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Wednesday, October 7 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of the Nagasaki Kunchi dragon dance, grilled Pacific saury, grated daikon, citrus and a padlock

What day is it?

  1. 1634年とされるNagasaki Kunchi festival begins長崎くんち（10月7日〜9日）

    Nagasaki Kunchi is the autumn festival of Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki, held every year from October 7th to 9th. It's said to have started in 1634. Each neighborhood performs only once every seven years, and the shows reflect Nagasaki's long contact with China and Europe, like the famous dragon dance. The performances are an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan.

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  2. 2003年制定Theft Prevention Day盗難防止の日

    October 7th can be read as "to-nan," which sounds like the Japanese word for theft. The General Insurance Association of Japan picked this date in 2003. That year, car thefts in Japan hit a peak of more than 64,000. By 2024 the number had dropped to about 6,000, less than a tenth of the peak.

  3. 1952年Barcode Dayバーコードの日

    On October 7th, 1952, a patent for the barcode was granted in the United States. Today, almost everything you buy at a Japanese supermarket or konbini has one. The code used for products in Japan is called the JAN code, and most of them start with 45 or 49, the numbers assigned to Japan.

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If someone asks you

Q

Why is there a Chinese-style dragon dance at a Japanese shrine festival?

A

That's Nagasaki for you. For about two hundred years, when Japan limited its contact with the outside world, Nagasaki was one of the few places where Chinese and Dutch traders were allowed to come. Chinese culture became part of local life, and the dragon dance was offered to the local shrine like any other performance. To people in Nagasaki, it doesn't feel foreign at all.

In season Pacific saury さんま Sanma, or Pacific saury, is a long, thin fish that tastes best in autumn. In kanji it's written with the characters for "autumn," "sword," and "fish," which is said to come from its blade-like shape and its season. The classic way to eat it is grilled whole with salt, with grated daikon radish and a squeeze of citrus. The catch has fallen a lot in recent years, so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Micro-season 48 of 72 水始涸みずはじめてかるる Fields Are Drained Water is drained from the rice paddies so the ground dries enough for the harvest. It is not nature drying up but farmers preparing.

Phrase of the day

Could you keep an eye on my bag for a second?

Sentence of the day

October 7th is the first day of Nagasaki Kunchi, a shrine festival that mixes Japanese, Chinese, and European influences. It's also Theft Prevention Day in Japan, and Barcode Day, after a U.S. barcode patent granted in 1952.

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Sources

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