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Friday, May 29, 2009
Japanese cuisine & clothing
Hey! So fast its already one week! Wow I find time is passing quickly each day... Its like the week has just started and now is ending! Haiz.. I am quite tired today cause I have been laughing in school the whole day! So what brightens me up is when I research on one of my favourite country, Japan! So today I have found out another two more cultures which I had stated in my previous post. Thus, I was happy. Today’s two cultures will be on cuisine and clothes! Exciting? Cause I am excited, want to know more about it! I like to eat Japanese food cause they are delicious and unique! So what I have found out about Japanese cuisine? Japanese cuisine means traditional-style Japanese food. It is also known for its emphasis on seasonality of food, quality of ingredients and presentation. Dishes such as sushi, tempura and teriyaki chicken are some commonly known food. Here is some history about Japanese cuisine: Under the ancient era – Heian period, fish and wild fowl were common on the table along with vegetables. Their banquet settings consisted of a bowl of rice and soup, chopsticks, spoon and three seasonings which were salt, vinegar and hishio. The four types of food present are dried foods, fresh foods, fermented or dressed food and desserts.
Under the Kamakura period, the court cuisine which had prior to this time emphasized flavor and nutritional aspects changed to a highly ceremonial and official role. The meals prepared emphasized simplicity while being substantial. The Buddhist vegetarian philosophy strengthened during the Kamakura period as it began to spread to the peasants. Thus those involved in the trade of slaughtering animals for food or leather came under discrimination.
Under the modern era, Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a soup. A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different dishes accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice a bowl of soup and some pickles. Noodles are an essential part of Japanese cuisine. There are three types of noodles: soba(thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) , udon (thick wheat noodles)and ramen(Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth).
Do you know what the main ingredients use in the cuisine are? So here it goes... rice, beans, eggs, flour, fruits, meats, mushroom, noodles, soy products and vegetables. The common seafood are finned fish, shellfish, crab, roe and seaweed.
Here are some facts about dining etiquette: Before eating, hot towels are given for cleaning hands, it will rude if it is used on face or any other part of the body. Soy sauce is not usually poured over food but is on a dipping dish. If sharing with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another, never pass food from one pair of chopsticks to another. During drinking, it usually start with a toast when everyone is ready. It is not customary to pour oneself a drink; but rather, people are expected to keep each other's drinks topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.
So that’s all under cuisine! Now I will tell you about clothing! Do you know what is the most popular traditional clothing in Japan? It is KIMONO! Originally, Kimono means “things to wear” but now come to denote a particular type of traditional full-length Japanese garment. Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes with collars and full-length sleeves that typically are wide. Both genders wear their kimono so that the hem falls to the ankle. Kimonos are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial) and secured by a wide belt called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimonos are generally worn with traditional footwear and split-toe socks. Today, kimonos are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. Kimono come in a variety of colors, styles and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colours, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and, especially for younger women, often with complicated abstract or floral patterns. Although kimono is seen at traditional festivals and ceremonies, western-style clothing is more commonly wear. And do u know what?! Japanese clothing is styled to fit the seasons! For instance in autumn people will wear clothes with fall colors and fall patterns. In the spring, bright colors and spring floral patterned Japanese clothing is worn. During the winter, those wearing kimono tend to wear darker colors and may wear up to 10 layers of clothing! Wow that is like so thick! Cannot imagine how a person is going to carry so much weigh!
Hey that’s all for today! Come back next week for more stuff! BYE!!! :)
Under the Kamakura period, the court cuisine which had prior to this time emphasized flavor and nutritional aspects changed to a highly ceremonial and official role. The meals prepared emphasized simplicity while being substantial. The Buddhist vegetarian philosophy strengthened during the Kamakura period as it began to spread to the peasants. Thus those involved in the trade of slaughtering animals for food or leather came under discrimination.
Under the modern era, Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a soup. A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different dishes accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice a bowl of soup and some pickles. Noodles are an essential part of Japanese cuisine. There are three types of noodles: soba(thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) , udon (thick wheat noodles)and ramen(Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth).
Do you know what the main ingredients use in the cuisine are? So here it goes... rice, beans, eggs, flour, fruits, meats, mushroom, noodles, soy products and vegetables. The common seafood are finned fish, shellfish, crab, roe and seaweed.
Here are some facts about dining etiquette: Before eating, hot towels are given for cleaning hands, it will rude if it is used on face or any other part of the body. Soy sauce is not usually poured over food but is on a dipping dish. If sharing with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another, never pass food from one pair of chopsticks to another. During drinking, it usually start with a toast when everyone is ready. It is not customary to pour oneself a drink; but rather, people are expected to keep each other's drinks topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.
So that’s all under cuisine! Now I will tell you about clothing! Do you know what is the most popular traditional clothing in Japan? It is KIMONO! Originally, Kimono means “things to wear” but now come to denote a particular type of traditional full-length Japanese garment. Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes with collars and full-length sleeves that typically are wide. Both genders wear their kimono so that the hem falls to the ankle. Kimonos are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial) and secured by a wide belt called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimonos are generally worn with traditional footwear and split-toe socks. Today, kimonos are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. Kimono come in a variety of colors, styles and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colours, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and, especially for younger women, often with complicated abstract or floral patterns. Although kimono is seen at traditional festivals and ceremonies, western-style clothing is more commonly wear. And do u know what?! Japanese clothing is styled to fit the seasons! For instance in autumn people will wear clothes with fall colors and fall patterns. In the spring, bright colors and spring floral patterned Japanese clothing is worn. During the winter, those wearing kimono tend to wear darker colors and may wear up to 10 layers of clothing! Wow that is like so thick! Cannot imagine how a person is going to carry so much weigh!
Hey that’s all for today! Come back next week for more stuff! BYE!!! :)
shalalalala' 10:00 PM
Friday, May 22, 2009
Japanese Sports and Garden
Hello readers, guess what I have found out today! I have found out another two more cultures about Japan! They are Japanese sports and Japanese garden. Firstly, I will tell you more about Japanese sports. Do you know what is the most common sports played in Japan? The answer is: association football and other ball sports! People like me will think it will be judo as this martial arts is from Japan. But sadly, the answer is not. Martial arts and Karate are also practiced by many people as well but not so common and baseball is the most popular spectator sports of the country. There are three periods for sports. Firstly is Pre-Edo period. In this period, Sumo is introduced and is a traditional sports, followed by martial arts and hunting. Secondly is Edo period(1603-1868). In this period, sports became a popular way to spend time but they were often accompanied by gambling. Martial arts like jujutsu were popular but school avoided inter-school matches and only internal matches were held. Lastly is After Meiji Restoration. In this period, various kinds of Western sports were introduced into Japan. During 1870s, track & field events, baseball, football, rugby union, cricket and ice skating were introduced. Hey do you all know what is motorsports? It is something that I have never hear before! Motorsport is the collection of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. It became popular in Japan especially during the latter third of the 20th century. The next culture is Japanese garden. To me, I find that Japanese garden are normally filled with small bushes and short trees and they also like to put sculptures and a small lake in their garden. Sometimes, this enables me to identify an unknown garden because of the style they use. Japanese garden were developed under the influences of the distinctive and stylized Chinese gardens. Hmm... how do we identify a Japanese garden? We can identify them through their typical features which are water, rocks or stone arrangement, a lantern, teahouse, etc... There are three traditional garden styles which are Karesansui Gardens (the use of raked gravel or sand that simulates the feeling of water), Tsukiyama Gardens (commonly strive to make a smaller garden appear more spacious) and Chaniwa Gardens (built for holding tea ceremonies). Some history: Garden were built at first to express Buddhism and Taoism through replicating the mountainous regions in China then it shifted from solely representing religious beliefs to becoming. Later on many gardens were created due to improved garden techniques and the development of Syoinzukuri style. Famous traditional gardens were owned by businessmen and politicians and some of them are open to public viewing.
With these, I will end my post here today! I hope from these, your have known a bit more about Japan just like me! I hope I can find more cultures next week as I am interested to know more!:) So... Bye! See you next week :)
shalalalala' 11:46 PM
Sunday, May 17, 2009
My First Post!!!
IntroductionGoal
I plan to research about Japan within 13 weeks.
Personal Background and Reasons for my goal
During my free time, I like to watch Japanese serials and movies as i find them interesting and is from another language that i never hear before. Furthermore, I find that places in Japan are beautiful when i saw those scenes in the serials and movie. Thus, i am interested and i want to find out more about it. In addition, I have been to Japan twice and found out that Japan is really an interesting and beautiful place. When I was there, I find that their cultures and lifestyles are different from ours. For example, Japanese people like to walk for long distance, everywhere on the streets, you will see people walking to work. Unlike Singaporeans, most people are unwilling to walk, they rather take a public transport. I also found out that they like to put in a lot of effort in designing their products and packages. Therefore, their products are usually expensive. With all these, I would like to research and found out more about Japan.
SMART Formula
Specific
I plan to find 2 information about Japan per week and by week 13, i would have know at least 20 information on Japan. I will research on stuffs like Japan’s culture, lifestyles, food, events, cartoon, etc...
Measurable
Finding 2 information about Japan per week is measurable. I can track my goal.
Achieveable
I hope to find realiable websites so that my informations are mostly accurate and I can rely on them. I would also return to the same websites if these websites are the ones which are updated regularly for example news websites.
Relevant
By doing this, it helps me to distress as I am doing something that I am interested to know in.
Time
13 weeks is the time given to achieve my goal. I hope to continue to research about Japan and know more about it even after the project.
Japanese Language and Painting
Hey! I am excited to blog today cause I have never blog before. So this will be my first time blogging and will be my first post! Today, I will start of with Japan’s culture. I have found two cultures. Firstly, is about the Japanese language. I didn’t know that Japanese language is created from different parts and is actually come from china! No wonder some of the words are in Chinese. And also, Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts: hiragana which were derived from the Chinese cursive script, katakana, which was derived as shorthand from Chinese characters, and kanji, imported from China. The second one is Japanese painting. Actually, I didn’t really take note about Japanese painting; thus, I am quite curious and want to know more about them. So here is what I have found out: Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time and so is one of the oldest and most highly refined of Japanese arts and the artists use brush in a traditional way as a writing tool. There are also many different periods in Japanese painting. An example is the Nara period. Nara period is about painting of religious imagery that flourished to decorate the numerous temples erected by the ruling classes. Most of the Nara period art are preserved at the Shosoin storehouse, formerly owned by Todai-ji, and now under the control of the Imperial Household Agency.
Background of Japan
Hey! Here is some background of Japan: Japan is an island nation in East Asia and comprises over 3,000 islands.It has the world’s tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. Japan’s highest peak is the Mount Fuji which is a volcano. A major economic power, Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest in purchasing power parity. This shows that Japan is quite a wealthy country!
I will end my post here today! Come back next week and check out for more interesting stuffs about Japan! See You :) Bye!
shalalalala' 4:40 AM