Explore everyday life in Japan
Heading into summer, some of the hardest days to bear are the hot days of mid to late spring when the temperatures suddenly rise and challenge our bodies, which aren’t yet acclimated to the heat and, especially in Japan, the humidity. So how do you beat the heat in Japan? Well, one way to do so is to head to the mountains and get a cool, refreshing bowl of tokoroten.
Tokoroten is a food that has been eaten in Japan for over a thousand years and, on its own, is virtually flavorless. I know, that doesn’t sound very appetizing, a flavorless food, but like many foods in Japan, the appeal of tokoroten has more to do with its texture and the ways in which it can be eaten.
Often, tokoroten, which is made from the gelatin that is extracted from a seaweed called kanten, is served in noodle form. Firm, Jello-like blocks of the stuff are typically chilled until just before being served. Then they are pushed through a rectangular wooden form that has a wire grate on the outgoing end. These grates slice the blocks of tokoroten into long, square, glass-like noodles as they pass through the wooden form. The chilled noodles are then placed in a bowl and served with a single wooden pick and a dab of kurashi (spicy mustard) that is usually placed on the rim of the bowl. Sometimes before being served, vinegar and soy sauce are poured over the noodles. Other times, bottles of vinegar and soy sauce are placed on the restaurant tables so that customers can season their tokoroten to their liking.
It is a simple food that, when eaten in the summer, has a very refreshing quality to it, a quality which can easily be enhanced by taking a drive into the mountains and eating it in a cool, shady old restaurant.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.
Japan for what you see is much more than anime. You know I would like to go some day visiting. Thank you for sharing the beauties of your country.
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It’s much, much more than anime. If you can, please do pay a visit!
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Sound good !
In india temperature is so high specially in rajasthan .
Hot air always blow called loo.
So we take carry juice , onion and water malon to protect from heat and air.
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I remember thinking Rajasthan was hot in August. I can’t imagine how it must feel in peak heat.
Watermelon and onions? Interesting. How do you prepare the onions?
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Not in August only from April to August .
Onions is a vegetable .
We can make a stuff and in summer we use as a salad .
Raw onion is so healthy .
And I have an idea, tomorrow I will make a post about it.
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watermelon with fried halloumi is awesome on a hot day.
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I’m not sure what halloumi is. I’ll have to look it up.
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It's a greek cheese wikipedia that is very salty and does not melt. Therefore you can fry it and make it golden and crispy on the outside. The saltiness combines very well with the fresh sweetness of watermelon.
It's probably very hard to get in Japan.
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That sounds fantastic!
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Omg fried Hellim 😋
it is very delicious when fried with butter 😍
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When I was young I ate often.
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So you don’t eat it very often anymore? Why not?
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I like Tokoroten. It looks summery.
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It was a summery day;)
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Looks yummy!! I wanna eat Tokoroten.
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To my surprise, when I got home last night, Tokoroten was one of the side dishes my wife had prepared.
How do you like to eat Tokoroten?
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This is a Japanese food that I've never heard of. Thanks for sharing this. I recall arriving in Japan in August, and feeling that slap of humidity. If I recall correctly, I reached for a cold beer :-)
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That’s another way to cool down;) Yeah, the humidity here can be downright oppressive. I came in July and was really surprised too.
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I am in love with Japan and Japanese Culture.
I will definitely visit in the near future. And i must visit when Ghibli Studio Theme Park will be opened 😍😍😍
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Are they going to open a theme park? I didn’t know that. The museum is great and is well worth a visit!
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Yep, according to what i read, it will be opened in 2022. so hopefully it will be opened.
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yes i want to see the museum too .)
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That will be an incredible theme park. Very cool.
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yes i think the same, waiting impatiently .)
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My wife told me it's super hot there. Haven't had tokoroten yet. I'll tell you what though, cold ramen is delicious and does the same thing.
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I love cold ramen, somen, soba, hiyashi-chuka, etc. I could eat those dishes everyday for every meal in the summer. People always laugh at me when I say that, but it’s true.
The thing about Tokoroten is that it has this real watery quality to it, so it feels like you’re having a cool drink and a light snack at the same time. It’s a little strange.
Niigata hasn’t been all that hot, but when the temperature suddenly rises, it feels hot and tiring.
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