What a terrible hot last Sunday was! But we were so happy that many our guests came to our Asakusa Am/Pm and Ueno Park tours on July 28th. We welcomed 29 guests from USA, Italy, Australia, Austria, and Singapore. Thank you so much for joining us despite the heat.
“Doyo” (土用) is a traditional Japanese term referring to a specific period of time that occurs about 18 days before each of the four major seasonal changes: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These periods are called “Doyo” and are used in traditional Japanese calendar systems.
The most famous of the Doyo periods is the one between summer and autumn. Doyo period between summer and autumn is High temperature and humidity. It is characteristic weather in Japan. For this reason, since ancient times, Japanese people have devised various ways to survive hot summers, especially food.
The most well-known custom associated with food during the Doyo of summer (known as “Doyo no Ushi no Hi”) is eating eel. It is believed that eating eel on this day provides energy and helps prevent summer fatigue. Eel is rich in various vitamins and minerals and is a complete nutritional food.
Anyway, Next Monday on August 5 is “Doyo no Ushi no Hi.” If you are in Japan on this day or in summer, you should try various kind of eel(Unagi) dishes. I highly recommend Una-zyu (box of rice topped with baked eel seasoned with sweat soy sauce) and Hitumabushi (round wooden container of rice mixed with small cut sweet baked eel with soup stock and condiments.) Such dishes are available at eel specialty restaurants and almost Japanese restaurant offer typical Japanese dishes. Don’t worry! Even If you can’t be in Japan in Summer, you can eat eel anytime. Let’s eat Unagi and enjoy Japanese summer!
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Posted by Yumi.H