The only one in the world? Japan eats raw eggs. Why are raw eggs safe in Japan? Egg rice is a soul food in Japan.
2023-09-30
Category:Japanese culture
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Japan, a country that eats raw eggs
Japan seems to be the only country in the world that eats raw eggs. Japan is known as a country where tap water is drinkable, but you might think it's a similar story, but it's not. In Japan, tap water is drinkable because it is soft and sanitary water is thoroughly controlled, and eggs are only born from chickens, so there is no difference in countries around the world.
Why do only Japan eat raw eggs?
Even if you explain it as a food culture, eggs are probably eaten all over the world, so why did Japan come to eat eggs raw? You might think it's a matter of Japanese tastes, but foreigners say that sukiyaki is delicious, and even simple rice with egg is delicious. Could it be that only Japanese people noticed the taste of raw eggs?
dangerous salmonella
If you ask foreigners, they will tell you that raw eggs are dangerous. Then, I wondered why Japanese eggs were so safe, and when I looked into it, I found out that Salmonella bacteria is contained in the parent hens' feces and urine and seems to penetrate through the egg shells. Alternatively, if the parent chicken is infected with Salmonella, eggs infected with Salmonella will be born. Current Japanese poultry farms take thorough measures to prevent Salmonella, which is why they can even be eaten as raw eggs.
Raw eggs have been described since the Edo period
Then, when did Japan start eating raw eggs? When I researched it, I found that before the Edo period, food derived from animals was avoided due to the influence of Buddhism, and there seems to be a mention of raw eggs in the Edo period. Later, there was a mention of tamago kakigohan (egg-dried rice) in the Meiji period, and it is said that Ogai Mori also liked eating it.
Salmonella was discovered in the late 19th century.
When I researched Salmonella, I discovered that it was named after Daniel Salmon, a bacteriologist who discovered the type strain of the Salmonella genus, Hog cholera, in the United States in 1885. It became. In the Edo period, there would have been no recognition of Salmonella.
Japan knew how to manage parent birds and eggs
In summary, Japanese people did not have any biological knowledge about Salmonella, but they did know that if parent chickens were kept in an unsanitary environment, the baby eggs would have fatal problems if eaten by humans. On the other hand, they knew that if they thoroughly managed and cleaned the chickens, this problem would not occur.
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Emperor Kanmu's mother was Takano Shinkasa, a descendant of the King of Baekje - Don't forget that the imperial family is inherited in the male line.
The mother of Emperor Kanmu during the Heian period was a person named Takano Shingasa, who was an immigrant from Baekje. The relationship between Japan and Baekje is often unknown, but it can be speculated that it goes back a long way. In ``Gishiwajinden,'' it is written that Wa (Japan) was in contact with Inuya Korea, which means that Japanese people lived in what is now the Japanese archipelago and the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.
Before that, it was a Japanese-style tumulus. Keyhole-shaped tombs have been discovered in the Baekje region of the Korean Peninsula. If we trace the spread of polished stone tools excavated from the Iwajuku Ruins in Japan, we can see evidence of their spread to the Korean Peninsula in chronological order. Baekje was destroyed in the Battle of Baekchonggang in 663 and retreated from the Korean Peninsula. At that time, many Baekje people fled to Japan.
The family was founded by Zenko, the son of King Uija, the last king of Baekje, and was given the surname of Baekje King as a Japanese clan. It is said that her descendant was the mother of Emperor Kanmu. My memory is that a woman from the imperial family married the King of Baekje when Baekje was on the Korean peninsula, but I tried looking for it but couldn't find it. The custom of taking a commoner as a wife dates back to the post-war period, and if until then you could not become the empress of the emperor without some sort of blood relation, then it means that you had a relative relationship before then.
There have been various debates about this theory, but it is not incorrect as it is mentioned on the birthday of His Majesty the current Retired Emperor that Emperor Kanmu's birth mother was a descendant of King Muryeong of Baekje. right. I actually heard these birthday messages, but I honestly remember being surprised at what His Majesty the Emeritus said.
Based on this, many people in Korea say that the Emperor is a descendant of Koreans, but this is only because the Emperor was a descendant of the King of Baekje during that generation, and the imperial family is inherited through the male line in the first place. , I can't trace my genealogy back to my mother. Moreover, since Baekje was destroyed on the Korean Peninsula, Japan was in a position to protect it. And since they chose to assimilate with the Japanese, they are not Koreans.
The legendary drama 'Oshin' is very popular overseas and was broadcast in 68 countries and regions | viewership rating in Egypt was 80%, and in Iran it was 90%.
Legendary drama broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world
Singapore and Egypt record 80% viewership
90% viewer rating in Iran, chosen as the ideal woman
Also broadcast in China, but in Korea...
Oshin achieved great achievements in Cool Japan
"Oshin" was a hit not only in Japan but also in many countries overseas, and it is surprising how many countries and regions it was aired in. It was broadcast in 68 countries and regions.
"Oshin" is a hit NHK drama that aired for one year from 1983. This is the story of a young girl who leaves her home as a servant and goes through various hardships to live and succeed in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, and is a vivid depiction of life in Japan's poor rural villages at the time. Oshin was written by Sugako Hashida, and became her most famous work.
In Japan, it has recorded an astonishing average viewership rating of 52.6% and a maximum viewership rating of 62.9%, which is the highest viewership rating ever for a TV drama. Sugako Hashida has worked on countless works including "Wataru Sekai wa Oni Dake", NHK TV drama series, and taiga dramas.
The first overseas broadcast recorded an audience rating of 80% in Singapore and 80% audience rating in Egypt. When the drama begins, everyone goes home. A power outage occurred during the broadcast and the broadcast was interrupted. Angry Egyptians who cannot watch the drama storm the broadcasting station and riots ensue. In addition, large quantities of food have been sent to broadcast stations to feed poor people.
In Iran, 90% audience rating was recorded. When asked on a radio broadcast who the ideal woman is, Oshin is chosen over Supreme Leader Khomeini's daughter. This became a major problem and led to the dismissal of four people in charge of the radio station. In addition, when asked who the ideal next leader of the country would be, Oshin, who is not a Muslim, was ranked 4th .
Oshin is famous in China as Asin, and the audience rating in Beijing at the time of the broadcast was 75.9%. China was an enemy country in the past, with whom she fought a war, but when she saw Oshin, tears covered her eyes. Many say that the image of Japan has changed. It was rebroadcast in China in 2007.
As you can imagine, is unfortunately not broadcast in Korea. The 1998 Japan-Korea Joint Declaration lifted the ban on Japanese dramas and culture in South Korea, but for some reason Oshin is not being broadcast. This may be the drama that most people don't want to see because it changes the image of Japan.
Currently, various Japanese contents such as anime are exported overseas under the framework of Cool Japan, but in the 1980s, a full-length TV novel with 297 episodes was broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world. Even today, this can be considered a great achievement.
After the end of the war, the image of Japan was hardly known overseas, and people were only aware of it as samurai, geisha, and ninja, but Japanese culture, the Japanese way of thinking, and the way of life in Oshin's time were introduced to the world. It happened.
His Majesty the Emperor, who continued researching fish, discovered 10 new species - two were announced at academic conferences after his abdication.
Most members of the imperial family enroll at Gakushuin University, and their academic majors are not related to politics, economics, or military affairs. The reason is said to be that the Emperor, as a symbol of Japan, is not involved in these activities. Emperor Showa studied biology, and when his attendants said that the grass they cut around the Imperial Palace and Fukiage Palace was ``cutting weeds,'' he said, ``There is no such thing as weeds.''
``Every plant has a name, and each grows in its own favorite place. We shouldn't take a one-sided approach and label it as a weed. Be careful,'' he said. .
In 1964, His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus, then Crown Prince, visited Thailand with Her Imperial Highness Princess Michiko. When he met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej and learned about Thailand's current situation of food shortages, he proposed to King Adulyadej that they try growing tilapia as a protein source. Upon returning to Japan, he donated 50 tilapia raised at the Akasaka imperial estate to Thailand.
When former King Bhumibol Adulyadej bred them in his palace pond, the number of young fish increased to 10,000 in a blink of an eye due to their ease of raising and strong reproductive ability. They were sent to various places through the Fisheries Experiment Station, and became a source of food for the Thai people. Even today, it is a common fish in Thailand under the name Pranin. Pura is an abbreviation for Emperor, and Nin is the kanji for Akihito read aloud.
His Majesty the Emeritus also majored in biology and mainly conducted research on fish. In June 2021, after the Emperor's abdication, two new species of goby were discovered, and His Majesty the Emperor himself named them ``Awayukiftus goby'' and ``Sebosyftus goby'' and announced them at an academic conference. A total of 10 new species of fish have been discovered and announced to the world by His Majesty the Emperor.
What do teachers who refuse to sing the national anthem teach children? Kimigayo is the very essence of Japanese culture that has been passed down since ancient times. ``Kimigayo'' is a tanka poem that appears in the Kokin Wakashu. In the Kokin Wakashu, it begins with ``Waga Kimi wa.'' It was put to music during the Meiji period, and officially became Japan's national anthem in 1999, when the ``Law Concerning the National Flag and Anthem'' was enacted. Until then, it had been handed down from ancient times in Japan.
Does it matter for whom Kimigayo was composed? The main idea is to pray for the eternal prosperity of the other person's life, family, and descendants, and it is important that the concept of eternity is expressed as ``until the rocks turn into rocks and become covered with moss.'' It is included in the anthology of ancient and modern waka poems because its outstanding expressiveness moved people, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. If you were not familiar with the poems in the Heian period, it is clear that they had been written and loved long before that.
It was composed at various celebratory occasions, and it no longer matters who the author wrote it for. Since the Meiji era, songs have been written about You as the Emperor, and if you value His Majesty the Emperor, who is also a symbol of the Meiji Restoration, it is no wonder that people sing it like that.
If this song exists to help us imagine and pass on the spirituality of the ancient Japanese people when they prayed for the happiness of others, what on earth should Japanese educators teach? I wonder if it is.
Japanese cuisine that brings out the taste of ingredients.Japanese unique evolution without spices.
Japanese food is said to be unique.Japanese food uses very little spice.The West colonized Asia for spices.In Western cuisine, pepper is a magic powder used to eliminate the smell of meat, and pepper is indispensable for preserved meat such as pancetta.It is said that Japan did not have access to spices because it was closed to the country at that time, but since the Meiji Restoration, there have been no dishes that use a lot of spices.South Korean food is rich in chili peppers, which came from Japan when Hideyoshi went to Korea.Soy sauce comes from China.The distinctive difference between Chinese and Japanese cuisine is that Chinese cuisine uses a lot of oil, but the Japanese don't like it.As a result, it led to the longevity of the Japanese.
The basis of Japanese cuisine is soup stock.In Japan, umami ingredients derived from seafood are historically used.Glutamic acid, the ingredient of Ajinomoto, was discovered by a Japanese, Ikeda Kikunae, and is said to have made world cuisine delicious.Glutamic acid is one of the delicious ingredients, which is also derived from the exploration of the taste and ingredients contained in Japanese ingredients.
In 1907, Ikeda Kikunae succeeded in extracting sodium L-glutamate from kelp.
In the West, the concept of soup stock includes French cuisine using consomme soup.In Italy, fish and shellfish are boiled down or fried as toppings, so you can get soup stock as a result.Boil down the ingredients in soup and you'll get the soup stock.The world-famous soups are Borscht and Tom Yum Kung.
Many foreigners say that Japanese sushi is delicious because it is fresh, but that's not the case.At high-end sushi restaurants, tuna is matured with the restaurant's technology for a reasonable period of time and sushi is made with ingredients that bring out sufficient flavor.Since there were no spices in Japan, it is the present state by pursuing technology and harmony that fully brings out the taste of the ingredients.This is one of the unique dishes in the world.
Japanese food has developed into its own style because spices did not enter Japan during the long period of isolation.