About Urushi ("Japan" in English)

Some people here believe that the origin of urushi began in China, where they found what an urushi made 7000 years ago.   However, an archaeologist in Japan found a piece of urushi in Hokkaido, dated back to 9000 years ago.   This one and only piece of proof that urushi started in Japan was lost in a fire.   Until today the archaeologists are still investigating the history of urushi and accepting the possibility that urushi might have came from China over 10000 years ago, along with the very rare, unique and skilled techniques of its making.

I think urushi is a very special piece of artwork and i have seen some extraordinary pieces of urushi in Fukushima, Aizu

.  Whether the origin was indeed China, i believe that Japan has for the past thousands years master the production of "urushi", now known as "Japanese lacquer" in English.

Urushi is made from a special tree, called urushi tree or black tree, where you derive a nature made lacquer to make black, dark red or red color depending on the process and species of trees. Japan has a long history and culture in the making of urushi just the same way China does in the making of ceramics (well known as bone China).    In English "urushi" is called Japan ware or just Japan.

The making of urushi involves an elaborate work of maintaining a certain temperature at every single steps.  Urushi, which is strong against heat, humidity, acid or alkaline, is used to make traditional kitchen ware (cha-zutu or ocha-container, bowl, bento/lunch box, etc.), Japanese instruments (such as koto) and furniture.   However, urushi  is weak when it comes to direct sunlight or UV.  It is also weak against sudden change in temperature and humidity.    The piece may break or develop a crack over a period of such exposures.   Golden color used in urushi is made with a real gold powder and involves an elaborate work of putting it layers over layers, more than 100 times.

When you buy urushi for kitchen ware, you may wonder how to use and wash them.   Here are the common rules for keeping your precious urushi (from the Aizu Urushi Foundation):

1. No direct contact with fire (which is obvious since it is made of solid wood)

2. Do not put them in microwave, oven, fridge, dishwasher.

3. When you use hot water  (whether during washing or making tea - as for teapot), you need to understand that the color of urushi will change over a period of time.    In order to maintain its beauty, you are supposed to dip the urushi into a slightly warm water before using hot water, or in other words, to avoid the sudden change of temperature, you need to prepare a few steps of work.

4. If you have urushi cups - that you use to serve tea, the same process is needed to maintain its color and to avoid cracks.    Also make sure that you do not leave any liquid for a long time in such urushi since it will affect .   After washing, it is better to wipe it dry with a towel instead of leaving it dry naturally.

5. For a long time storage urushi is best kept at a certain humidity, therefore it is recommended that you store it in a cupboard with a cup of water to maintain humidity.

Now you may ask me why Japanese like to use such a kitchenware that requires elaborate work just to maintain it.   I think it is indeed a Japan ware, rooted with a deep Japanese culture, since it requires elaborate work making it, it is only fair that you need to put elaborate work maintaining such a piece of art.

Hanami - Cherry Blossom Outdoor Party

Sakura or the cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan and is considered by most Japanese their favorite flowers.   Spring is the time for Hanami where Japanese gather and held parties in the open air under the cherry blossoms.   It is more like having picnic out in the park, except that during cherry blossoms season, most parks are filled with people doing various activities other than just having picnics.

A recent TV program showed that activities held during hanami have changed over the decades. Prior to 1970s Japanese people enjoyed outdoor dancing and singing at hanami parties.  In the 1970s singing like in karaoke replaced dancing.  In 1980s playing famous animation characters is the common show during hanami.  In the 1990s people started to commercialize such a show, so you can find individual stands where they perform for public, whereas in the past you would see such performances done by a member in the group during the party itself.   In recent years most people enjoy a more simple hanami by having outdoor picnics, drinking and talking.   There are fewer performances outdoor.   

In the past many hanami parties were held among workers in the company, whereas nowadays they are more held among closed friends.   The custom of going to the park to reserve the best location for hanami parties was common in the past, which was in most cases done by the newly graduate workers.

In Tokyo area Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku Gyoen and Ueno Park have the best collection of cherry blossoms.   Some people, like me, enjoy hanami at a nearby park just a few minutes walk from home.   After all the key to a wonderful hanami is "the food"-> a delicious bento (lunch box),  a warm sake for appetizer and sakura mochi for dessert.   For recipes of bento (left) check out http://cook4health.blogspot.com/

Get a better feeling about hanami in Japan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPZ4W5BpzLs

Metabolic Syndrome in Kids

According to a 2007 research by the Japanese government, about 10-15% of Japanese children (at primary schools and secondary schools) are considered overweight. 

Major reasons for overweight are lifestyle and genetics.   However lifestyle plays a very important role and there are common characteristics of those children with metabolic syndrome:

1. usually do not eat breakfast

2. usually do not like vegetables

3. love meat and oily food (fried foods)

4. do not eat rice a lot but consume other types of carbohydrate such as bread and noodles

5. do not eat so much fish

6. eat fast (not chewing well)

7. do not particularly like sport

There are several ways to check whether or not children has suffered metabolic syndrome.

*Waist size 80 cm or above (Also check, waist size in cm : height - if the ratio is 0.5 or above, the portion should be added to size of weight, thus the total size refers to the max limit).

*Neutral fat content 120mg/dl or above (Also check, HDL cholesterol level if it is within 40mg/dl)

*Blood pressure if it is 125mmHg or above

*Blood sugar level 100mg/dl or above

There are ways to recover from metabolic syndrome.   It is not by limiting the amount of food intake, rather it is to understand the correct amount of food intake necessary for children of that age.

Recommendation by the Health Department here:

1. Understand the measure of correct healthy diet (calories intake and well balanced nutrients)

2. Eat regularly and avoid irregular snacking

3. Eat together with family (supervision and social interactioni will help children emotionally)

4. Avoid fried foods and wherever possible do not use extra sugar, butter or oil and other fatty ingredients to food

5. Eat vegetables and fruits regularly

6. Control the amount of carbohydrate intake, especially bread, rice and noodles

7. Avoid taking artificial sugar or other low calories type sugar

8. When consume yoghurt or margarine, choose a low calories type

9. When thirsty, drink water not soda/juices/other sweetened drink

10. Do not reward children using food

11. Avoid the habit of chewing gum (even those of low calories)

12. Watch calories intake particularly at lunchtime (most likely at school when you can not supervise)

Some of the above methods actually work in adults for remedy to avoid metabolic syndrome.   In adults, other than the above methods,  regular exercise and good hours of sleep also help to improve metabolism.

Spring Comes With Beautiful Sweets

Japanese celebrates the coming of spring with beautiful sweets called mochi (rice cakes).   Mochi is literally pounded glutinous rice.    Traditionally at the end of the year glutinous rice is pounded for the special rice cakes known as mochi.   The pounding of rice has also become a festival itself called mochitsuki.    Mochi is widely used not only in New Years celebration but also in the beginning of a new season.

In spring time we have special traditions to eat sakura mochi, uguisu mochi and yomogi mochi. These mochi are usually hand made with sweet red beans or white beans fillings inside.  

Sakura mochi is usually pink decorated with salted/pickled sakura blossom and wrapped in edible pickled sakura leaves.   Uguisu mochi is green to portray "uguisu" (a Japanese warbler), here well known as a light green color wild bird of spring.  It can sing beautifully and its appearance is closely associated with the plum blossom ("ume ni uguisu").   Yomogi is herbal leaves derived from plants which is similar to Chrysanthemum.  Yomogi is widely used in Japan to produce natural "green" coloring for mochi and other traditional sweets.

My favorite Spring time activities is to walk in the park and have a little picnic, drinking hot tea and eating sakura mochi.    Major parks in Tokyo provides facilities for visitors to enjoy Japanese green tea with traditional Japanese sweets while watching plum blossoms in the early spring and sakura blossom in mid spring.

Sleeping Beauty

While I was waiting for my daughter's 60 minutes ballet lesson, i found an interesting article about Sleeping Beauty... well, not that story of sleeping beauty.  This  is about how good sleep can affect beauty.    The definition of good sleep is not the number of hours you sleep, but the feelings that you get in the morning as you get up.    

A health and beauty specialist recommended the following for women:

1. In order to have a good sleep at night, you need to be active during the day.   This means daytime workout or activities are in fact helping you to get a better sleep at night.   If you lie down a lot during the day, there is a chance that you can not sleep well at night.   So the point is to be active during the day!

2. Before you go to sleep, it is important that you make your body warm, especially your feet.   Well, here in Japan, most women will shower or take a bath before going to bed.   The specialist recommended that for those who shower, you need to give your feet a warm bath - such as using a small bucket of warm water with aromateraphy oil or you can purchase a spa machine for your foot.

3. Do not write personal emails before you go to bed, especially those types of emotionally involved communication.   It is very simple.   Women are emotional people, so when we are exposed to emotional trigger, it is sometimes hard for us to get over it and we tend to linger and think about it - i.e. just before bad time is a bad timing to get emotional.

4. Do not eat heavy meal, especially those that contain lots of protein and fats at night.    Take a lot of protein during the day, while your body is active and the stomach is working hard processing extra calories intake.   At night take lighter meal that is easy to digest, so that the body can easily switch into "sleeping mode" from "digesting mode".    You are guaranteed to sleep better that way.

5. Do not drink too much liquid before bedtime.   You want a good sleep without interruption of having to go to the toilet.　Obviously tea, coffee, and other drinks that contain caffeine are not going to help you fall asleep.

6. It is good to cover your eyes with eyemask or to sleep in a completely dark room.   Darkness also improve sleeping quality.

7. Apparently it is not the number of hours you sleep, but the quality of sleeping itself.  Having said that it is important for women to sleep before 10 pm.    Similar to children, women also produces certain hormones that helps to produce new cells - for children these cells are for general growth and development of brain, but for women they influence the cycle of body system.    Putting in a simple term....  try to sleep by 10 pm so that you give enough time for the body to produce the right amount of hormones.

8. Check your pillow and bed to make sure that they are really comfortable for you.  Posturepedic firm pillow is one of the best pillows recommended, however

9. Snoring has a negative effect on quality of sleeping because practically you do not breathe correctly thus circulation of oxygen is not good.   Please consult with a Health Specialist if you think you snore badly.

10.  Having tried all these, if you still can not sleep well at night, you may have chronic sleeping problems.   Please consult with a Health Specialist near you.

Good night :D

The New Kind of Hinamatsuri Festival

Hinamatsuri Festivals is coming in just two days.   Japanese girls are excited, parents are busy preparing for children parties, Hinamatsuri food and decoration, and TV programs for children are all talking about the festivals.

This year there is a new trend of Hinamatsuri Festival with the introduction of animal dolls, the popular ones being dogs and cats.   This new trend came around because in recent years dogs and cats have become a very popular pets and having a pet at home has become a boom here.    

The traditional Japanese sweet cakes are still popular however the modern type of Hinamatsuri cakes are coming around.   I wonder if the modern kind of Hinamatsuri products such as Hina-dogs and Hina-cakes appeal to the girls more than the traditional sweet cakes and Hina-dolls.