is a Japanese pickle press. The pressure is generated by heavy stones called tsukemono ishi with a weight of one to two kilograms, sometimes more and this type of pickle press is still in use, and can be made from a variety of materials, such as plastic, wood, glass or ceramic. Before tsukemono ishi came into use, the pressure was applied by driving a wedge between a handle of the container and its lid, the weights are either stone or metal, with a handle on top and often covered with a layer of food-neutral plastic. Another modern type of press is usually made from plastic. Asazuke is a pickling method characterized by its short preparation time, takuan, umeboshi, turnip, cucumber, and Chinese cabbage are among the favorites to be eaten with rice as an accompaniment to a meal. Beni shoga is used as a garnish on okonomiyaki, takoyaki, gari is used between dishes of sushi to cleanse the palate. Rakkyōzuke is often served with Japanese curry, rakkyōzuke has a very mild and fresh taste. It is pickled and used to balance the flavors of some other component in a meal. Fukujinzuke is a mixture of daikon, eggplant, lotus root, bettarazuke is a kind of pickled daikon popular in Tokyo. Matsumaezuke is a dish made from surume, konbu, kazunoko, carrot and ginger with a mixture of sake, soy sauce. Nozawana is a leaf vegetable typical of Nagano Prefecture. According to EU and US trade code definitions, tsukemono are classified as preserved vegetables rather than pickles because they are not primarily preserved in acetic acid or distilled vinegar and they have a different tax rate than western pickles. List of Japanese cooking utensils List of pickled foods Japanese Food / Tsukemono Shizuoka Tsukemono Federation
8.
Umeboshi
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Umeboshi are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. The word umeboshi is often translated into English as Japanese salt plums, Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a kind of tsukemono and are extremely sour. They are usually served as side dishes for rice or eaten on rice balls for breakfast and they are occasionally served boiled or seasoned for dinner. Pickled ume which are not dried are called umezuke, Umeboshi are usually round, and vary from smooth to very wrinkled. Usually they taste salty, and are extremely sour due to high citric acid content, Umeboshi were notorious for their ability to eat their way through the plain drawn aluminum lunch boxes commonly used in the 1960s. The combination of acids and salt in the umeboshi were the cause of this phenomenon. The central area of Wakayama prefecture is known throughout Japan for the number and quality of its ume, the town of Minabe, Wakayama, in particular, grows more ume and produces more umeboshi than any other town in Japan. Umeboshi are traditionally made by harvesting ume fruit when they ripen around June, a weight is placed on top and the fruit gradually exude juices, which accumulate at the bottom of the barrel. This salty, sour liquid is marketed as umezu, although it is not a true vinegar, most modern umeboshi are made by using less salt and by pickling the ume in a seasoned liquid or vinegar. They are typically dyed red using purple perilla herbs, or flavoured with katsuobushi, because modern methods of preservation use less salt, they usually contain an artificial preservative to extend shelf life. Umeboshi are usually eaten in small quantities with rice, for added flavor and it is also a common ingredient in onigiri, rice balls wrapped in nori, and they may also be used in makizushi. Makizushi made with umeboshi may be made with either pitted umeboshi or umeboshi paste, Umeboshi were esteemed by the samurai to combat battle fatigue. The standard Japanese folk remedy for colds and flus is okayu with umeboshi, another usage of umeboshi is in Ume ochazuke, a dish of rice with poured in green tea topped with umeboshi. Umeboshi is used as an accent to enhance flavor and presentation. They may also be served as a complement of a tea or a drink with shochu. Umeboshi are often eaten as snacks, in the United States, eating umeboshi in Japan is the equivalent of the English expression an apple a day. Childrens candy shops sometimes carry karikari ume, or prepackaged, crunchy pickled ume and this Japanese style traditional condiment is believed to be a digestive aid, prevention of nausea, and for systemic toxicity, including hangovers
9.
Nori
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Nori is the Japanese name for edible seaweed species of the red algae genus Pyropia, including P. yezoensis and P. tenera. Nori is familiar in the United States and other countries as an ingredient of sushi, finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking. Pyropia is also called laver in Wales and other English-speaking countries, originally, the term nori was generic and referred to seaweeds including hijiki. One of the oldest descriptions of nori is dated to around the 8th century, in the Taihō Code enacted in 701, nori was already included in the form of taxation. Local people have described as drying nori in Hitachi Province Fudoki. In Utsubo Monogatari, written around 987, nori was recognized as a common food, Nori had been consumed as paste form until the sheet form was invented in Asakusa, Edo, around 1750 in the Edo period through the method of Japanese paper-making. The word nori first appeared in an English-language publication in C. P. Thunbergs Trav and it was used in conjugation as Awa nori, probably referring to what is now called aonori. The Japanese nori industry was in decline after WWII, when Japan was in need of all food which could be produced. The decline was due to a lack of understanding of the three stage life cycle so that local people did not understand why traditional cultivation methods were not effective. Her work was discovered by Japanese scientists who applied it to artificial methods of seeding and growing the plants, rescuing the industry. Kathleen Baker was hailed as the Mother of the Sea in Japan, in the 21st century, the Japanese nori industry faces a new decline due to increased competition from seaweed producers in China and Korea and domestic sales tax hikes. Gut microbes from the North American subjects lacked these enzymes, production and processing of nori is an advanced form of agriculture. The biology of Pyropia, although complicated, is understood. Farming takes place in the sea where the Pyropia plants grow attached to nets suspended at the sea surface, the plants grow rapidly, requiring about 45 days from seeding until the first harvest. Multiple harvests can be taken from a single seeding, typically at about ten-day intervals, harvesting is accomplished using mechanical harvesters of a variety of configurations. Processing of raw product is mostly accomplished by highly automated machines that accurately duplicate traditional manual processing steps, the final product is a paper-thin, black, dried sheet of approximately 18 cm ×20 cm and 3 grams in weight. Several grades of nori are available in the United States, the most common, and least expensive, grades are imported from China, costing about six cents per sheet. At the high end, ranging up to 90 cents per sheet, are delicate shin-nori cultivated in Ariake Sea, in Japan, over 600 square kilometres of Japanese coastal waters are given to producing 350,000 tonnes of nori, worth over a billion dollars
10.
Furikake
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Furikake is a dry Japanese seasoning meant to be sprinkled on top of cooked rice, vegetables, and fish. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate. Other flavorful ingredients such as katsuobushi, or okaka, freeze-dried salmon particles, shiso, egg, powdered miso, vegetables, Furikake is often brightly colored and flaky. It can have a fish or seafood flavoring, and is sometimes spicy. It can be used in Japanese cooking for pickling foods and for rice balls, since 2003, furikake has increasingly gained acceptance in the US as a seasoning for baked or fried fish, raw fish salads and snack foods such as furikake party mix. Outside Japan, furikake can be found in most Asian groceries or in the ethnic food aisle of some major supermarkets, one account of the origin of furikake is that it was developed during the Taisho period by a pharmacist residing in Kumamoto prefecture named Suekichi Yoshimaru. To address calcium deficits in the Japanese population at the time, Yoshimaru developed a mixture of fish bones with roast sesame seeds, poppy seeds. He called this product Gohan No Tomo and is considered the precursor to contemporary furikake. A food company in Kumamato later acquired the product and was able to sell it commercially and it was initially sold in a flask-like container shaped with a narrow neck to prevent moisture from seeping into the product. Kai called this product Kore Wa Umai, and was popular on its release, availability of furikake in Japan increased starting shortly after September 1948 when Nissin Foods began to manufacture it on a large scale to address pervasive malnourishment. The product was commercialized on the basis that it provided a source of both protein and calcium. Furikake was also widely available as it was dispensed to those serving in the Japanese military starting in World War I. The term furikake was used generically to describe the product starting in 1959 with the formation of the National Furikake Association, since 1959, different furikake products are usually differentiated by their particular ingredients, such as in salmon furikake and sesame-and-salt furikake. Gomashio—a type of furikake mostly consisting of cooked black sesame seeds, shichimi—a chili-based spice mixture similar to furikake, but mainly used on noodles, soups and gyūdon. Ochazuke—a soup made by sprinkling any desired seasonings and toppings over cooked rice, dry powdered chutney is eaten in a similar way
