Just wanted to show you the musk melon we got today!
今日もらったマスクメロンをちょっとお見せします！
Not bought but given to us as an osusowake*
*... ni osusowake suru = Share a gift with ...
買ったものではなく、おすそ分けです。
Slightly stale, but it is a musk melon!
ちょっと古くなってきていますが、マスクメロンです！
The sticker, which was discarded by my wife and retrieved by me, says:
Onshitsu = Greenhouse
MUSK
Koukyuu = High class
Melon
シール（妻が捨てたのを私が元に戻した）には、こう書いてあります：
温室
MUSK
高級
メロン
Cut in half:
半分に切ったところ：
Served to my two children:
二人の子供に上げました：
My daughter found it very sweet, and had to freshen her mouth with sports drink later.
My son also found it very sweet, and said it was as if sugar had been sprinkled on it.
娘には甘過ぎて、後でスポーツドリンクで口直ししました。
息子にも甘過ぎで、「砂糖をかけたよう」と言ってました。
***
I ordered a pack of 500 g negitoro online, and it arrived today. I will post about it after we have it.
ねぎとろ１パック（500 g）をネットで注文して、今日届きました。食べてからまた報告します。
21 comments:
Hiroyuki, I'm impressed by the richness of the Japanese vocabulary concerning gifts. So "osusowake" should be used for example if I give my teacher some of my balcony mizuna? I only knew the obvious purezento and omiyage...
I'm not a big fan of this melon kind (I prefer the orange one, but in general I prefer slightly underrpie watermelon, i.e. when it's not too sweet) but this one looks very cute.
I have never had negitoro. I'm very curious to see what you will prepare.
Sissi: Well, if you receive a box of apples from someone, and give some of them to someone else, such apples are called an osusowake.
Don't be curious (laugh)! I will just put it on top of vinegared rice, that is, make negitoro don
ねぎとろ丼.
Thank you for the explanation! So my mizuna would be just "omiyage" ;-)
Since I haven't tasted negitoro, anything will be interesting!
Sorry, I wanted to say "purezento" insted of "omiyage" (which I hope to bring in big amounts for myself when I go to Japan ;-) ).
Sissi: Actually, omiyage (お土産) has two meanings: present and souvenior.
Temiyage (手土産) can also be used to mean a present.
In Japan, it is customary to say things like,
Tsumaranai mono desu ga...
つまらないものですが...
(It's nothing, but...)
when giving someone a present
The Japanese are changing, and some young people find such words inappropriate.
Thank you, Hiroyuki, for one more lesson. I didn't know temiyage either!
I know this expression! I don't know where I read it but it's probably considered as one of the things typical of the Japanese customs and often mentioned. I often warn people saying "it's only a small gift" when I offer something for example when visiting family or friends or thanking for a service from a friend (but I really consider it a small gift). Not everyone does it in Europe though and many people think I'm "excessively modest". I don't suppose the Japanese would say this ;-)
Sissi: Sounds like you are an advanced student of Japanese!
I have a feeling that those young people will eventually learn to accept the custom because, after all, modesty is what runs in the Japanese.
The recipient usually praises the gift by saying things like:
Kekkou na oshina o itadaki...
結構なお品を頂き...
For a further explanation, ask your Japanese teacher!
This is one of my favorite kanji 品 :-) I would translate the response with "what a nice thing we got there" (more or less).
In Germany it is nearly the same: You play modest and the receiving end plays very pleased (even when the present consists of a plastic coocoo watch which glows in the dark and you hate it very much). We say: I brought you something small (nur eine Kleinigkeit) but please have it / accept it and the other part says: Oh how nice, oh it is fantastic, ah you should not have bothered (das wäre doch nicht nötig gewesen), thank you. And you say:Please, you don't have to thank me for something so small, it was a pleasure for me...
Social rules, but the young ones are maybe less polite depends on the social upbringing, cultural backround and such.
I guess for a foreigner it is not that easy.
How was the fatty tuna?
Kiki: Thanks for your comment! Germans and the Japanese have a lot in common!
Your favorite kanji? Then, I guess you like the place name in Tokyo, Shinagawa 品川, for example (laugh).
The negitoro has to wait until Saturday, when my son can have supper with three of us. (My son comes back home at 8 or 9 on weekdays.)
Hiroyuki, thank you once more for the new expression. I will learn it by heart jsut in case ;-)
Kiki, it's the same in my case! My closest friends and family always say "you shouldn't have.... it's too much" or something similar and this is when I feel comfortable (haha! I feel very comfortable exchanging gifts with my Japanese friend, though she is too generous with me!). Then I say something else, etc. Some people however think it's being too modest (these I don't understand). I don't think I will ever listen to them and change. As you say, upbringing is very strong.
I don't know how it is done in Germany, but I was brought up to open the gift in front of the giver and thank her/him admiring the object (as you say, even if it's small). I remember once an American colleague's birthday. We were from several different countries to come and offer him gifts and when we met one day afterwards, after a few drinks, I realised everyone was as shocked and even hurt (as I were) that he didn't even bother to open the gifts in front of us. Apart from the savoir-vivre part, he even didn't know who gave him what... he has just put the gifts away in a pile... I don't know if it was cultural or his personal lack of education but it happened 10 years ago and I still remember.
Hiroyuki, I wonder if opening a gift in front of the guest is obligatory in Japan (my friend always does).
Sissi:
>obligatory...
Just the opposite. It's not good manners to open a gift in front of the giver. Probably your Japanese friend follows a European custom. It's not good manners, either, to open the gift by tearing the wrapper (even if the giver is not present). We usually unwrap the gift by carefully removing the cellophane tapes (and save the wrapper for later use).
This is interesting! I was right to ask. I suppose my friend follows our European customs... Do you ever mention the gift afterwards when you have opened it?
I would never tear a Japanese paper off the gift also because it's always so beautiful and carefully wrapped! I always feel awful I have to destroy the package (even if I open carefully). I have several beautiful Japanese paper wraps and they are just too beautiful to be reused so I keep them ;-)
I will now know that I shouldn't expect the Japanese to open the present in my presence.
Sissi:
>Do you ever mention...?
Absolutely! It's almost obligatory to say something about the most recent gift you have been given the next time you see the giver (or talk with him/her on the phone). If you didn't, the giver would be disappointed (or wonder if you have forgotten about the gift).
I think I understand the idea! It's simply more discreet than in Europe.
This conversation about gift-giving is so interesting! I'm Chinese and as Hiroyuki mentioned, we also don't open gifts in front of people, preferring to put the gift aside politely and open it later. It's customary to then return a gift on some other occasion - this is probably culturally true across Asia as my Korean friends also do this.
I suspect that not-opening gifts in front of people is to save face. For example, if you have some friends present who can't afford an expensive gift, it's embarrassing to them to open it in front of everyone. Instead, you're supposed to thank them in private.
I love hearing about customs around the world. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Yangsze, it's very interesting to learn that it's similar around Asia.
The American I have mentioned I think simply lacked education because the gifts were not signed, he hardly looked at them when they were offered, so he had no idea who gave what. He never mentioned again any of the gifts, never thanked. This part was the worst for us, not the fact of not opening.
Yangsze: Yes, yes, you just can't keep on taking gifts! You have to give something in return sometimes.
Awesome!
Chris: Yes, the price is awesome!
おすそわけの説明はありがどう！
Thanks for explaining osusowake. Is this practice common in Japan? In Canada and US, it is common to open presents in front of everybody in certain type of occasion like wedding showers and birthdays. People would gather together and watch the bride or birthday girl/boy open their presents in front of everyone! Of course guests have to do the 'ouu' and 'aww's!!
okasan: Yes, it is very common among neighbors, friends, and so on.
The Japanese would never open presents on such occasions...
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