Japan Culture Navi 日本語

Friday, October 2 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of tofu, tonkotsu ramen and a road tunnel through the mountains

What day is it?

  1. 1993年制定Tofu Day豆腐の日

    Japan's tofu makers' association named October 2nd Tofu Day in 1993. It's pure wordplay: 10 can be read "to" and 2 can be read "fu," so 10/2 sounds like tofu. The same group also marks the 12th of every month as Tofu Day.

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  2. Tonkotsu Ramen Dayとんこつラーメンの日

    A group of ramen shops in Kurume, Fukuoka, named today Tonkotsu Ramen Day, again with a pun: 10/2 can be read "ton-kotsu," or pork bone. Kurume calls itself the birthplace of tonkotsu ramen. The rich, cloudy pork-bone soup is said to have started at a food stall there in 1937.

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  3. 1985年The Kan-etsu Expressway opens end to end関越自動車道の全線開通

    On October 2nd, 1985, the Kan-etsu Tunnel opened under the mountains between Gunma and Niigata, and the Kan-etsu Expressway from Tokyo to Niigata was finally connected. At about 11 kilometers, it's still the longest mountain road tunnel in Japan. Before that, drivers had to take National Route 17 over the Mikuni Pass.

If someone asks you

Q

Is tofu mainly for vegetarians in Japan?

A

Not at all. Here it's just an everyday food, and most people eat it without thinking of it as a meat substitute. It goes into miso soup, it's served cold with soy sauce and ginger in summer, and it's simmered in hot pots in winter. Lots of dishes even use tofu and meat together, like mapo tofu or sukiyaki.

In season Persimmons 柿 Persimmons, or kaki, are in season from about now. Some kinds are sweet enough to eat straight from the tree. Others are so astringent that they make your mouth pucker, so they're peeled and hung up to dry first, which turns them sweet. Rows of persimmons drying under the eaves of farmhouses are a classic autumn scene in Japan.
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

Tonkotsu means pork bone. It's not the same as tonkatsu.

Sentence of the day

October 2nd is a day of puns in Japan. It's Tofu Day and Tonkotsu Ramen Day, because the numbers 10 and 2 can be read as "to-fu" and "ton-kotsu." It's also the day in 1985 when the expressway from Tokyo to Niigata was finally connected.

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Sources

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