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Japanese food

Japanese cuisine or Washoku has recently been designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and in this Japanese teachers' blog we introduce some personal stories by professional Japanese teachers about their views of Japanese food culture.


Japanese bento Japanese business people and school children often take lunch boxes with them to school or the office. These lunch boxes are called Obento or simply bento. They usually consist of a portion of rice and some meat dish and vegetables. They are often rather beautifully made and there is an art to making good Obento here in Japan. One of the easiest ways to make your lunch box a litt...
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Japanese summer food Japanese cuisine or washoku is very changeable according to seasons. But what do you eat when the temperatures soar above 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity rises above 70% ? During days like this, many people lose their appetites and don't feel like eating warm, heavy food – yet we all need to get our nutrition ! Well, as you would guess, there is a washoku solution to thi...
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Japan Rice The staple diet of Japanese food or Washoku is rice. The Japonica rice is a short-grain, white rice strain of rice that is cultivated all over the country. Most of the crops are cultivated using small-farm farming methods and a few pesticides and fertilizers are used. Selective breeding also allows for larger harvests and improved cultivation results. In this blog by Japanese teacher...
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Japanese washoku dishes Japanese cuisine or Washoku was recently added to the list of the World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is a cultural cuisine with differences from area to area in Japan and has a long and rich history.One of the most recognizable foods within this cuisine is of course sushi. In this informative blog, Itaya sensei explains many of the different types of sushi. How many...
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Vegetables in Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine or washoku places a great emphasis on vegetables.Although in this day and age, you can grow vegetables in greenhouses and supply different kinds of vegetables all year round, the principle of seasonal vegetables is still preserved in washoku. During spring, there are many vegetables in season and the majority of these are mountain vegetables. Ishi...
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