Local swimming event to prepare for tsunami

July is almost over. Usually, all the 5th graders in elementary schools in Hamamatsu participate in an annual event called “30-minute circular swimming” in this month. But it was cancelled this year because of covid-19. In Japanese, this event is called “sanjuppunkan kaiei (30分間回泳).” I think most Japanese people have never heard of it or don’t know what it exactly means. This is a unique event in Hamamatsu that is hardly seen elsewhere.

In 30-minute circular swimming, children are supposed to swim for 30 minutes without touching the bottom of the pool. It is held in a big pool, and children from two (or more?) elementary schools swim together at a time in circle (There are 97 elementary schools in total). After several minutes from the start, a flow of water is generated, which allows them to swim more easily. Since the most important thing is to sustain themselves in water, children can swim in any style. It is ok to just allow themselves to float on water to be carried forward by the flow. I have heard more than 90% of children succeed in this challenge every year and get a certificate. It’s amazing!

This event has been held since 1966. When I was a 5th grader, it was held in a municipal pool near the castle. It was so deep that children could not reach the bottom. I was scared and got out of the pool after 3 minutes. It was no problem then because I didn’t need to have a “makeup test.” In recent years, children who couldn’t swim for 30 minutes should try again next year.

Now the old municipal pool no longer exists, and this event is held in ToBio (Furuhashi Hironoshin Memorial Hamamatsu Swimming Pool). It is a swimming facility nicknamed after Furuhashi Hironoshin (古橋廣之進, 1928 - 2009), who was an Olympic freestyle swimmer from Nishi Ward of Hamamatsu and called “flying fish (tobiuo) of Fujiyama”. He set some world records after World War II and led the swimming world in Japan.

As a child, Furuhashi Hironoshin used to swim in Lake Hamana. As you see in this map, Hamamatsu is surround by water, Lake Hamana, Pacific Ocean, and Tenryu River.

The event of 30-minute circular swimming is intended to prevent children from water accidents. They say that in case a tsunami occurs, if you can sustain yourself in water for 30 minutes, you will have a greater chance to be rescued. I don’t know if it is true or not, but 30-minute circular swimming is surely an unforgettable summer memory for many people in Hamamatsu.

GariGarikun - Popular soda popsicle in convenience stores

In convenience stores such as Seven-Eleven and FamilyMart, you can find a popsicle in a blue bag with a funny picture of a boy. It is a vegan popsicle GariGarikun (ガリガリ君) with a flavor of soda. “Garigari” is a Japanese onomatopoeic word that represents the sound that occurs when you crush hard things such as an ice cube with your teeth (and “-kun” is a word used to address a boy or a man who is younger or the same age as the speaker). As a popsicle, it has a nice name. It gives me images of hard cold ice, ice shaver, and shaved ice – something I want to have on a hot summer day.

Like other soda popsicles, GariGarikun was pale blue though the color of this picture is not good.

As I expected, it was refreshing to eat it. It was crunchy and had a slight flavor of lime juice. I enjoyed the crunchiness of the ice and thought it had a refined taste compared with soda popsicles I used to eat when I was little. Soda popsicles have been loved by children in many years, and they seem to have evolved.

I ate the popsicle in a little haste because I wanted to check the stick in the popsicle. If “当たり (Atari (win))” is printed on your stick, you can get another GariGarikun at the store you bought it. This time I didn’t win, as there was nothing printed on the stick.

In addition to this soda-flavored one, GariGarikun seems to have a variety of flavors such as cola, Kyushu mandarin orange, pear, grapefruits, and sports drink. I don’t think I have seen them before, but these five products seem to be vegan. According to the information on the website of the manufacturer, an ice cream company Akagi Nyugyo, they contain only apple as an allergen. GariGarikun is the company’s most popular product series and one of the bestselling popsicles in Japan. The soda popsicle is a regular product and available all the time.

*Next day, I found the pear-flavored GariGarikun at Seven-Eleven. I liked its sweet smell, but it tasted much sweeter than the soda popsicle. It contained 2% of pear juice, but I couldn't feel the flavor of a pear. I prefer the pale blue GariGarikun.

Corona measures to be enhanced

From July 23 to 26 this year, we have 4-day holidays in Japan. I visited my parents and got a summer mask made by one of my aunts. She is good at sewing (and cooking) and gave two masks to my mother. I could choose between them and got this one. Though it is smaller than those available in drugstores, I liked the pattern with swimming fish.

Before the outbreak of covid-19, Japanese people used to wear only white masks. But now, many people enjoy making their original masks with a variety of colors and patterns. Even some shops in the downtown sell fashionable cloth masks though they are not drugstores or handicraft shops. Though it is quite humid and hot, it is still necessary to wear a mask.

During these holidays, two corona clusters were found in the downtown Hamamatsu. They broke out at a nightclub and a bar. In the press conference today, the mayor said that there has been 52 cases confirmed in the recent one week, and 40 cases of them are related with the clusters. He also said that tests would be conducted for staff of 650 bars and nightclubs, and the city would introduce a certification system of restaurants that actively take measures to avoid the “Three Cs (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings).”

When I first heard of the clusters, I was shocked because before July 23, there had been only 8 cases confirmed in the city and the last case was announced in June. I live near the downtown, and the closest supermarket to me is the one located there. Maybe it’s better to buy foods online.

“Staff Canteen” in Act City

Act City is a landmark of Hamamatsu located adjacent to the train station. It is a group of facilities including Main Hall, Concert Hall, Congress Center, Act Tower, Exhibition and Event Hall, etc. Act Tower is the highest building of the city with a height of 212m. It consists of Act Plaza with restaurants, offices, Okura Act City Hotel Hamamatsu, and Observatory Gallery. There seems to be quite many people working in this building.

On the second floor of Act Tower, there is a restaurant named “Act Shain Shokudo 3-Chome (アクト社員食堂3丁目).” Shain shokudo means a staff canteen, and chome is a unit of address. Despite of its name, the restaurant welcomes everyone, not only those working in the building but also people from outside. Like a real staff canteen, it is a self-service restaurant.

The menu items are Japanese home-style dishes. On the wall outside the restaurant, there was a poster presenting small dishes that cost only 110 yen. The one in the center with tomato slices looked delicious, and I entered the restaurant with some expectation.

Near the entrance, there were sauce and dressing, as well as interesting objects such as the mascot Peko-chan of Fujiya, a popular confectionery company, two river imps called kappa, and a photo of sunset. I thought "3-Chome" of the restaurant name might have come from a Japanese film "Always: Sunset on Third Street (Always Sanchomeno Yuhi)" that depicted people’s lives in Tokyo in 1950’s. It was a nostalgic film and won great popularity.

Since it was a little over 11:00 on Saturday, there were only a few customers inside. I took a tray, half-split chopsticks, and a paper napkin and checked the dishes in cases. Each dish was covered with plastic wrap, and the staff wore masks. I asked one of them about the dish with tomato slices that I saw outside. Unfortunately, the dressing was not animal-free.

I could have four vegan menu items. Since It was Saturday, there were less rice ball options than on weekdays. I chose the one with a pickled plum. Though it wasn’t covered with dried laver, it was tasty with sesame sprinkled on it. The dish on the right of the rice ball is deep-fried tofu. When I brought the tray to the cashier, one of the staff members was going to pour sauce on this tofu. I stopped her immediately because the sauce was very likely to contain dried bonito broth. In supermarkets, deep-fried tofu like this is always flavored with such sauce. What a relief that the sauce was not added from the beginning this time! I ate it with soy sauce on the table. It was warm and seemed to be freshly fried.

The other two were pickles and salad. The pickles were nukazuke or vegetables pickled in salted rice-bran paste. Nukazuke is a common type of pickles, and this dish was not very special. But the salad contains 10 ingredients including lettuce, purple onion, cucumber, corn, green soybeans, paprika, etc. For salad, there were four types of dressing: French, yuzu soy sauce, sesame, and green perilla non-oil dressing. I wasn’t sure if they were animal-free, so I added a little soy sauce to the salad. In Japanese restaurant, vegans have to be always careful about sauce and dressing. The salad itself was satisfactory with a variety of vegetables.

Unlike a real staff canteen, this restaurant has some alcohol beverages. I had a cup of free cold green tea during the lunch and hot green tea after finishing it.

The restaurant was cozy. Even though it was Saturday, some groups of people including families with children came while I was eating. They got dishes to go. Near the pillar, there was a microwave oven so that customers can warm up their dishes. I wondered how crowded this restaurant could be on weekdays. This time, the total of the four dishes I had was 539 yen. It may be a little more expensive than a real staff canteen but was quite reasonable.

Act Shain Shokudo 3-Chome
Address: 111-2 Itaya-machi, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture
Tel: 053-453-1833
Opening hours: 11:00 - 15:00
Closed: Sundays

Gluten-free rice flour bread

In Japan, it is still difficult to find gluten-free bread. You can find rice flour bread in most supermarkets and some bakeries, but they usually contain some wheat flour. It may be confusing and disappointing for people with allergy who must have wheat-free or gluten-free foods.

The other day, I found real gluten-free rice flour bread in Seijo Ishii (成城石井) in the station building. It had a long name, “Yaiteoishii Okomepan (焼いておいしいおこめパン)”, which means “rice bread that tastes delicious when toasted.” Beneath the name, it was clearly written that the bread is intended to be toasted. According to the package, it is gluten free and does not contain 28 allergen ingredients including wheat, milk, and egg. It is made by a company TAINAI in Niigata Prefecture, and they use rice powder made from rice of Niigata Prefecture. As Niigata is a major rice production area, I got interested in this bread.

As this was my first time to eat genuine rice bread, I didn’t know how it was different from other kinds of bread such as baguette and rye bread. I also wondered why it should be toasted. When I sliced the bread, I was surprised to find how smoothly and easily it could be cut with an ordinary knife. It was different from wheat bread.

This time, I toasted slices with olive oil plus some other things. This one has salt, garlic, and dried parsley sprinkled on it,

and this one has salt, garlic, and black pepper.

These two slices of bread were not bad. But I still thought this combination of flavors might go better with baguette. The texture of the rice bread was also different from that of wheat bread. It was drier and felt a little strange as I wasn’t used to eating it.

But the third slice tasted much better than the first two. After toasting the bread with olive oil and salt, I put dried seaweed from South Korea.

This product is my favorite seaweed flavored with corn oil, olive oil, which is different from Japanese flavored seaweed. Like Japanese one, it can be eaten with rice and rice cakes as well.

Later, I toasted one more slice to see how it tastes without olive oil or any other flavors.

The toast somehow reminded me of a rice cracker while I was eating it. It was just like a thick and spongy rice cracker. Next time, I have to make some kind of paste with soy sauce or miso to spread on it.

My favorite muesli

The annual rainy season continues in Japan. It is humid and gloomy. Since I felt like eating something light and cold, I had muesli for dinner today, though it may be supposed to eat for breakfast. My favorite muesli is Elthank Japon’s “Premium Bio Muesli” found in many supermarkets. Though it is more expensive than other kinds of muesli, all the ingredients are organic, and fruits and seeds compose 52% of the contents.

The ingredients are organic raisins, organic oat flakes, organic sunflower seeds, organic barley flakes, organic corn flakes, organic spelt flakes, organic pumpkin seeds, organic apricots, organic kamut puff, and organic apples. The muesli is produced in France and packaged in Japan.

The package bears the organic JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standard) mark.

According to the recommendation on the package, you can have it with milk, soymilk or yogurt, use it as topping for ice cream, or mix it into the dough of bread or cakes. I usually eat it with soymilk.

I like this muesli because of its high content of fruits and seeds. Though no salt or sugar is added, you can be satisfied with the sweetness of the dried fruits. I once gave it to my mother who should refrain from eating sweets, and she liked it. Premium Bio Muesli can be eaten not only for meals but also as a healthy snack. In addition to this “Premium Bio Muesli 52% Fruit & Seeds”, there are two similar products “Premium Bio Muesli 52% Fruit & Nuts” and “PREMIUM HIGH FIBER 52% FRUIT・NUTS & SEEDS.” I like the first one the best of all.

*Next day, I blended a banana and soymilk with a blender and ate it with muesli. I also sprinkled cinnamon. That made the muesli even better though it is delicious just with soymilk.

Life in rural China introduced by Swedish vegetarian

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, I have been interested in news about China. When I was in university, I studied Finnish and Swedish. But later, I taught myself two Asian languages Chinese and Korean to keep balance. In this corona period, I often wish I could understand the Chinese language better to grasp the situation more correctly. I was shocked to see how negatively some media in Japan and abroad reported about China. To my mind, COVID-19 is a kind of natural disasters like typhoons (people don’t care about where they come from), and the government of each country should have focused on taking practical measures from the beginning to prevent further spreading instead of blaming China.

In YouTube, I have found some foreigners who live in China and tell about their experiences through their channels. They have their own words to describe the reality in China. In addition to the measures for covid 19 and other policies taken by the government, I can also learn about the lives of ordinary people, which are more interesting for me than political matters. Among such channels, I found “Miriam in China” especially heartwarming and rare.

Miriam is a young Swedish woman who is married to a Chinese man from a rural area in Qinghai. She first came to China in 2015 as an exchange student. In her channel, she has introduced their rural life, traditional annual events and foods. She is a vegetarian. It is exciting to see how she, her husband and mother-in-law cook at home. Her husband makes noodles in a skilled manner, and their moon cakes are very different from the ones I have seen before. All the dishes are vegetarian (or some of them may be vegan) and look so fresh and delicious!

Last week, she posted a video  “Dragon Boat Festival in Rural Qinghai.“ This is a traditional festival held on May 5 of the lunar calendar. In this video, Miriam and her mother-in-law have mugwort behind their ears and look cute. I remember our kusamochi (rice-flour dumpling mixed with mugwort) eaten in traditional events such as Doll’s Festival. Both in China and Japan, mugwort is considered good for health and has been used as a medical herb. As a traditional food for this day, Miriam makes zongzi with sticky rice, candies dates and raisins by wrapping them with bamboo leaves. In Japan, we have a similar food called chimaki, which has become a sweet available on confectionary stores and eaten on May 5 of the solar calendar.

In “Dragon Boat Festival in Rural Qinghai“, Miriam uses “Ensam (Alone)” by Sandra Marteleur as the background music for the scene of mugwort field. It sounds like Swedish folk music but in natural harmony with the scene, like Miriam herself in the family.

“Dragon Boat Festival in Rural Qinghai“
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQfvYkaIvYg&t=195s)

Usuchatoh - Beloved drink in Shizuoka Prefecture

As I told before in this blog, Shizuoka Prefecture is known for its tea cultivation. Many local people drink green tea five times a day or more. In summer, cold barley tea may be preferred sometimes as in other regions in Japan, but we have also unique summer drink. It is called Usuchatoh (ウス茶糖) and produced by a tea shop Chikumeido (竹茗堂). Two yeas ago, it was introduced in a local TV show and was called “soul drink” by one of the local people.

Chikumeido is an old-established shop founded in the downtown of the present Shizuoka City, the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture, in 1781. Usuchatoh was invented in 1933 by the seventh-generation owner. It is powdered green tea with sugar and cinnamon added. I’ve heard there is a similar product called “Green Tea” made by other company, but the taste seems to be different. Anyway, the names Chikumeido and Usuchatoh are so famous in Hamamatsu that I had thought for a long time that it was drunk all over Japan. In fact, it is a local drink and difficult to get outside Shizuoka Prefecture.

Chikumeido has three shops in Hamamatsu: in the basement of Entetsu Department Store, the first floor of AEON Hamamatsu Ichino and AEON Hamamatsu Nishi. I got this pack of Usuchatoh in Entetsu Department Store. It contained five stick-type packs. There is also a bag containing 300g of Usuchatoh sold in the shop.

The powder looked like this.

As instructed on the backside of the pack, I added cold water of 140 cc and stirred well. It became dark green tea.

I expected it would be very sweet because of my memory of childhood. But it was not so sweet as before. It was moderately sweet and surely had the refreshing flavor of green tea but felt rather weak.
I wasn’t satisfied and immediately made another cup of tea, with about soymilk of 125 cc instead of water of 140 cc.

It tasted much better than the previous tea. In fact, there were some people on the Internet who said that they preferred making it with milk. Even with soymilk, it tasted richer, and I really thought it was good. According to the staff on the shop, Usuchatoh can be added to a shaved ice dessert. I don’t have an ice shaver at home, but Usuchatoh + soymilk would add a delicious flavor to the dessert.

At the cashier, he gave me a little present.

It’s a green tea candy. As soon as I put it in my mouth, I felt the distinctive flavor of tea that was very similar to Usuchatoh. It became increasingly stronger and bitter as I ate the candy. It’s surprising that a candy can be so alike to real tea.

If you search with the shop name “竹茗堂” on Amazon Japan, you can find their products including Usuchatoh, regardless the language you select. It seemed impossible to search with “Chikumeido” or “Usuchatoh” as no result appeared.