Hiroyuki

Most of the lunch boxes made of plastics are microwaveable, I think. The ones that my wife bought for my childrens are microwaveable, but the instructions at the bottom warn that you must take off the lid before heating (because the lid is less heat-resistant). Needless to say, those made of aluminum are not microwaveable.

My wife and I seldom buy salted wakame partly because of its high price, but we sometimes make a simple salad with dry wakame and enoki mushrooms. Dressing that we use with this salad: Soy sause : Vinegar : Sesame seed oil = 1 : 1 : 0.5

There are dozens of sites showing photos of ekiben, so I just introduce only one of them: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~vn4t-nnmy/ekiben/ekiben.htm First click any district name, for example, 北海道 (Hokkaido). In the list that appears, click any ekiben name in the leftmost column 駅弁名 (ekiben name), and a photo(s) of the ekiben appears. Ekiben are still popular among many Japanese. Some people like me prefer konbini (convenience store) bento, rice balls, bread, and so on in terms of price and taste (ekiben tend to be overly seasoned with sugar and salt because of concern about food poisoning).

OK. I'll follow your suggestion.

Today's review: 甘夏　a-ma-na-tsu: sweet Chinese citron お好み焼き o-ko-no-mi-ya-ki: Japanese pizza? 目利き　me-ki-ki: connosseur, judgment

The correct answer will be the middle one: takes all the responsibilities of choosing fish mekiki = 目利き, meaning connoisseur, literally, someone who has a good eye *** For example, you can say: Sakana no mekiki (魚の目利き)　Judgment of fish http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4...4992918-6242719

I understand that English-speaking people have difficulty pronouncing short and long vowels correctly. In Japanese, the difference between short and long vowels is critical. Don't confuse sho-jo (virgin) 処女 with shoh-jo (girl) 少女. Another possible confusion: Shoh-jo, mentioned above, is written as しょうじょ in hiragana, or sho-u-jo. Confused? Let me give you another example. The Japanese word for clock (or watch) is written as とけい (to-ke-i) in hiragana, but it is actually pronounced not to-ke-i but to-kee (where kee denotes a long ke vowel).

The latter is correct. Or, should I write: o-ko-no-mi-ya-ki (Each vowel is a short one. oh, koh, and noh are used to denote long vowels.) In hiragana: おこのみやき It is usually spelled お好み焼き, but there are other forms like: お好焼き お好焼 All these are pronounced the same way. You may find the new thread "An interface between the two languages" useful.

I have no clear image of how this thread is going to be in the future. The future of this thread is up to members. I like this sentence: If you build it, he will come. I have built a thread, somebody will come. Maybe you can use this thread to ask a question like this: I don't know how to pronounce 甘夏. Somebody help me. Someone else (probably me) can answer that question. Note: If a moderator finds this thread inappropriate, I'd like him or her to delete it.

Mark Sommelier, How can I thank you? I wept for some time, but now I'm OK. This thread has finally given the final word from a real sommelier. You mentioned sake sommelier. In Japan, we have Kikizake-shi (利き酒師). Kikizake (利き酒） means blind tasting of sake. Kikizake-shi are those who do this. Thank you again for your reply.

Thank you for your informative post. In my town, public nursery schools also adopt the "jiko" system (lunches made in the facilities within the schoolhouse). *** 甘夏 is pronounced a-ma-na-tsu, meaning sweet Chinese citron.

In Japan, rice is graded by shokuryo jimusho 食糧事務所 and other private organizations. You can see how an inspector grades rice by clicking: http://www.aizumai.com/komeni/kensa.html

If you say so... I found the the vegetable & fruit meister: http://www.vege-fru.com/association.html

Thank you, therese, for your comments. Anyone who thinks that the current school lunch systems in Japan are something that we are "given" is sadly mistaken. Parents have tried hard to improve the school systems for their children generation after generation. And I'm willing to do everything I can to stop the current school lunch system of my son's school from degrading.

I received a reply from the Society on April 20. The main point of their reply was, as I interpreted it, that "it's up to each and every rice sommelier". I found their remarks off-putting. The Society has no obligation? I thought of writing them another email, but stopped it. No more haggling over this silly thing called rice sommelier. As far as I am concerned, this thread is DEAD. Thanks.

I know. Nigari seems to be everywhere you go shopping in Japan. In general, I don't believe in those products. I'm very skeptical about mass media's description of them. I'd like to keep my eyes wide open to see if those products will be here to stay.

One more thing. Don't you think that the word "chopstick" is a misnomer? You usually don't chop food with chopsticks, do you?

I admire my son's ability to use both hands equally well, right hand for eating and left for writing. This makes both right and left hemispheres of his brain work equally well. In today's world, many people tend to use the left hemisphere of their brains more, especially many Japanese, who speak Japanese. Do you understand? A person (not necessarily a Japanese) who speaks Japanese as his native language listens to insects' chirping, birds' singing, and so on with his left hemisphere. I understand that this is really off-topic, but it's interesting to know that, don't you think? *** I forgot to add: And, people who don't speak Japanese as their native language listen to those sounds and noises with their RIGHT hemisphere.

Thank you for describing my question as being "innocent" because that's exactly true. My question was just an innocent one. I just wanted to know the truth, out of curiosity. And I'm really glad now that I have found the truth. Thank you, everyone. I didn't expect that this thread would turn out to be such a fascinating one.

I'm sure there are still a lot of parents who do so. My wife is close to that category of parents, but my left-handed son is safe from her brutality because of me. Interestingly, my son uses his left hand for writing, but uses his right for eating.

I'm glad to know that schools in even such urban areas as Yokohama are similar to those in rural areas in terms of school lunch system.

I know no systems are perfect, but I think the school lunch systems in Japan are among the best that you can think of, especially those in rural areas like my town, where locally grown safe farm products are used whenever possible. (This is rather off-topic, but a lot of efforts are being made in Japan these days toward "jisan jisho" 地産地消, or "local production for local consumption", and these efforts are compatible with the need for safe farm products for use in school lunches.) Sadly, though, the exemplary school lunch system in Shiozawa town is threatened--as I briefly mentioned in my previous post, a special committee is discussing a switch from the existing "jiko" system to a "center" system. According to a town councilor, the committee is split into two: those in favor of privatization, placing priority to cost reduction and efficiency, and those placing priority to food safety and "shokuiku" 食育 (literally, "education in eating") plus those promoting "jisan jisho" of farm products. The committee is scheduled to release a report in late April. I'd like to post a summary of the report when it is released.

hillvally, Most of the lunches shown in your photos are much more like "oyatsu" in Japanese, snack given to children around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, kinds of food that Japanese parents will not allow their children to eat as meals. Isn't the TV dinner in the fourth photo too much for a child of eight to ten years old? I think that the lunch in the fifth photo is the best of all, but I don't like its appearance. They could make it look more appetizing, don't you think? Or, am I mistaken? It may have been beautifully decorated at first. Any Japanese parent would be inclined to question the kid's parents, starting with "How dare you?". I guess that Japanese parents (usually mothers) would get up 20 or 30 minutes earlier than usual to make an acceptable lunch for their children rather than to have them eat junk food for lunch. I thought about those lunches on and off all day yesterday. What I came to my head was: 1) In Japan, kyushoku 給食, the school lunch system, is considered part of education. Do you have that notion in your country? 2) I hate the all-embracing term "junk food". There are many bad junk foods but that there are some very good ones, too. For instance, I like the various types of snack produced by Calbee in Japan http://www.yasai-snack.com/products/index.htm because they contain several types of vegetables. I wonder if you could talk the kids' parents into switching to such "healthier" junk foods. 3) I wonder if you can introduce a rice cooker into your classroom and have your students cook rice, say, once a week, twice a week, to teach them how to take a meal the Japanese way: eating cooked rice, "okazu" (side dish), and soup in a BALANCED MANNER.

I have a feeling that there are a lot of myths and simple misunderstandings going on around the world about the lifestyle of other peoples. Yesterday, I read an interesting new topic in the Japan Forum about the "apple infused with honey". I made a reply that apples infused with honey are totally false. And, now, it's my turn. From what I read in a book about England, Englishmen do not rinse dishes in water after washing with detergent. Is it true or false? Thanks.

Just as Trakris wrote, hold one stick, the upper one in the figure below, like a pencil. http://www.sakuragaoka.ac.jp/wakoudo4/shir...hi/shirabe3.htm The most important thing is not to move the other stick, the lower one, when picking up food. Some bad examples: http://www.feetoh.co.jp/hasi/kouza/ This is a national problem: There are many Japanese children who cannot hold chopsticks properly, and their parents cannot teach them how to do that simply because they cannot hold them properly either.