eat Eel on the day of Ox

I have to tell you something first,

Now your supper is also our business, okay? (that means, of course, I'll be here 'til eight, not really late.)


As the title of this post says, we Japanese eats "eel" on the day of "ox". You may have no idea what I meant.

In the summertime, we traditionally eat grilled eel (yes, it's grilled with "eel sauce"!) because it is believed to beat ”summer fatigue". Is it myth or truth? I believe it has appropriate reason.

Eel is known as good source of vitamin A and E. In the summertime, that's really hard to escape from UV exposure and get tan or burnt. But did you know? Vitamin E works to prevent skin damage from the sun. And vitamin A works to heal skin problem if it's too late. See? It's not just our grandma's secret.

And we eat eel on specifically on the day of "ox", is called " Do-Yoh no Ushi". The day in between Summer Solstice and Autumn Solstice is called "Risshu", "Do-Yoh" is 18-19 days of period before "Risshu". The day of ox (according to Chinese zodiac) during "Do-Yoh" is called "Do-Yoh no Ushi ("Ushi" is ox in Japanese)". We eat this nutritious fish to survive in the muggiest season the year in Japan from ancient.

Someone said, "Unagi(eel)" and "Ushi" both started with the letter U, that's the reason why we eat eel on the day of ox. If it's true, it's no necessary to eat eel - we have bunch of stuff starting with U. But out great-great-great-granpas thought that fatty food makes people more energetic. Maybe that's the reason why, at least I believe so.


And the day of ox in 2009 is July 19th.
But if you want to blow summer fatigue, it's always here at Washoku Cafe!

Tanabata Night

If you had been here yesterday -July, 7th- , you did notice something was strange. I wore Yukata (summer Kimono) instead of my regular work clothes(all black, head-to-toe) even it was not "extended customer appreciation day" or anything...do you know what day yesterday was?

We, especially people who is from Tokyo region, celebrate that day so called Tanabata (in north-east region, it is in August)-the star festival in Japan.
Since it's not a national holiday, we rarely have special party on that day. But I just want to introduce how wonderful the day is.

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Orihime("Weaving Princess" - Vega) and Hikoboshi(A.K.A. Kengyu, "Cow Herder" - Altair), each lived in opposite side of Ama-no-Gawa("River in the Sky" - Milky Way), were arranged to meet by Ten-Tei(Orihime's dad, "Sky-King"). And crushed on each other instantly. They got married, but they stop working thereafter because the marriage is too happy to keep them working even they worked very hard before that. It hit Ten-Tei's nerve and they were separated by force. And they are forbidden to see each other...
Tanabata is the only day of the year that they are allowed to meet, if Orihime could finish weaving her textile. They can cross Ama-no-Gawa with some help of a magpie only one day a year even they are loving each other so much. If it rains on the day, they can't make it because Ama-no-Gawa will flood...

Unfortunately, there is high-ratio of rain/cloud on that day. It is believed to be the tears of two...

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I know the real life is not so sweet like this(who wants to throw his/her job away because there marriage is so very happy and stay together all-day-long?). But it's romantic, isn't it?


And...where is my Hikoboshi? :-(