From Japan with Love

Hello, I'm Mog, born in Japan and living in Kyoto. I'm going to try to write in Japanese after English for a while starting today. I'm always thinking about how I can make my articles more readable for everyone. Please let me know what you think. こんにちは、日本生まれ京都在住のMogです🤗 今日からしばらく英語の後に日本語も書いてみようと思います。どういう形で記事を書くのが皆さんにとって読みやすいか、いつも考えています。ぜひご意見を聞かせてくださいね。 In a recent article, I introduced a chopstick specialty store near Inari Shrine. Inari Shrine is two stops by train from Kyoto Station, and is a world-famous tourist attraction in Kyoto. 先日の記事で、稲荷神社近くの箸専門店をご紹介しました。 稲荷神社は京都駅から電車で2駅、世界的に有名な京都の観光名所です。 🔶 How to choose your chopsticks (The shop near Inari shrine.) Today I'll explain a little about Inari Shrine and then I'll introduce you to one of my favorite stores. 今日は少し稲荷神社の事を説明してから、私の好きなお店を紹介しますね。 What are the benefits of Inari Shrine? 稲荷神社のご利益は？ It is said to be beneficial for business prosperity, industrial prosperity, family safety, traffic safety, and improvement o

In Japan, there are days in spring and autumn when we make offerings to our ancestors, and they are called "お彼岸(ひがん)Ohigan.” When is Ohigan? These dates vary every year, but for 2021, the dates for the Ohigan are as follows. Spring Ohigan: "March 17 to March 23 Autumnal Ohigan: September 20 to September 26 The spring Ohigan is determined based on the dates when the weather changes from spring to summer, and the autumn Ohigan is determined based on the dates when the weather changes from summer to autumn, and in both cases the length of day and night are almost the same. What to do on the Ohigan? The Ohigan is not decorated in the same way as Obon, and people generally visit graves and hold memorial services. However, in some regions, there are events unique to the Ohigan period. For the information about Obon, please click here. 🔶 Obon is the day when ancestors come home. Wagashi for the Ohigan This is the most popular wagashi to eat during the Ohigan. In fact, t

The other day, I wrote an article about the popularity of individually wrapped snacks in Japan. 🔶 Chicken noodle soup チキンラーメン What do we use it for? This is when we use individually wrapped snacks. 🔸To distribute to a lot of people. 🔸To eat only a little. 🔸For kids. 🔸To eat a variety of snacks. 🔸To carry it around. This time I'll show you what they look like with pictures. How are they sold in supermarkets? This is a type of product that is divided into smaller numbers and smaller portions. Each cookie here is small in size. Bagged type A pattern of individually wrapped items in a bag Look at the yellow marker. It says 12 袋(ふくろ)bags.🧐 The bag contains a total of 12 bags of two kinds of sweets.  How many sweets do you think are in the bag?🤔 There were five of each. Oh, one of the mushrooms was broken!😂 These two kinds of sweets are very popular and have some interesting episodes, so I'll introduce them sometime

Cold, slippery foods are popular in summer. Mizumanju 水まんじゅう is a summer Japanese sweet. 水まんじゅうmizu-manju Anko (sweet red bean paste) is wrapped in a jelly made from kudzu powder. It looks very cool, doesn't it? あんこAnko Azuki beans are similar in color to red kidney beans, but they are a different kind. They are about 5 mm in size. There are countless Japanese sweets that use anko (sweet red bean paste) . Not only just for wagashi. Anko is a delicious topping for pancakes! What a guilty pleasure combination of Anko, butter and whipped cream!😋 あずきバー Azuki-bar One of my favorite summer sweets made with anko is an ice cream called "Azuki Bar". Reference: 井村屋 Imuraya https://www.imuraya.co.jp/goods/ice/c-azuki/bazuki/ I like the slightly harder texture and refreshing sweetness compared to regular ice cream. You can have azuki bars in Malaysia! https://www.imuraya-group.com/news/published210617/ What a surprise, Imur

Warabi-mochi(わらび餅) is another representative of summer Japanese sweets. A chilled chewy Mochi like desert that has a jelly structure that is made from bracken starch. It is eaten with sweet soybean flour きなこ or dark molasses 黒蜜(くろみつ). Would it look a little cooler if I served it in a glass bowl? I want to practice with my camera, too. I put a little too much soybean flour(きなこ) on it. soybean flour(きなこ) Soybean flour is a powder made from roasted, peeled and ground soybeans. In Japan, it is sold in packages like this. Nutrition of soybean flour Kinako (soybean flour) contains a lot of protein and is rich in dietary fiber. It also contains many minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron.  It also increases good bacteria due to soy oligosaccharides. In order for the oligosaccharide to work effectively, health-conscious people often mix it with yogurt.🤗 How to use Kinako, sweetened with sugar, is used to dip rice cakes in, or m

Wagashi is works of art. I plan to introduce Japanese sweets in this blog from time to time. By researching traditional Japanese sweets, I learn a lot about Japanese events and history, and I also learn a lot about myself. This time, I introduce Japanese summer Wagashi. The right side of the photo is  若鮎(わかあゆ)Waka-ayu and  the left side is  琥珀糖(こはくとう)Kohaku-to. 若鮎 (わかあゆ)Wa-ayu Waka-ayu is made with gyuhi wrapped in an oval sponge cake, shaped into a  semicircle,  and marked with an eye and fins. 求肥(ぎゅうひ)Gyuhi The cross-section looks like this. It is filled with gyuhi. Gyuhi is one of the materials of Japanese confectionery and a kind of rice cake made by kneading. It has a sticky texture. Japanese people love the sticky texture of mochi. Me too, of course.🤗 About ayu fish Ayu fish is called the queen of clear streams and can only be found in beautiful rivers. In Japan, we are allowed to fish from June to July. Ayu fishing involves standing in the shallows of a