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Thursday, October 1 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of a sake flask and cups, coffee, ripe rice stalks and the original bullet train

What day is it?

  1. 1978年制定Sake Day日本酒の日

    Japan's national sake brewers' association named October 1st Sake Day in 1978. One reason is a character: 酉, the tenth sign of the Chinese zodiac, is said to have started as a picture of a jar for alcohol. Another is timing. Until 1964, the sake brewing year officially began on October 1st, just as the new rice came in.

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  2. 1983年制定Coffee Dayコーヒーの日

    The All Japan Coffee Association chose October 1st as Coffee Day in 1983. It's when mornings start to get chilly and people reach for hot drinks, and it's also when Brazil, the world's biggest coffee grower, has finished its harvest. Since 2015, the same date has been International Coffee Day around the world.

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  3. 1964年The first bullet train東海道新幹線の開業

    On October 1st, 1964, the Tokaido Shinkansen, Japan's first bullet train line, opened between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, just before the Tokyo Olympics. The fastest train took four hours back then. Today, the fastest Nozomi makes the same trip in two hours and twenty-one minutes.

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  4. Koromogae衣替え

    Many schools and workplaces with uniforms switch to winter clothes on October 1st. With autumns getting hotter, though, a lot of schools now give students a few weeks to change whenever they're ready.

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If someone asks you

Q

Is sake a kind of rice wine?

A

That's what most people call it, but it's actually brewed more like beer. The starch in the rice has to be turned into sugar first, and that's done with a mold called koji. It usually ends up around 15 percent alcohol, which is closer to wine. Oh, and in Japanese, "sake" can mean any alcoholic drink. The word for this one is nihonshu.

In season New-crop rice 新米 Rice harvested this fall starts reaching stores around now, often with a "new rice" sticker. People say it's softer, shinier and sweeter than last year's rice.
Micro-season 47 of 72 蟄虫坏戸むしかくれてとをふさぐ Insects Shut Their Doors Insects go back underground and close the door behind them. In March the same insects opened it; the year is a house with two doors.

Phrase of the day

Want to try some sake? This one's pretty dry.

Sentence of the day

October 1st is a busy day on the Japanese calendar. It's Sake Day and Coffee Day, it's the anniversary of the first bullet train, and it's the day a lot of students switch to their winter uniforms.

Related topics

Sources