Month: November 2021

School Lunch Around the World

sushilover0123Leave a comment

There are many things that represent each country’s cultural difference and we believe school lunch is one of them. Today, we would like to introduce how school lunch works around the world.

Japan

In Japan, public schools serve students school lunch during mandatory education. Japanese school lunch is supervised by the dietitian and nutritionally well-balanced. As the menu changes every day, children can eat what they usually don’t eat at home. When lunchtime arrived, students wear aprons and go to get their class’s lunch and students by their selves set the tables. Basically, all students eat the same amount of food and some of the class teachers do not permit leaving it. Although there are pros and cons against this leading policy, it can also be said that enough food is secured for students. Also, Japanese school focuses on food education. Home economics is a compulsory subject and students learn the importance of having well-balanced food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5s1SlqB8  (Kyushoku: The Making of a Japanese School Lunch)

America

School lunches have become more nutritious despite many challenges, a look at eight elementary schools shows - Washington Post

1800 × 1367

Lunch time in America generally starts at 11:30 AM and ends at 13:00. The students in America can usually choose what they want to eat. Some students eat school lunch while some students bring in their own lunch from home. According to Japan Relocation, which provides people living in overseas with houses, the lunch in America, which is called as “hot lunch” is prepared based on school district. Every morning, Teachers ask students whether they want to eat school lunch or not. The teachers then contact person in charge of school lunch to tell the amount they need for school lunch. The unique features are that the students do not pay the school lunch fees every month. Instead, their parents buy prepayment cards for their children and they can pay whenever they want to eat school lunch. Another interesting feature different from Japan is that the students usually do not eat lunch inside their class room. They go to cafeteria instead.

The UK

What's for lunch in England? | What's for lunch?
The secondary school lunch in the UK is said to cost about 2 pounds per a day in average and more than two third of students eat school lunch. In general, the lunch consists of main dish, dessert, and drink. In the UK, the school lunch is called “School dinner” and they eat it at the dining hall. Students pay for lunch in advance. What is unique about school lunch in the UK is that students are provided with fish and chips, or fish fingers every Friday. This is a tradition originated by Roman Catholic belief that we should not eat meet on a Friday. Fish and chips is said to be introduced by jewish immigrants from Portugal and Spain.   

Countries do not have school lunch

In some countries, schools finish before noon and do not have school lunch. In Mexico, Spain, and Peru, students bring snacks and eat lunch at home. Some of the schools serve breakfast before class starts.

School lunch and obesity

Compared with Japanese and American school lunch, nutritional balance differs a lot. This difference affects children’s obesity. According to the data from WHO, the percentage of overweight children in the United States is 42% while that of Japan is 14%.

 

School lunch varies by country, and it reflects each culture. Also, school lunch taking on a role in supporting children’s dietary habit.

Where have all the people on Mary Celeste gone?　~The mystery of the ghost ship~

hinakumagai5 Comments

There are various mysteries in the world, which remain unsolved to this day. In this article, I’d like to introduce the mystery of Mary Celeste, which is sometimes called  “the greatest mystery of the sea”.

On November 7, 1872, a ship named Mary Celeste left a port in New York heading to Genova, Italy.

There were ten people on the ship, including Benjamin Briggs, the captain of Mary Celeste, and seven crew members. There were also his wife and her little daughter on the ship. The weather was good and everything was seemed great for the sailing. However, on December 4th, the Mary Celest was found adrift off the coast of Portugal.

  (Benjamin Briggs)

The mysterious things about the ship found

What makes the Mary Celeste different from other cases of wrecked ships is the way the ship was left when it was found.  The strangest thing is that when the ship was found, all the crew members had mysteriously disappeared from it leaving no trace. There was not even Captain Benjamin Briggs. All of them have yet to be found to this day.

What is more, the state of the ship discovered was peculiar. There was no noticeable damage to the ship. On the contrary, even breakfast or steaming cups of coffee were there inside the ship as if people had been still there five minutes ago. The captain’s diary was also left on board. It was about his wife saying “My wife Mary is…”, but it was not finished. There was also enough food and water left on the ship to last for six months. The ship was almost intact but only the people on the ship disappeared.

What really happened to Mary Celeste?

Numerous people have tried to solve the mystery, and there are several possible theories of what really happened to Mary celeste as follows:

  1. The explosion of alcohol?

This is the most popular theory. The ship had been loaded with industrial alcohol. Benjamin had never transported alcohol by ship before, so he may have panicked when he saw the alcohol explode on the ship for some reason and tried to evacuate the crew in lifeboats, but due to storms or other factors, the lifeboats may have swept away so everyone lost. As proof of this, when the ship was found, nine of the 1,700 barrels of the alcohol were empty. However, there are those who question this theory because the cargo other than the alcohol was completely safe.

      2. Pirate attacks?

Some people say that the ship may have been attacked by pirates because the bloody knives and bloodstains were found on board.  This theory is considered questionable since most pirates are supposed to go for valuables but the crew’s personal belongings were not touched at all.

       3. natural disaster?

Others say that the ship may have been hit by earthquakes or tornadoes and it made the people be panicked and abandon the ship. However, since there was no external damage to the ship, this theory is considered unreliable.

      4.  Food poisoning?

Another theory is that the crews ate the poisoned bread and had a hallucination, which led them to jump into the sea, but this theory is not said to be reliable because investigators later ate the same bread left on the ship and found that it was completely safe, so this theory may not be reliable.

Nearly 150 years have been passed since this incident, but still remains unsolved. Even before this happened, there had been many incidents on Mary Celeste and the owner of the ship changed several times. Mary Celeste maybe a haunted ship.

Visiting Edo-Tokyo Museum

sunagimoLeave a comment

About the Edo-Tokyo Museum

The museum is located in the Ryōgoku district. It was built in March 1993, holding exhibitions about the history and cultures from Edo-Tokyo to today. In the museum, there are many historical items, original and replicas, displayed for the visitors. There are also several dioramas and life-size models of the town, which makes it seem like we are actually in the Edo period. Special exhibitions are held multiple times throughout the year. Little distanced from this museum there is a sister museum in Koganei city called the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, which exhibits preserved historical buildings.

   Image of the Edo-Tokyo Museum

 

 

Image of the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

 

Lifestyles of the Edo period

Out of many displays, what I thought was interesting was about the housing of the Edo period. During the Edo period, houses were built on both sides of the road facing each other. The buildings that face the road were mainly stores and behind the stores were row houses called “nagaya” (長屋) which was where the common people lived. These houses were not very big, and a family would rent a room then, share a well and bathrooms with the other residents. In the explanations, it stated that the walls were very thin, and privacy wasn’t protected. However, this allowed citizens to communicate and support each other, which allowed them to create a strong community.

I had seen these housing on period dramas on TV, but I did not know the actual size and how the lives were, so it was very interesting to actually see a model of the house. I live in an apartment by myself but the room I live in is bigger than the room of the row houses, so it is hard to think about living in such a small room with multiple people. Nowadays we do not have many interactions with our neighbors, so I find the lifestyle of the Edo period unique.

Diorama of the town during the Edo Period

 

 

Diorama of the town during the Edo Period

 

 

Fire fighters in Edo city

Materials used in the construction of nagaya were either wood or paper. Because of this, the houses were vulnerable and had a high risk of catching fire. The city of Edo experienced a lot of fire disasters. In 1657, historic fire called “Meireki no taika” (Meireki conflagration) occurred. The fire lasted for almost 3 days and about one hundred thousand of people were reportedly dead in this disaster.

To extinguish fires and rescue people in Edo, organizations called “Hikeshi” were established. In 1718, Hikeshi was divided into 48 groups and started working in downtown area. More than one thousand members belonged to Hikeshi and the groups worked separately. Each group was composed of Kashiratori (leader), Matoi mochi (role of boost morale), Hashigo mochi (ladder carrier), and Heinin (other members). Matoi is one of the most iconic features of Hikeshi. They worked bravely and toughly so that children in Edo often looked up to them.

Matoi

After enjoying the exhibition, we had lunch at the restaurant near the museum.  We ate Egyptian food called Kushari. We had no idea how this dish tasted like, but it tasted great. It was really fun visiting this museum!