JAPANESE CUISINE

JAPAN’S PROFILE NAME:

OFFICIAL’S NAME: Empire of Japan
GOVERNMENT: Unitary Parliamentary
Constitutional Monarchy
CAPITAL: Tokyo
LANGUAGE: Japanese
NATIONAL ANTHEM: Kamigayo
Japan is an island country in East Asia. It
is situated in the northwest Pacific
Ocean and is bordered on the west by
the Sea of Japan, extending from the
Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the
East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and
South Korea in the South.
 The Five main island are Hokkaido, Honshu (the
main island), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa.

Tokyo is the nation’s capital and largest city

followed by Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka,
Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
 Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as
one of the most densely populated and urbanized. About three-fourths
of the country’s terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population of
almost 125 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47
administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater
Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with
more than 37.2 million residents.

CLIMATE OF JAPAN
There are four seasons in Japan Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall.
Eastern Japan has hot and humid summers, and cold winters with very
heavy snow of the Sea of Japan side and in mountainous areas.
Western Japan has very hot and humid summers, and moderate cold
winters. Okinawa and Amami had a subtropical oceanic climate.
HOKKAIDO
Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, is especially famous for its ramen. Most people in
Japan associate Sapporo with its rich miso ramen, which was invented there and which is
ideal for Hokkaido's harsh, snowy winters. Sapporo miso ramen is typically topped with
sweetcorn, butter, bean sprouts, finely chopped pork, and garlic, and sometimes local
seafood such as scallop, squid, and crab. Hakodate, another city of Hokkaido, is famous
for its salt-flavored ramen.
JAPAN HOLIDAYS
Japan started the Happy Monday System, which moved a number of national
holidays in order to obtain a long weekend in 2000. This are the include the
holidays of Japan:
New Year’s Day (January 1) Mountain Day (August 11)
Age Day (2nd Monday of January) Respect of the Aged Day (3rd Monday of September)
Foundation Day (February 11) Autumnal Equinox (September 23 or 24)
The Emperor’s Birthday (February 23) Health and Sports Day (2nd Monday of October)
Vernal Equinox Day (March 20 or 21) Culture Day (November 3)
Shōwa Day (April 29) Labor’s Thanksgiving Day (November 23)
Constitution Memorial Day (May 3)
Greenery Day (May 4)
Children’s Day (May 5)
Marine Day (3rd Monday of July)
POPULAR JAPAN DISHES
Zenzai or Appetizer
KARAAGE
The word “Karaage” means deep fried food with no batter. It Is
Japanese-style fried chicken seasoned with garlic and ginger
along with soy sauce, coated lightly with flour, and deep fried.
Because it’s fried in oil, Karaage may not be the healthiest
Japanese food, but it’s certainly a very popular dish in Japan.

KENPIRA SWEET POTATO

It is a breed sweet potato seasoned with soy sauce and sugar.
This is a great small side dish that goes very well with any kind
of entrée, fish or meat. Or make it as a snack to have with tea
in the afternoon.
FRIED SQUID RING
It is a squid sliced into “rings,” coated with Panko and deep-
fried. It could be an appetizer dish to go with drinks or a tasty
entrée for dinner.

SOBA SUSHI
It is rolled Sushi made with cooked Soba inside instead of
Sushi rice. The soba is seasoned with rice vinegar just like
Sushi rice. This interesting and refreshing taste of a Soba dish
may not be an everyday dinner, but it is a wonderful appetizer
for special gatherings.

TUNA POKE
It is raw Tuna cut into cubes and marinated with a spicy
soy-based sauce. Poke is actually a Hawaiian dish, but
Japanese immigrants there may have contributed to the
development of the evolution for the seasonings of Poke.
ASPARA BACON
It is asparagus spears wrapped with a bacon strip and pan-
fried. It doesn’t sound like a very Japanese dish, but it is a
popular side dish for different occasions.

STUFFED SHIITAKE MUSHROOM

Also called a Shiitake Nikuzume, a shiitake mushroom
stuffed with ground meat and cooked with Teriyaki sauce.
Shiitake mushrooms are Japanese mushrooms with a
distinctive flavor.

NIKUDANGO AMAZUAN
Are the meatballs coated with sweet and sour sauce.
Nikudango literally means “meatball” and Amazuan means
“sweet and sour” sauce in Japanese. This is another Chinese
dish that has been adapted into Japanese cuisine.
 AJITAMA
It is a boiled eggs marinated in a sauce. Ajitama is actually a
short name for Ajitsuke Tamago which means “seasoned eggs”.

MĒNKŌSU (Meinkōsu) or MAIN COURSE

Wagashi or Dessert
BOCCHAN DANGO
is a multi-colored variety of popular Japanese dango sweets. It consists of three
balls on a skewer, each one with a different color – red, prepared with red bean
paste, yellow, prepared with eggs, and green, prepared with green tea. This dango
variety is often associated with the city of Matsuyama, because the sweet treat
appears in Natsume Soseki’s 1906 novel Botchan.
DORAYAKI
One of the most popular wagashi (traditional Japanese confections) types, dorayaki is a
delicious snack consisting of a sweet filling sandwiched between two fluffy pancakes. Its
name stems from dora, the Japanese word for a gong, which the dorayaki shape is
reminiscent of, and although its origins are in fact said to be ancient, the popular treat
took its current form in the early 1900s when it was reportedly first made as a sandwich
by a Tokyo-based confectionery called Usagiya.

MITSUMAMI
Mitsumame is a famous Japanese summer delicacy made with jelly and black
sugar syrup. It is often accompanied by different types of fruit and other
refreshing condiments. The base of each mitsumame are see-through jelly cubes
made with agar-agar, a thickening agent created out of seaweed.
OTHER JAPANESE DESSERTS
Most common categories for prepared food:

YAKIMONO – grilled and pan-fried dishes

NIMONO – stewed, simmered, cooked, and boiled
BLACK SESAME COOKIES WARABI MOCHI dishes
ITAMEMONO – stir-fried dishes
AGAMONO – deep-fried dishes
SASHIMI – sliced raw fish
SUIMONO and SHURIMONO – soups
TSUKIMONO – pickled and salted vegetables
JAPANESE CHEESECAKE MISO BUTTER COOKIES
AEMONO – dishes dressed with a various kind of
sauces
SUNOMONO – vineyard dishes
CHINMI – delicacies

MATCHA SWISS ROLL ANMITSU

 RICE – Japan’s most important crop, and has been cultivated across the
country for over 2000 years. It is the primary staple food of the Japanese diet
and of such fundamental importance to the Japanese culture that it was
once used as currency, and the word for cooked rice (gohan) has become
synonymous with the general meaning of “meal”.

COMMON TYPE OF RICE

White Rice or Hakumai Brown Rice or Genmai Multigrain Rice Glutinous Rice or
Mochigome
COMMON RICE PRODUCTS COMMON RICE DISHES

Tamago-kake Gohan
Cooked Rice or Gohan Donburi

Rice Wine or Rice Flour

Nihonshu or Sake

Chazuke Sushi

Rice Cake or Mochi

Rice bran or Nuka Kayu or Okayu Fried Rice or Chahan

Rice Vinegar
Rice Ball or Onigri
 RICE MANNERS

Right
Omoraisu
Pick up your rice bowl with your hand
while eating from it.
Rice bran Pickles or It is considered polite to finish every
Nukazuke
grain of rice that you have been served
Rice Crackers or Senbei
Wrong
It is not common to pour soy sauce
directly over rice.
Rice Bread or Komepan Do not leave your chopsticks standing
up vertically in your rice. This is done at
Sweets funerals.