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Friday, October 30 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of a blank poetry notebook and apples suggesting First Love Day, fragrant wood and an incense cup, and tamago kake gohan in an autumn Japanese room

What day is it?

  1. First Love Day初恋の日

    On this day in 1896, the poet Shimazaki Toson published his poem "Hatsukoi," or "First Love," in a literary magazine. It became one of the best-known love poems in modern Japanese literature. The day was set by Nakadanaso, an old inn in Komoro, Nagano Prefecture, where Toson often went while he was teaching there.

  2. 2005年Tamago Kake Gohan Dayたまごかけごはんの日

    Tamago kake gohan, or TKG, is hot rice mixed with a raw egg and a little soy sauce. On this day in 2005, the first national symposium on the dish was held in Unnan, Shimane Prefecture, and the group that organized it made the date Tamago Kake Gohan Day. October is also when new-crop rice reaches the stores.

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  3. 1992年制定Fragrance Day香りの記念日

    Nanao, a city on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, set this day in 1992. That year, an event called the World Fragrance Fair in Noto was held in Nanao as part of Japan's National Cultural Festival. Japan has its own culture of scent, too. In kodo, the way of incense, people quietly enjoy the smell of fragrant wood and try to tell different scents apart.

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If someone asks you

Q

Is it really safe to eat raw eggs in Japan?

A

For most people, yes, as long as the eggs are fresh and kept in the fridge. Eggs here are washed and sanitized before they're packed, and the date on the carton shows how long they're safe to eat raw. Still, the risk isn't zero. Older people, small children and pregnant women are usually told to eat eggs cooked. And if you don't like the texture, nobody will mind if you skip it.

In season Autumn leaves 紅葉 Around this time of year, the leaves are turning red and yellow in the mountains and in northern Japan. The color moves slowly south and down to lower ground, so in cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, the best time is usually later in autumn. Going out to see the leaves is called momijigari, and popular spots get very crowded on weekends. Micro-season 53 of 72 霎時施こさめときどきふる Light Rain Comes and Goes Short showers pass through and stop again. Japanese has a special word, shigure, for this late-autumn rain that never settles into a real downpour.

Phrase of the day

Would you like a raw egg to go with that?

Sentence of the day

October 30th is First Love Day, after a famous poem by Shimazaki Toson. It's also Tamago Kake Gohan Day, a day for hot rice with a raw egg on top, and Fragrance Day, set by the city of Nanao in Ishikawa.

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Sources

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