Get Energy! – Eel Day

For preventing summer fatigue, people in Japan eat sustaining food like grilled meat or curry rice. Especially on Doyo-no Ushi no hi, the day of the Ox in midsummer, many Japanese eat eel. *The day of the Ox changes every year.

In the mid 18th, a poor eel restaurant owner asked the multi-talented doctor Gennai Hiraga how to increase the sales. Gennai gave the advice to put the posters saying “Today is the day of the Ox!” being inspired by the legend that people don’t suffer from summer fatigue when they eat food beginning from the letter “u” in Japanese on that day. (Eel is called unagi in Japanese.)

This eel restaurant got more sales after putting poster. This story is regarded as the one of the reason to eat eel meal on the day.

Eel is expensive, but it is good chance to enjoy traditional kabayaki (charcoal-grilled eel) on this “eel day”.

Summer Battle - The Upper House Election

The most exited topic in recent Japanese news is the election of the House of Councilors, taking place on July 29. Since the imperfect management of payment record into the pension system was brought to light, the national annuity is one of the main issues in this election and each candidate and party runs a zealous election campaign.

Public interest in the election is relatively high. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of early voting increased in 54% compare with that of the last election. On the other hand, some people, especially the youth, don’t seem to give their mind to it. Some don’t think the pension issue concerns their own future.

Unaffiliated people might decide the outcome of the election. The importance of each vote is universal.