Japanese Culture in New York - Chopsticks NY

These days, the use of collagen––in beauty products, aesthetic treatments, and plastic surgery––has become increasingly popular worldwide. It's not surprising that beauty-conscious Japanese women have embraced this global trend, but you would be shocked to learn how enthusiastic they are about collagen.

Collagen is one of the vital proteins for metabolism in the human body and helps each component of the body connect and retain liquid. It is believed that using cosmetics containing collagen helps to rejuvenate skin, reducing wrinkles and dark spots as well as preventing skin from losing its elasticity. Today in Japan, it is hard to find anti-aging cosmetic products that do not include collagen. But Japanese women are not satisfied with using this anti-aging product only on the outside.

In order to get more of collagen's benefits, they take various collagen supplements. Taking advantage of this trend, food product companies have started marketing drinks and sweets that contain collagen. These have been quite popular, but the most recent and notable hit of the many collagen-related items is "collagen nabe." This is a collagen-rich hot pot dish that comes in two varieties; the first version contains ingredients high in collagen such as chicken wings and pigs' feet, and the other style uses a collagen-rich broth. The latter is more popular than the former because it's easier to make.

After the success of collagen nabe in restaurants, products for making collagen nabe at home, such as "Collagen Dama" and "Collagen Nabe no Moto," have arrived in stores. With its many ingredients and nutrients, nabe itself is a healthful dish; the combination of lots of vegetables and collagen-rich soup is perfect for women who are trying to prevent signs of aging.

For those who want to take collagen every day, powdered collagen products are available. You can add it to your food while cooking or sprinkle some in your coffee, tea, soup, or yogurt. Most of this collagen is fish-based (sometimes called "marine collagen"), which has lately become more common than collagen from other animal sources.

Although it is an ingredient that Japanese have traditionally eaten, okara might be unfamiliar to non-Japanese. It is a by-product of tofu and is obtained after soy juice is filtered during the process of making tofu. Okara is as nutritious as tofu and actually richer in fiber. Isoflavones, one of the nutrients in okara, are known to be good for women. Okara is also helpful for preventing osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis.

Although Japanese people have eaten okara as a side dish for years, there was actually a time when okara wasn't very popular because of its short shelf life. This all changed with the arrival of the "okara cookie diet." By substituting okara for flour, these cookies are lower in calories and abundant in fiber. Since eating a few okara cookies easily fills you up and the cookies' rich fiber helps bowel movements, leading to detoxifying, the okara cookie diet has spread rapidly. Also, unlike other diets, people don't have to suffer from feeling hungry. Plus, the cookies are tasty as well as portable. There is no room for failure.

Along with the success of the okara cookie diet, many other okara-related products have been developed. Long shelf-life okara and dried okara are among them. Thanks to these new inventions, Japanese people have begun to use okara for everyday cooking. The idea of using okara for Western sweets such as cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, and hamburgers has also increased the popularity of okara.

It's common knowledge that drinking a lot of water has tremendous health benefits. All regions of Japan produce high-quality water, and naturally, people are very conscious about its taste, cleanliness, and health benefits. Although the public water-filtration systems are well managed, it is common for Japanese to use household purifiers to make their drinking water cleaner and change its qualities. Some people control the pH balance to create the best water for their specific health problems. Also, since there are many atopic dermatitis sufferers in Japan, people are conscious of the quality of water for their skin and hair as well.

As for bottled water, Contrex, a European brand of water with a high mineral content, is extremely popular among beauty-conscious young women because it is promoted as "diet water." The mineral content is an important factor in choosing bottled water. In this regard, "kaiyou shinsou-sui" (deep-ocean water) also appeals to health-conscious Japanese. The deep-ocean water contains an abundance of minerals, actually a much higher mineral content than groundwater, and is safe and clean. Not only used for drinking water, it is also used for skin care products.

The latest trend in the Japanese bottled water industry is "bottled running water." In order to promote the safety and good taste of their water, many municipal offices have started bottling their running water and selling it. These brands, such as "Tokyo-Sui" from Tokyo and "Honmaya" from Osaka, sell very well.

The health and beauty benefits of green tea are well known and not necessary to discuss here. So what is popular with people in green tea's native country? Although Japanese have customarily drunk steeped green tea, they have recently started thinking about eating or drinking the tea leaves themselves on a regular basis. Since matcha, powdered green tea, is too expensive for daily use, some powdered tea appropriate for every day has recently become available. You can sprinkle powdered green tea on pasta, fried rice, and onigiri (rice balls) as well as mix it into tempura batter, sweets, and almost anything else. For those who like to have freshly ground tea leaves, a tea leaf grinder is on the market now as well.

In order to get all the nutrition from green tea, Japanese came up with the idea of grinding tealeaves. Ground tealeaves makes it easy to use for cooking. Or just sprinkling it on top of the rice and noodles allows you to create an original flavor!