Japan has the highest average life expectancy rates in the world with the average person living until the age of 84! That's 80yrs for males and 87yrs for women! For those of you who aren't aware, almost half of Tokyo is made up of the countryside, you have the main rural, industrial, city area on the Eastside of Tokyo and the green, Inaka, farm-life area on the Westside, so fresh local produce is always available. If you go to the supermarkets in Japan everything is very neatly presented with super-efficient staff at your service but most importantly you get your money's worth as the food here is very high in quality, although I find the fruits a little pricey. There's a lot of rice and Soya products that are consumed in Japan and this is like their base foods, Gohan is eaten everyday in Japan like pasta-based foods being eaten everyday in Italy! Gohan actually translates into two words; one is 'rice' and the other is 'meal' so you can already tell how important rice is in the Japanese diet!
I have a park very close to my house and sometimes when I'm up at 6am (for whatever reason...) I see a group of elderly people stretching to music and this is called 'Taiso' in Japan and apparently it is quite common, I also see elderly people running quite often, maybe even more so than the younger people! So back to rice and Soya... Soya is found in; Miso, Soya sauce, Natto, Tofu and plenty of other things, people were even chanting "Soya Soya" whilst carrying the Omikoshi during the Matsuri season! I'll give you a heads-up on the main things that you're going to encounter everyday when your in Japan; salarymen, "Irashimase" and Soya stuff.
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| Taiso |
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