JAPAN: Traditional 'Doyo ushi no hi' eating grilled eels on the hottest day of the year

Record ID: 467243

  • Title: JAPAN: Traditional 'Doyo ushi no hi' eating grilled eels on the hottest day of the year
  • Date: 24th July 2001
  • Summary: (U1)TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 25, 2001)(REUTERS) SUN SHINING IN SKY MV MAN SITTING ON PARK BENCH DRINKING WATER WIDE OF PARK AND FOUNTAIN SCU DUCKS ON EDGE OF FOUNTAIN SCU EELS ON ICE IN KITCHEN OF THE KIKUKAWA RESTAURANT SMV /SCU CHEF GUTTING EELS (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, OF COOK GRILLING EELS IN RESTAURANT KITCHEN (3 SHOTS) WIDE OF MAN SLIDING LIVE EELS FROM SACK INTO BUCKET / SCU E
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO AND NARITA, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA644NI45G0S7PLLQR5DXPTR4M9
  • Story Text: As Japan wilts under its long summer heatwave, people are turning to a traditional method of beating the heat by eating grilled eels.
    On "Doyo Ushi no Hi" - a day determined by the ancient solar calendar as being the hottest of the season, long lines snaked in front of eel speciality restaurants all over Japan, as people waited to eat grilled eels, a delicacy long seen as a wealth of important nutrients.
    Served on top of a bowl of rice and topped with tangy sauce, eel is loaded with protein, a way of boosting energy levels drained by days of poor appetite.
    "Eels are said to be good for loss of appetite due to summer heat. The nutritional qualities of eels has been proved clinically and, when you eat eels, it certainly makes you feel full after you've eaten it," Yohsuke Kuzuoka, owner of eel speciality restaurant, Kikukawa.
    At Kikukawa in Tokyo's trendy Ginza shopping district, cooks spent the whole night skinning live eels and putting skewers through them. They then steamed and grilled the eels to feed thousands of people.
    By lunchtime, men and women who work in nearby offices and were weary of the heat were milling around the entrance of the restaurant waiting to eat.
    "I like eels, because it is a stamina-boosting food," said Mariko Yano, an office employee.
    "Eels taste especially good on hot days," said Keiji Yamato, another office employee.
    In the last week, temperatures throughout Japan have been reaching new regional highs and Japan could certainly use some relief.
    On Tuesday (July 24) the mercury rose to a record high of
    1 Celsius (104.18 Fahrenheit) in the town of Sakuma, around 150 km (94 miles) southwest of Tokyo, the highest in the nation and only a hair below the highest ever recorded in Japan -- 40.8 Celsius, registered in Yamagata, northeastern Japan, on July 25, 1933.
    "After eating eels I feel invigorated," said Yuusuke Kobayashi, as he waited outside Kikukawa for lunch.
    "It is so hot outside, I don't feel like doing much, I feel that I should eat eels and regain strength," added Tatsuo Furukawa.
    The eels served at Kikukawa are all domestically grown eels. But of the 15 tonnes of eel Japan consumes annually, about 70 per cent of the slippery fish are imported from Taiwan and China in boxes, live.
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