Japanese Culture Blog

In Japan, there are many foods and things which have good meanings. When spring comes, you can't live every day without seeing the pictures or decorations of cherry blossoms on TV, in school, and in shops. SAKURA, the cherry blossoms, symbolizes that something good things has happened. And we eat SEKIHAN when a member of the family enter an university. Natto have the meaning of "Never Give Up"(because the strings expand well and hardly be cutted).

To begin with, Japanese people loves cherry blossoms very much. One of the reasons is that, cherry blossoms have good indicates. For example, when someone educate from or enter school, we usually associate the view of SAKURA. It have the meaning that something good event have happened.
Second, SEKIHAN(glutinous rice steamed with AZUKI or SASAGE beans) is one of the important Japanese culture.
Japanese people eat SEKIHAN with their family on the new year's day and special day, for example, when one came of age, or one passed the entrance examination for university. Each of the regions have their favorite taste. For instance, in Hokkaido, we use AMA NATTO (it is sweetened beans) instead of AZUKI. On the other hand, people in CHIBA prefecture use peanuts.Today, we eat SEKIHAN when we are happy, and it is valuable culture for us.
Third, NATTO is one of the popular Japanese culture, too. In Japan, many people eat it every day, and it is sometimes said that, "Never give up!!" when you eat NATTO. This is because, the long strings are called "NEBA NEBA", and this pronounciation is similar to "Never Never". Therefore, NATTO have good meanings, too.

It follows from this that, there are many things which have the good meanings. When we look SAKURA, we become happy. When it is the new year's day, we celebrate the day by eating SEKIHAN. And when we take the entrance exam, we eat NATTO so as not to give up. These things are Japanese good culture!