Dining Dojo Editorial: Why is Golden Week so Golden?

Beginning last week Friday, Golden Week started in Japan.  For those readers who are not living in Japan, you probably have no idea what I am talking about.  Golden Week in Japan starts on April 29th, Showa Day (昭和の日) and ends on May 5th, Children's Day, Kodomo no Hi (こどもの日).  Golden Week, Ougon Shukan (黄金週間) comes originally from Oogata Renkyuu (大型連休), long consecutive holidays. 

During Golden Week, there are four public holidays and three regular days.  Most companies are closed on April 30th, May 1st, and May 2nd.  So, many people have about a full week of paid holidays.  Also, Golden Week may be extended if there are weekends.  Note that May Day is not a public holiday.  However on May Day, you can watch many demonstrations and protests in the streets and parks. 

Traveling during Golden Week is very common.  Be forewarned: if you do not large crowds of people, do not travel during Golden Week.  Many tourist places become very crowded during Golden Week.  The train stations and airports are constantly full of travelers.  Many Japanese travelers go overseas during Golden Week for vacation. 

You may be asking yourself, why is this week of long consecutive holidays called "Golden Week"?  According to Wikipedia:

The National Holiday Laws, promulgated in July 1948, declared nine official holidays. Since many were concentrated in a week spanning the end of April to early May, many leisure-based industries experienced spikes in their revenues. The film industry was no exception. In 1951, the film Jiyū Gakkō recorded higher ticket sales during this holiday-filled week than any other time in the year (including New Year's and Obon). This prompted the managing director of Daiei Film Co., Ltd. to dub the week "Golden Week" based on the Japanese radio lingo “golden time,” which denotes the period with the highest listener ratings.^[4]

  ゴールデンウィーク」の名称は、映画会社の大映が松竹と競作して1951年（昭和26年）に同時上映となった獅子文六原作の『自由学校』が大映創設以来（当時）最高の売上を記録^[3]し、正月映画やお盆映画以上の興行成績を残したことで^[4]、映画界でこの時期に多数の動員を生み出すことや活性化を目的として当時の大映常務取締役であった松山英夫によって作成された宣伝用語であり^[4][5]、1952年（昭和27年） - 1953年（昭和28年）頃から一般にも使用されるようになり^[5]、他の業界にも広まった。なお、このときの大映は続いて秋の文化の日を中心とした期間を「シルバーウィーク」と名付けたが、当時こちらは定着しなかった^[4][5

If you are going to see a movie during this time of the year, just remember that this was the action that started the term "Golden Week".

 Also, it is interesting to note that Golden Week is not a Japanese celebration.  Golden Week is also celebrated in China. Once again from Wikipedia:

Golden Week (黄金周) in the mainland of the People's Republic of China is the name given to a semi-annual 7-day national holiday, implemented in 2000:^[1]

• The "Chinese Lunar New Year Golden Week" begins in January or February.
• The "National Day Golden Week" begins around October 1.

A third Golden Week holiday, which spanned May 1 and celebrated Labour Day, existed until 2007.
Three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese companies always have seven continuous days of holiday. These national holidays were first started by the government for the PRC's National Day in 1999 and are primarily intended to help expand the domestic tourism market and improve the national standard of living, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity.

 Have fun during Golden Week!!
 

Dining Dojo Kyushoku: A Mixture of Chinese, Western, and Japanese Dishes

Here are more Japanese school lunches that I ate last week.  For school lunches, Japanese children are given an opportunity to try many different dishes that can range from Chinese to Western to Japanese.  Itadakimasu!!

Penne pasta in a tomato sauce, cucumber and daikon (white radish), bread, quiche, and milk

 Rice, mixed vegetable tempura, stewed beans, egg drop soup with seaweed and tofu skin, milk, and a navel orange

 Rice, chop suey, grilled gyoza (potstickers), bean sprout salad, and milk

 Rice, grilled salted salmon (鮭の塩焼き), komatsu (Japanese potherb mustard leaf) and white radish with a sesame dressing, and stir-fried seaweed, pork and vegetables (ひじきの炒め煮)

Gochisosamadesita!!

Superfood for your Brain: Berries

I love blueberries!!  I put them in my smoothies, yogurt, and cereal in the morning.  Blueberries are extremely healthy for you.  They can help improve your vision, and now, they can help your brain.  Blueberries are a super food that people should start including in their diet if they have not already. 

Here is a great article from Huffington Post Food section.

Berries Benefit Brain By Clearing Toxic Protein Accumulation, Animal Study Finds

Posted: 04/27/2013 9:56 am EDT

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Berries could play an important role in clearing the accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain, according to a new study in mice.
The research, presented at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting, showed that the brains of rats that consumed berries for two months were better protected against radiation, which is meant to induce accelerated aging in the mice.
Specifically, researchers found that the berry consumption was linked with increased autophagy, which is the natural process the brain undergoes to clear out accumulation of toxic proteins. They noted that phytonutrients -- plant chemicals -- in berries may be responsible for this effect; berries are known to be high in anthocyanins.
Researchers said that the findings could be especially meaningful if they also apply to humans, since diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease involve accumulation of toxic proteins. The next step is a study, currently being conducted, on humans ages 60 to 75 to see if berries' have the same sort of effect.
Even though the findings have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal -- and thus should be considered preliminary -- a past study from Harvard researchers showed that eating berries regularly could help slow cognitive decline in older people, HuffPost's Catherine Pearson reported.
Berries Benefit Brain By Clearing Toxic Protein Accumulation, Animal Study Finds

Posted: 04/27/2013 9:56 am EDT

 

 

Here is a great recipe for a smoothie to power you up in the morning or after an workout.

Combine the following the blender:

A good handful of blueberries

One banana

Yogurt (preferably Greek or probiotic)

A scoop of your favorite of protein powder.

 

Then, blend to a fine consistency.

 

Dining Dojo Kyushoku: From April 8th to the 19th

At my job, I have an opportunity to try Japanese school lunch (kyuushoku 給食) at the junior high school where I teach at.  The school lunches are not made at on the school premises.  Instead, the school lunches are made at local school lunch centers that are located near the school.  One school lunch center is responsible for providing school lunch to the local elementary schools and junior high schools located in the neighborhood.

It should be noted that in Japan, high school students do not eat kyuushoku.  The students bring lunch boxes from their house or they can order a lunch from a shop that specializes in making lunch boxes.  High school education in Japan in not compulsory.

These are lunches in which I ate at the junior high school where I work at.  I am not going to disclose where I work at because schools and boards of educations take school lunch very seriously.  Each school has a person that is responsible for the dietary needs of the students.  With the school lunch centers and other dieticians, they are responsible for making the school lunch menu everyday for which school lunch will be provided to the students.

Here are the pics of the school lunch that was given to me.  Itadakimasu!!

Rice, sukiyaki, chikuwa (rolled fish cake) tempura, pickled vegetable, milk, and a strawberry crepe for dessert.

Sekihan (Adzuki (red bean) rice flavored with sesame seeds and salt, deep-fried squid, stir fried burdock root (gobo in Japanese), seaweed and tofu skin (yuba) soup, and milk

 Rice, lotus root salad, pork red miso soup (tonjiru 豚汁), fried pork (yakiniku 焼き肉), and milk

 Pork steamed buns, cucumber salad, Chinese soup with noodles (chuukamen 中華麺), and milk.

Rice, spinach and bean sprout with a vinegar dressing, nikujaga (stewed pork, potatoes, carrots, green peas), steamed mackerel in miso wrapped in foil, and milk

Hamburger with bun, corn and cucumber salad, alphabet noodle soup, and milk

Strawberry yogurt, curry and rice, bread pork cutlet, pickled vegetables (a typical dish that accompanies Japanese curry and rice), and milk

Mapo tofu (tofu with ground pork in a spicy sauce), rice, pork steam buns, cucumber salad, and milk.

 Soup with fu (a type of rice gluten), takinomi gohan (rice with bamboo shoots and vegetables, sawara (Spanish mackerel with an onion sauce, hanami dango (skewered sticky rice balls, and milk

Dining Dojo Drinks: Thai Sugar Cane Juice.

 On this Dining Dojo Drinks: I tasted sugar cane juice from Thailand. Sugar cane juice is very popular in China and many Southeast Asian countries. In some of these countries, you can go juice stands, and they will grind fresh sugar cane into juice for you. The juice is very sweet as you would expect. Also, there are other flavor components in the juice to let you know that you are not just drinking sugar water.

This is a perfect summertime drink.  Also for those of you who visited Southeast Asia as a well as Hong Kong, it would bring memories and tastes.

I am wondering how to incorporate sugar cane juice into cocktail.  Stay tuned to Dining Dojo for an upcoming cocktail featuring sugar cane juice.

Here is the video of me tasting Thai sugar cane juice.

Whip It Good!! Getting a blue belt in Brazilian Jujitsu

Recently, I got my blue belt in BJJ. The video above shows a part of the graduation ceremony in which the promoted student must endure a whipping from every other student in the class. The newly promoted student understands that now they must face new challenges and are they willing to endure the punishment and hard work that comes with the new belt.

Dining Dojo Reviews Japanese School Lunch, kyushoku!!

  Introducing a new section on Dining Dojo!!  Due to recent events, Dining Dojo now has the opportunity to review Japanese school lunches and hopefully further the discussion on school lunches and the importance of nutrition and diet in schools. 
  I will be reviewing school lunches from the city in which I work at.  In Japan, each city tend to have different school lunches.  Some lunches at are made on the school premises, while other cities will have school lunch centers at where the lunches are made.  Plus, some cities hire a private company to provide the school lunches.
  I often hear that Japanese school lunches are healthy.  On the school lunch menu, they list the amount of calories that are in each meal.  Also, each school lunch has a glass bottle or carton of milk for the students to drink.  I found this surprising because Japanese people tend to be lactose intolerant.  Many of the students will drink milk.  However when a student does not drink their milk, I have seen on different occasions Japanese homeroom teachers almost forcing the student to drink the milk.  It all depends on the Japanese homeroom teacher.
   Also, I am thinking that this will be important for anyone to read who will teaching at a Japanese public school.  School lunches tend to surprise and even sometimes shock non-Japanese teachers.  I hope this section will shed some light on the Japanese school lunch.

Itadakimasu!!

Dining Dojo Resturants: Beef House Okuma

Recently, my wife and I celebrated her birthday by going to a great steakhouse named Beef House Okuma.  The restaurant is located in Sakae, Nagoya in the Matsuzakaya Department Store on the tenth floor.  The steak house features wagyu from Kagoshima which is located in the southern part of Kyushu.  We went there for lunch, and we had a very delicious lunch box.

The lunch box was for around 3000 yen ($35.00)  It featured simmered sweet potato, crab cream croquette, hamburger steak and mashed potatoes, sashimi (tai and katsuo), Kagoshima dry-aged wagyu, and roast beef.

Here are some pics of the individual dishes.

The lunch box also came with a bowl of white rice, a bowl of red miso soup, and some Japanese pickles.

After the lunch box, came desert.  The desert was hot coffee and pannacotta with strawberry syrup.

The restaurant tends to be poplar on evenings and on the weekends.  Reservations are advised.

The restaurant is located on the 10th floor of the Matsuzakaya Department Store in Sakae, Nagoya
http://goo.gl/maps/G85PP

American Students Being Denied School Lunch!!

Recently, I read a shocking article on Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/coelho-middle-school-pare_n_3015050.html) that junior high school students were being school lunch because they could not pay for them. If the child received a school lunch but school lunch officials found out that the students could not pay for the lunch, the students were ordered to throw out the lunch in the garbage.  It should be noted that at this school, the school does control the school lunch program.  The school district where this happened outsourced their school lunch program to a private company.  When I read this, I felt utterly disgusted by this. 
   This article portrays a shocking view but unfortunately somewhat common view of American society.  Americans tend to quickly judge other countries.  However at the same time, they fail to look at their own society.  It is a shame to say this and to see this because I am American and a teacher.
    In my opinion, no child should be denied a school lunch.  There are rules and regulations in place when a child cannot afford a school lunch.  In some cases, a child will be given a cheese sandwich and milk as a substitution.  Why did this not happen here? 
   School lunches are especially important to those children who come from low-income households.  For most of these children, school lunches are an important lifeline because they provide one of the only meals that the student will eat in a day.  Some school districts have been providing school breakfasts because more and more children were not having breakfast at home due parents leaving early for work, lack of money, and other reasons.
  No child should be ever denied a school lunch especially in a first world country like America.  School lunches are important because when students are hungry due to a lack of food, they tend to behave poorly and have low scores and grades in their classes.
  When denying a student a school lunch, we are not only letting the child go hungry but also doing harm to our society as a whole. 
  Also, this story shows what happens when you start privatizing government services.  The purpose and goals of each part are different.  Private companies are only interested in making money.  These instances tend to happen more and more when you have companies who is only interested in making money.  Privatization does not work in most cases.  

What can we do to ensure every child receives a school lunch?

First:  We must become aware and educated about the plight of the low-income and even middle-income families that are living throughout the world.  This story took place in America.  However, this happens everywhere in the world.  It does not matter what country you are from.  The problems of the working poor are worldwide.  If you are a parent, join and be an active participant in your child school's PTA.  Also, take a field trip to a local food bank or soup kitchen. Also, find out if the schools in your area outsourced their school lunch to a private company.

Second:  Call your school administrators and Board of Education and ask questions and raise your concerns.  Ask them why the are outsourcing their school lunch programs out a private company.  Find out if school officials have the power to regulate and even intervene the operations of the private company when they are on the school premises.  Make sure that the local authorities are aware that you are aware of the situation.

Third;  Start up a group of concerned parents and individuals in order to discuss the issue at large.  When different people come together, new ideas and perspectives will come into view.

Fourth:  Write a petition.  Nowadays, you can easily use the internet for this purpose.  Go to Change.org and you will that people worldwide are writing petitions for everything.

Update to this story:

Four Employees Fired After Coelho Middle School Students Denied Lunch

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — A food service company spokesman said Friday it has fired four employees after about two dozen students at a Massachusetts middle school were denied lunches this week because their prepaid meal accounts ran low.
"There is a zero tolerance for any individual who leaves a child hungry," said Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for Islandia, N.Y.-based Whitsons Culinary Group.
The lunch decision outraged parents, who said some students at Coelho Middle School in Attleboro cried Tuesday after being told they couldn't eat. Parents and school officials said some students were told to throw their lunches away when they reached the checkout.
Whitsons officials apologized Friday and said it was a violation of its policy that only occurred at Coelho, which has students in fifth through eighth grades.
Marketing vice president Holly Van Seggern said Friday the company would give free lunch to all Coelho students for three days next week and also host a barbeque for students and families at a later time.
"There is nothing we take more seriously than the health and welfare of the children and families we serve, providing them with the nutrition they need so that they have the sustenance to engage in their studies on a daily basis," she said. "The fact that some of these boys and girls were denied access to their lunches is inexcusable."
She said the company has taken steps to ensure that no student will be denied lunch again, and the company will notify parents directly when their account balances are low.

Sorry for the lack of recent posts on Dining Dojo!!

I want to apologize to all of my readers for the lack of recent posts on Dining Dojo.  Many things have been happening in my life recently.  I got a new job at which I am very happy to be at.  Also, I got my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.  In addition to many other things.  If you have been following my Twitter feed or Facebook posts, then you should be somewhat up to date on the happenings of Dining Dojo.  I will be posting new posts and, also, launching new projects on Dining Dojo.  Stay tuned!!